TESTIMONIALS

Hey Vic, me and my three friends where so glad we book with you guys. Ryan was our guide, he was awesome put us onto a double headed with in the first 5 mins of fishing. We also caught a 7 footer and a total of like 20 fish. I would just like to thank you guys for an awesome trip and would love to book another trip in the future. All Ryan’s gear was top notch and he made sure we had a blast. Thanks again!!

Cory Penner

Vic, thanks again. Our trip could not have been better. This was our first trip of this kind and it exceed all our expectations. Going into the trip I was hoping that my father would enjoy the outing. But I was nervous as this was not the kind of thing he would normally do. To tell you how much fun we had, my dad has told me to keep a couple of days open for next year. We are planning to do this every year. Thanks for keeping us on the fish, keeping us safe and comfortable and helping us enjoy the first trip of what I hope will be an annual event.

Kevin

Vic: Thank you for making our first trip to Canada one to remember!

We had a great time with everyone involved. You and Sam were wonderful guides and made us feel welcome and comfortable despite this being our first salmon fishing trip.

Everyone involved at Whales Reach Lodge was great. Each day was enjoyable and never boring, that’s for sure. We could hardly believe the fishing, and always looked forward to each day on the water and to returning to the relaxation at Coal Harbour.

We greatly appreciate the accommodation for our food allergies. You guys are the best!

Well, we have great memories and are happy to have made the acquaintance of everyone involved.

Now we have a freezer full of fish to remind us of the good times.

Thanks again and best of health to you and your family.

Joe Quinby, Ann Fletcher, Sam Quinby Irvine, California

I just want to thank you for the great day we had yesterday! My buddy is in from Ottawa and I thought we would try a day on the water, B.C. style! We started the day with fishing for salmon. After catching over 20 good sized Pinks in a few hours, we shifted to sturgeon fishing. Incredible! We landed 3 sturgeon, from 3 foot to 4 and a half feet in length. We also landed one that was 96 inches. An 8 footer! It was an absolutely awesome day! Harry, our guide, did an outstanding job in finding the fish, and setting us up for an enjoyable day on the water! His professionalism as well as “down to earth” manner made it easy for a novice fisherman like myself to truly enjoy the day! We would recommend this to anyone interested in serious fishing!

Thanks again for a great day.

Mike

Hello Vic,

Here are some pics, The jumper was awesome too, The trips both started slow, but ended with a bang, and the seven-footer was a highlight for all of us, Better to fight than sailfish, wahoo, king mackerel, musky, you name it, awesome!

Braeden did a great job,for a man of 19. Put us on the biggest fish of our lives With time, he could be the best sturgeon fisherman on the river , I have already referred you to several hardcore fishermen, Cheers, Dave Curtis

Hi Vic,

We had our trip on Saturday (Apr.27) in Mission, fishing the Fraser for Sturgeon. We all had an awesome time. We landed 7 and our biggest was 7’5″. My buddies and I couldn’t believe that we hooked and landed a fish that big. When we go back out on a guided trip, it will definitely be an STS guided trip.

Rob was an excellent guide. He put us on fish, kept baits in the water, supplied us with top of the line tackle, and had a nice organized boat. Also, he had a great sense of humour and we had an awesome time fishing with him. We appreciate his efforts to make us better Sturgeon fisherman, and we learned a lot about these interesting fish.

Thank you for booking our trip, Chad Putnam

Hi Vic,

The trip was excellent. It far exceeded our expectations. I have attached one of the photos of the large fish, we have several others. We will definitely make recommendations to our friends and colleagues, and hope that we will be able to come again ourselves. We also wish the best to Thomas and his family, and any news about the babies would be appreciated. Thanks again for a wonderful day. Barb, Gene, Dan and Marj

Hey Vic,

We have arrived back home safe and sound just dropping a note to request the photos you had taken of our big fish. Hope you enjoyed the jerky, we will get back to you soon about dates for next year looking like third or fourth week of September but will let you know. Anxious to see Pics.

Thanks again it was an awesome fishing experience.

Tom Lavoie Tomahawk, Alberta

Hi Vic and Dana,

I just wanted to thank the two of you, as well as the guides, for a great fishing trip! The weather was good, the sturgeon fishing was great, the river boating up to Hell’s gate was awesome, and the food and hospitality at the Above and Beyond house was Above and Beyond belief! It’s always nice to be able to get out with the guys and as much as we all love fishing and river boating the time spent together visiting and telling fishing stories in the evenings in a comfortable atmosphere completes the occasion; we could not have asked for a better hostess and setting for our vacation.

I look forward to joining the two of you again soon!

Kelly Burake Calgary, Alberta

Hi Vic,

On behalf of all six of us that chased Sturgeon with you on August 7, 2012 from Hope to Hell’s Gate and back : Thank you! You run a first class operation: great boat, and great guiding on a great river. Your love of being on the river was obvious and infectious. I trust you have a picture of that 8 footer we landed. Amazing!

It was the DAY of the summer for all six of us. We will see you again.

Richard West Morinville, Alberta

Hi Vic,

I just wanted to formally thank you for giving dad and I an amazing fishing experience on Monday. It is definitely a trip I will never forget, and something I would like to do again in the near future. I’m already scheming with my boyfriend for a November trip. We both really appreciated you staying the extra 2 hours with us to get those last fish, even though you were obviously very sick! I hope you were able to get some drugs for that and are recovering. I really valued your patience with letting us to try and set that damn hook. Hopefully next time I will have a better eye on that rod tip and I will know what to expect! It was so great to be a part of the unique sturgeon fishery and witness them up close and personal. I had no idea how beautiful those fish really were until I seen them; the real thing is so much better than in pictures or on TV. We were very lucky to have such a nice day and I’m so glad I chose STS. Again, thank you so much, and I will be in touch again.

Sabrina Westerrose Alberta

Vic,

Thanks for the Great guiding experience! My wife and I had a fantastic time on our honeymoon, having caught 3 sturgeon over 6 feet, along with 3 under 6 feet. Our guide Chad, did an outstanding job, and was a pleasure to fish with. I will (and have) recommended your guiding services to friends and colleagues of mine. Look forward to fishing with STS in the future.

Best Regards, TDP

 

Hey Vic,

Fishing was awesome, we all had a really good time. Already planning the next trip out there. This was something my dad would never have done(hire a guide) but he enjoyed it so much he was saying we should come out next year for 3 or more days, for sturgeon and maybe a day of salmon fishing. Which we will be booking through you guys, when we figure it out.

Thomas is an excellent guide and we all enjoyed our time on the boat with him. He asked that I send you some pictures so I attached a few. I’m having some issues with my computer right now so let me know if you don’t get them.

Thanks for everything.

Chris MacDonald

Hi Vic,

I would like to thank STS guiding for a fantastic couple of days fishing back in May, the three of us all had a great time, especially my buddy Sean from Ontario.

Considering the conditions we managed three decent fish, a Five, Six and Seven.

I would like to extend our thanks to Thomas, who was a fantastic host, kept working hard both days under the conditions, and kept our spirits high when they were not bitting, so big thanks to him.

Regards,

Derek Brady

Hi Vic,

Just wanted to drop you a note thanking for our trip on Saturday. Jeff, Bill and I had a fantastic time. Photo’s for the day were flying all over the internet on Sunday.

Thomas is a great guide, super professional and was able to match stories all day long, which is a feat all in itself. He was easy going with no ego compared to other guides encountered in the past.

The boat and equipment were first rate and everything was perfectly organized. Thomas managed to get 7 fish despite the weather and the double header with my brother in the afternoon was very entertaining.

We will be looking for another trip in June to Pitt Lake and Sturgeon fishing in September.

Thanks for the Sturgeon recommendation.

Sincerely,

Tom Munro Pitt Meadows BC

Hi Vic,  sorry it’s taken me a few days to send some pics, we’re still travelling and Im just getting a chance now. We want to thank you again for the amazing experience from Tom & Thomas this past Monday & Tuesday … we had SO much fun and we wish we were still down there fishing away. We will definitely come back to fish with you guys, STS made our first sturgeon experience unforgettable … we have been calling it Holy Shit fishing when we tell people. Thanks again for everything, we hope to see you in the fall!

Regards,

Lauren & Josh Wettlaufer

Vic,

I thought it pertinent to share some feedback from yesterday’s fishing experience with Doug …

The day couldn’t have been any better, within 15 minutes of being on the water we had a 5 footer to the boat and the day just got progressively better from there. After landing 27 sturgeons with the largest almost reaching 8 feet, I would say we had an amazing time. It actually helped my company close some important business with a customer, as he quotes, “Thanks so much for giving me this exciting experience. I’ll always remember it as one of the highlights in my life.” … I think that says it all.

Kudos to Doug, he worked extremely hard to make sure that we had an awesome day; he’s a great advocate for STS and a valuable member to your highly experienced team of professional guides. Again, great time and excited to get out on the water with STS in the very near future!!!!

Please extend our sincere appreciation to Doug as well …

Best Regards,

Rupert Mongrain Pacific Manager National Energy Equipment Inc.

Hello Vic and Theresa,

As a guest of my nephew Dan Parker I was treated to most memorable experience during the subject dates.

