Babine Steelhead Lodge
The Wickwire family has built and operated three lodges on the Babine. The first was above the weir, at the outlet of Nilkitkwa Lake. Randy Sterzer also operated that lodge after the Wickwires left to build Babine Steelhead Lodge in the late 60’s. Babine Steelhead Lodge was built by the Wickwire family in the late 60’s and was operated by them until they sold it to two doctors from Idaho.
Chick and Marilyn Stewart have been fishing the Babine River for 45 years. In 1955 they were guests of Norlakes Lodge and fished with owner Ejnar Madsen until 1986. In 1987 they purchased Babine River Lodge from two doctors from Montana. The Wickwire Family originally started the Babine Steelhead Lodge in 1981.
This is also a family run business with The Stewart’s daughter Wendy and her husband Barry being the managers at the lodge. Their operation is similar to ours in that the guests all fly into Smithers, are greeted by the owners and driven to the weir and transported the six miles downstream to the lodge by boat. They also host twelve anglers a week from the second week of September through the end of October. We share the upper fifteen miles of the river with them and have a protocol agreement about when and where our respective anglers are placed in the upper miles of the river to avoid over crowding and to give all the anglers equal opportunity to their favorite runs and pools. We share common guests. The Stewarts are committed to preserving the wilderness area in its natural state.