Spey casting, a two-handed Old World technique devised to catch ill-tempered salmon, is not just for the aesthetics. Steelhead are basically bulldozers with scales; they demand heavy equipment. Fishing with a spey rod is like batting with a telephone pole. British Columbia's Dean River is your best bet for hooking into a world-class fish—a narrow canyon with fast water and numerous falls only two miles from the river's mouth has weeded the gene pool of everything but the strongest. The guides at Deneki Outdoors, which runs a fishing-specific lodge on the Dean's delta (from $4,500 per week; deneki.com), will put you on plenty of bruiser fish. Landing one is your job.
A long spey cast. Photographer: Andrew Bennett/BC West
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