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Derek Botchford

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Considering the fact I was born in a suburb of Toronto, I have a surprisingly diverse history in the fly-fishing industry. I grew up spending my summers in the Catskill Mountains, fishing the waters around our family farm. This area is the stomping grounds of Joan Wulff, like the Beaverkill, Delaware, Esopus Rivers, and countless others. Fishing these technical rivers on the fly with my cousin Nathaniel Gillespie at the young ages of 10 proved to be frustrating at best for us. Success was measured more on a scale of not burying hooks in ears instead of fooling educated trout. However, once in a while, we happened on to some hatches wherein even we could catch fish. Maybe that’s why I am so hooked on challenging fisheries to this day.

Both Nat and I became enamoured by the sport over those years, and the obsession took over much of our childhood. Tying flies and watching fishing shows passed the time in between adventures. Our first big break came at 16 with a job offer in Yellowstone, Montana, at Bud Lilly’s trout shop. I was lucky enough to be a dual citizen which allowed me the opportunity to delve into the much larger market in the US. Here, we honed our skills by hanging out with guides and fishing with real anglers who caught serious fish. We spent all our free time hitting the small creeks, but our favourite stream was the Galetin: here, we actually figured out that, with proper technique and pattern selection, we could pretty much catch multiple fish in any riffle or pool. All our efforts began to pay off, and we were finally out fishing people and solving the puzzles on the water ourselves.

From here, Nat moved on to conservation work with Trout Unlimited, and I started my journey as a fishing guide. While attending University of British Columbia, I worked at an iconic fly shop in Vancouver called Ruddicks, learning from one of the best ambassadors of the sport of fly fishing in Canada, Kathy Ruddick. Kathy was an incredibly smart, talented angler who carried such earnest respect in the Vancouver fishing scene that it was easy to look up to her. She was very supportive and trusting of her staff, and her attitude empowered all of us to do well for her.

After I graduated, I took my first job as a guide on the famous Blackwater River in central BC at MacKenzie Trail Lodge. The stories behind this lodge would make for a great movie, so I will leave that for another time. My manager was a young Mike VanWormer, and together Mike and I were launched into the world of very competitive marketing. The owner decided to unleash us on the sport show circuit, often alone. We immediately thrived at this and took many a booking right there and then at the shows. We had some legendary trips in those days, fishing the Thompson, floating the Dean, and many others.

After a few years working there, I met some clients who were able to secure me a position in Alaska at Alaska Rainbow Lodge. This was 1999, and the lodge was trying to transition from a gear fishing operation to strictly fly fishing. They hired four young guns to help propel this. After a rocky start, I was able to find my stride in Year 3 and was promoted to Head Guide honours. The owner, Ron Hayes, took me under his wing and mentored me for the next eight years. By this time, I had gained a very good understanding of the Bristol Bay watershed, fishing countless days on the American, Kvichak, Alegnak, Moraine, and Battle, as well as up and down the peninsula Ilnik, Cinder, and Ugashik. However, I wanted more: I wanted to take what I learned here and use it as a model for my own operation. In 2008, with the help of a truly great partner, I was able to purchase Frontier Farwest Lodge. The rest, as they say, is history!

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Posts by Derek Botchford:

  • End of season Heli day

    Derek Botchford
    November 4, 2020

    The weather has been extremely unpredictable of late with extreme cold, than back to back snow storms into a warm pineapple express.  This hasn’t been ideal for the rivers, but it certainly has had its moments.  We had to postpone this heli trip once, but in the end we hit things just right.  The river

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    […]

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    • Deep Thoughts
    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Photography
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
  • Wild fish or pass thank you

    Derek Botchford
    October 23, 2020 (October 23, 2020)

    Originally published in 2014. Since I was 10 years old there has not been one time in my life when wild fish stocks did not need our help wherever I was fishing.  I grew up fishing in the Catskill mountain streams during probably the worst climate for native fish in the history of the region. […]

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    • Deep Thoughts
    • Steelhead
    • Throwback Thursday
    • Uncategorised
  • Fishing with Franky

    Derek Botchford
    October 23, 2020

    One of the bright spots this season was having our old guide and friend Frankie Blanchet up to the lodge for a quick visit.  If there is a person that can instantly cheer up an entire staff with big smiles and a great attitude on the water it is Frankie.  Frankie stopped by the lodge

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    […]

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    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
  • Team Basecamp

    Derek Botchford
    October 22, 2020 (October 22, 2020)

    The Bulkley Basecamp team are a rowdy bunch, and not the type to sit around the lodge crying into their beers.   Trying to make the best of a bad situation they upgraded some nagging issues.  In this video you can catch a glimpse into the life of a Basecamp guide during the forgotten season.

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    […]

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    • Deep Thoughts
    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Photography
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
    • Travel
  • Mike VanWormer A.K.A VDubs podcast

    Derek Botchford
    October 15, 2020 (October 15, 2020)

    Vdubs is one of the original members of the Frontier team.  He was an integral part of setting up the lodge platform and turning a plan into action.  Mike and I started working together in 1998 at Mackenzie Trail Lodge which was once the biggest freshwater operations in the province.  In this Podcast, Stevie Morrow

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    […]

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    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Podcast
    • Throwback Thursday
    • Travel
    • Trout
  • The Truth behind Canadian Thanksgiving

    Derek Botchford
    October 11, 2020 (October 11, 2020)

    Throwback article Not too many holidays land smack in the middle of prime fishing weeks, but the biggest one of note is Canadian Thanksgiving. It is here this weekend, and if you live up north you are either hunting or fishing with your time off. Many of our fantastic American guests are quite curious about […]

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    • Deep Thoughts
    • Guide's Life
    • Steelhead
    • Throwback Thursday
    • Uncategorised
  • Back by popular demand

    Derek Botchford
    October 7, 2020 (October 7, 2020)

    We kicked this video out back in April, but heard from a lot of folks they wanted to see it again.   The pandemic has been absolutely devastating for our business and our industry in general.  However, there have been small slivers of a bright side through all this.  For one, the fly fishing industry […]

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    • Conservation
    • Deep Thoughts
    • Guide's Life
    • Spey Fishing
    • Trout
    • Uncategorised
  • How To: Rig up your rods

    Derek Botchford
    September 21, 2020

    Today I’m going to introduce you to part one of the three part series. In this first segment we will be going over how to rig up a Skagit rod from the start. Obviously having a good quality reel and rod are a very important first step. After that many are left asking themselves “what […]

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    • Guide's Life
    • Photography
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
  • Ebbs and Flows of Steelhead

    Derek Botchford
    September 20, 2020 (September 20, 2020)

    This season has been a tough one due to very wet conditions.  After the wettest August on record September was finally dry and sunny.  The rivers were so high and brown that it took several weeks for things to fall into what we like to call “perfect”.   This video was shot on a day

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    […]

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    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Photography
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
  • Epic Dry Fly Take

    Derek Botchford
    September 20, 2020

    Oliver has had this shot in mind for quite some time now and he figured the best pace to get it was in the crystal clear waters of the Morice River.  They took a few takes of it but ended up using the very first take.  The behind the scenes was pretty comical for  this

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    […]

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    • Epic Waters +
    • Guide's Life
    • Spey Fishing
    • Steelhead
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