Rocked the Kasba ... Lake Lodge.
In the spring of 2018 I got the call of a lifetime. A request to combine basically most of my favourite things; fly fishing, photography, and travel. My friends at Kasba lake Lodge invited me up to create the new media for their marketing campaigns. I was elated…and then it all fell apart.
While doing some fairly routine yard work I pinched a nerve at my c6/c7 vertebrae and was pretty well incapacitated. I was in bed for 5 weeks straight, no medication helped, no physiotherapy worked, chiro, massage, nothing seemed to take the pain away. So unfortunately I had to back out of the trip. Rather than find someone else, the good folks at Kasba stayed the course and rescheduled our trip for summer of 2019, and it was worth every minute of the wait.
The injury wound up being a long lasting thing, in fact, I still have little to no feeling in my right hand finger tips. But oddly enough the thing that it effected most was my confidence. I’m not sure why but it shook me up so bad, but for the first time in as long as I can remember I felt like maybe I wasn’t as strong and tough as I thought. So as this years trip grew closer and closer I started to get really anxious, about the travel, about the work, about my ability to get the job done at the level I expected of myself.
As the weeks leading up arrived and my departure grew nearer I knew deep down that the nerves would shake off as soon as I got out on my first freelance trip in over 18 months, but that doesn't mean I wasn’t still anxious; I was a basket case.
In order to get to the lodge you first need to get to Winnipeg and then you take a chartered plane to the Northwest Territories and land right at the lodge on a massive gravel runway. At first I thought it’d be a bit nerve wracking to land on gravel but it was actually super smooth and the lodge and cabins are just steps away once you’ve landed so no need to drive or float plane elsewhere, you’ve arrived. You’re just steps from your cabin.
We were at the lodge for 4 nights and the facility and service is incredible. We were immediately greeted with a full breakfast menu and hot coffee and within half an hour of landing myself and my trusty assistant (Also my Dad, Pops) were meeting with Matt Hill - one of the lodge managers - to go over and narrow down our media goals for the trip. By this point my nerves were starting to drop off and excitement was taking over, I was finally starting to feel like my old self again.
After getting settled Matt set us up with our guide Nate and as we headed out for our first morning of fishing and shooting we exchanged some hellos and high-fives and quickly realized that not only was Nate also from Vancouver Island; but he was from the exact same small town as me, and just an hours drive from Pops place. So us three islanders set out in search of big fish and great photos and neither the lake, nor Nate would disappoint. I can definitely admit that me and Pops had no idea what was coming our way.
It wasn’t long at all and Nate had us into some beautiful pike in a little grass filled channel called ‘Hole in the Wall’. And really that’s how the next few days unfolded. Nate picked spots and took us to them at just the right times of day and thinking back, I can’t recall too many times over the trip that we went more than a half an hour without getting into fish. The lake is home to three native species of fish; Pike, Lake Trout and Arctic Grayling and we were fortunate enough to catch monsters of each species. In fact we caught trophy sized fish of each species on fly rods, which makes the fight even better.
One of the raddest options that the lodge offers is a float plane trip across the lake to the Kazan River. For an added fee guests can be flown over there for the day to experience world class trophy sized arctic greyling in their most natural environment, a crystal clear, cold as ice, running river. On day three we got in with Eugene - the lodges pilot - and he dropped us off for what would be an absolute highlight day of the trip. For anyone considering a trip to Kasba, you really need to take a hard look at the Kazan River day it was nothing short of incredible.
We hadn’t been on the river half an hour before Matt and Brandon landed this absolute pig of a grayling. The consensus was that it was in the 4+ lbs range which is a pound + over what is classified as a trophy weight for arctic grayling. The fish would prove a bit more finicky to land than what we had expected and it’s awful to say but it was a bit of a slow day, as a group I think we wound up with just over a dozen fish landed. But the picky fish didn’t bring anyone down, we travelled as a pack of three boats, we explored lots of different runs, ate a gourmet shore lunch and laughed the day away. I’ve been a professional photographer for over a decade now and this day will be nearly impossible to dethrone as my favourite day of work ever. By the time we left the river to fly back to the lodge I couldn’t help but reflect on how just a few days earlier I was nearing panic attack status about this trip, and now here I was on cloud nine. Funny how life works.
All week long we were paired up at breakfast and lunch with four other guests, we had Janet and Mike, a mother and son from Manitoba/Saskatchewan and we had Nelson and Brandon a father/son sort of also from Vancouver Island. Because us islanders tend to stick together we wound up spending a good portion of the last few lake days, as well as the Kazan River day all fishing together. And while they started the week gear fishing, we were able to drag at least Brandon to the fly fishing side by weeks end. I think we would have had Nelly too but he had kept in pretty close with The Kraken all week and most of his fine motor skills had left the boat by about noon each day.
The lodge itself and their staff and service is second to none. Great food, friendly service, hot coffee and cold beer. There isn’t much else you could ask of a lodge where the closest road is 150 miles away. The management and crew really stop at nothing to make sure that all of the guests feel at home and are having a great time.
After all was said and done, pushing myself to get out and get after this shoot wound up being one of the best decisions of my life. I went form completely shook and nervous to elated and confident again by weeks end, and to have been able to experience it all with my favourite photo assistant ever, my Pops, was just the icing on the cake.
If you’re interested in some more info about Kasba Lake Lodge check out their website or contact them at the info below, they’re great people and I’m sure they’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Kasba Lake Lodge
PO Box 96
Parksville, BC
V9P 2G3
1.888.908.0821
Or online at:
