The health of our wild fish stocks have become a hot topic in the last decade as we realize that the methods and excesses of past years cannot be allowed to continue for fear of losing some resources all together. In many areas of the world, our fishery resources are but a shadow of what they were 50 years ago. This is a sad state of affairs and the solutions to these problems are not easy. We all say we want more fish, but many of us do not understand that this means we must change our practices. It involves changing the way our society views our resources from a right and extraction perspective to a privilege and conservational way of thinking.

We are dedicated to protecting our fisheries by using only the best possible fishing practices and techniques. Just by engaging in the act of angling one needs to realize that they have an impact on the environment. To minimize this impact is one of our main goals. We accept that our market will be limited because of the ethical standards we have set.

At Bell II Lodge we guide fly fishing clients only and always use single barbless hooks. All fish caught are released with proper technique. Fish rarely have more than five seconds out of the water for photographs and many are released without being handled at all, some intentionally and some not. We try to structure our daily program so that we do not target the same fish or section of water on a continual basis. Not only good for the fish, but this also allows our clients to fish a greater variety of locations during each week. Although jet boat use is needed for access on some rivers, we use only �low emission� 4 stroke engines on small flat bottom river boats. Wherever possible, we float some sections of river with rafts and hope to open up new drifts in future seasons. We follow a �no trace� policy for our backcountry use.

We are happy to announce that new changes to regulations for 2004 have included a bait ban on the Bell Irving River during the summer steelhead fishery. This is great news for the steelhead and all us fly guys!

If you share this approach to fishing and hold many of the same beliefs, you will be right at home with the guides at Bell II Lodge.

Go fishing at Bell II Lodge. Click here for more information.