First, the accommodations for all five in the party were superb and I never got over what you consider a continental breakfast. It was fantastic and there was too much to choose from the great food for breakfast.

Second, our guide, Chad, was most accommodating and adapted his style to our level of angling experience, which ranged from minimal to fully experience level. Everyone in the party had an opportunity to land at least a couple fish during the three days. Many of us were able to connect with Chad on more finer points of fishing.

And last, but not least, all of us were able to bring in the largest fish we ever hooked in our various levels of expertise. In my case I managed to land a eight and a half footer which was a personal challenge because I will turn 72 in 6 Oct and we estimated the fish to about similar age. I don’t give in to a challenge very easy especially if my opponent is the same age.

The very best regards to both of you and Vic keep pedaling that bike.

Bruno Reinys,

P.S. Tim Lafferty had a 7.5 footer, but I do not have the picture.

“Vic

Thanks for another great trip. I would love to book for another trip for about the same time next year and can hardly wait. It was a perfect trip that we had this year. Like many businesses, it has been a little challenging this past while and I really had some thoughts about being “financially responsible” and cancelling all or part of the trip this year. I love the trip myself so much that I figured that it still needed to be done. To continue with the same program that we had done in the past years was probably one of the better decisions I made this year. We had a great time and I don’t think I can place a true monetary value on the relationships that were developed and expanded while on the trip. The bonus we had this year was fish but the truth of the matter is, that it is the whole experience that makes this trip special.

From the time we get off the plane and are greeted by Bill until we are dropped off, your group, including Tom and the other guides, the chefs, the breakfast ladies and yourself, make me, and most especially my guests, feel special.”

Thanks again, see you next year (or who knows, maybe before). Warren

“Hi Vic,

Wanted to send you a short message to thank you for the great time we had (1) staying at the Hatzic Lake house last week and (2) enjoying the awesome sturgeon fishing with skippers Tom and Ryan.

The high standard of the house and then company and guidance of both skippers and resultant fishing was special experiences that none of us will ever forget. This spilled over into the friendliness shown by the staff in the Cabins Cabin (pub), a place we visited after each trip to relive the days events. Please pass on our appreciation to Tom and Ryan, for some special days on the water, which gave us catches of two sturgeon at 103″ and two at 96″ (plus quite a few 80″+’s): truly fish that we will tell many a story about.

We’re already talking about a return to Mission some day, so will certainly be in touch if we do manage another trip.”

Kind regards and best wishes, Ronnie (Duncan, Doug & Bob)

“Hi,

Just wanted to thank you for the wonderful experience we had on our sturgeon trip on Sunday. Thomas took us to the right spots and the sturgeon could not wait to jump on the hook. Best fish was a 9 footer weighing around 450lbs. Its something we will be talking about for years to come back in Wales.”

thanks again Barry & Lin

Hi Vic,

Just dropping you a note to say my son and myself really had a enjoyable time fishing, as always. Pass along our thanks to Ryan for two pleasurable days of fishing, awesome guide very personable. I hope Ryan has recovered from losing the sturgeon of a lifetime. I know we enjoyed just having a chance at it. Catching a 6.5 & a 7 footer right after sure helps take the sting away. Looking forward to next year.”

Bill Rieger

“Gerry, Bob, Gary and I would just like to thank you for the excellent guiding you did with us last Wed on the Vedder. We definitely learned a lot, and it’s such a pretty river that we can’t wait to come back. Even though we got skunked that day, we felt it was well worth the enjoyment of a very beautiful day. All was not lost, however, because we went back the next day to the first spot just upstream of the Keith Wilson bridge and Bob landed a nice hatchery 8-pounder or so (see attached pic). Gary & I were jealous! Next time before we head up, we’ll like to take you up on your offer and email you ahead of time to check out conditions on the river, if that’s OK with you. Hope all is good and well.”

Thanks! Pin Foo

“Hi Vic,

Just wanted to thank you guys for some great guiding and awesome service. I’m quite sure that we will be back within 5years and will be booking guides from you. Please give our thanks to Jerry for a great couple of days. I hope he’s catching fish again……”

Jar

Dear Vic, A short note to say a BIG thank-you to our guides Doug and Matt for a truely memorable 5 days fishing. Fly-fishing the Lilloet River and the Pitt system was beyound our expectations (the attached picture, of the coho, was taken on the Lilloet). Matts expert guiding skills and fantastic personality would certainly give us reason to return. Doug was the perfect gentleman and patient teacher and soon had us hooking into loads of chum. The experience was awesome and we are seriously considering a return trip in 2009 for the pinks. Please pass on our sincere thanks to Doug and Matt for making this trip a 5 star experience.”

Kind regards, Wayne and Nadine Oldfield