Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/52531
Our pilot, Peter Barratt, reels off place names as we fly over Salmon Arm, Long Lake and Smith Inlet – but he is vague about our actual destination. From a distance, we spot a huge grizzly bear feeding on salmon in a shallow river. When I ask if we can fly in for a closer look, Barratt refuses. He lands the helicopter on a rocky clearing by a fast-flowing river near muddy paw marks, which remind us we are trespassing in grizzly territory. Barratt explains that the bear is only a few bends down the river and could reach us in no time at all, which is why he keeps his 12-gauge shotgun close by. Soon I'm standing in knee-deep water, learning to cast and spin in a river brimming with chinook, coho, sockeye, pink and chum salmon. Barratt is an expert at spin fishing and reels in salmon after salmon, talking to each fish like a new lover as he gently removes the hooks and releases them back into the clear water. When the fish stop biting, we pile back into the helicopter and fly to another secluded fishing spot. As lunchtime approaches we pack our fishing rods away once more – into the helicopter's purpose-built hatch. Barratt touches down at the lodge briefly to pick up the cool boxes then we take off again, this time towards the distant snow-capped mountains. Hundreds of glaciers sculpt the landscape of British Columbia. Sadly, like many travel&living 57 The sight of Nimmo Bay Lodge nestled in the British Columbian wilderness is awe-inspiring.