Side by side · Fishing Lodges

Sointula Lodge vs The Lodge at Gold River

Two fishing lodges side by side from their own published tariffs: Sointula Lodge from $7,035, The Lodge at Gold River from $780 per person, with seasons, what is and is not in the price, deposit and cancellation terms, and the transfer from the gateway.

How this page is made. Every figure is from the two operators' own published tariffs and booking pages, as recorded in their Ledgers, last read 14 September 2026. The sentences under "Which one" are rules over those figures, not opinion; where an operator publishes nothing, the row says so and the rule stays quiet. Ben has stayed at both.

Aerial view of Sointula Lodge's dock and two guide boats in a sheltered cove, with the lodge and cabins in the trees behind

North Vancouver Island Sointula Lodge

A small aluminium fishing boat alone on glassy green water, seen from directly overhead

Nootka Sound The Lodge at Gold River

The record

Side by side

Fact	Sointula Lodge	The Lodge at Gold River
From, per person	From $7,035 per person for 3 nights (4 Day Fishing Trip), The season (May to October), 2026 tariff	From $780 per person per night on a 1-night minimum, Year-round (All year), 2026 tariff
Per night	about $2,345 per person per night, the 4 Day Fishing Trip rate divided by its 3 nights	$780 per person, the printed nightly rate
All in, with tax	about $7,387 per person for the shortest stay, with GST at 5%	about $819 per person for the shortest stay, with GST at 5%
Stays sold	4 packages of 3 or 4 nights	By the night, 1 to 7 nights
Priced for	Double; Single; Triple; Quad	Double; Single
Season	The season, May to October	Year-round, All year
In the price	Your log cabin, meals (hot breakfast, lunch out on the water or a beach, a four-course dinner from a set menu), and wine, spirits and beer A guided day on the water every day, three to four guests to a boat with a licensed guide, in a 27 ft NorthRiver with an enclosed heated cabin and its own bathroom All fishing gear: rods, reels, tackle, plus Columbia insulated rain jackets, rain pants, rain boots, Mustang inflatable life jackets and children's life jackets On the fishing packages, your catch weighed, filleted, frozen and packed in insulated boxes that check as airline luggage The High Seas Day (bottom fish and salmon off the northern tip of the island) and a day of Great Bear Rainforest fly fishing, both on request, on the fishing packages Beach Bistro lunch of boiled crab on an island one day, the Burger Boat lunch delivered to you on the water another Kayaks, paddleboards, bicycles, the hot tubs and the Finnish sauna, the pool table, the trails and the alpacas Binoculars on the boats	Transport to and from Campbell River, where the lodge meets flights from Vancouver and Seattle A suite in one of the three cabins: two queen beds, a wood-burning fireplace, a sitting area, a granite bathroom, a semi-private covered deck All meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner and appetisers All non-alcoholic drinks The exercise room, the game room with shuffleboard and a large-screen television, and the fly-casting pond On a guided fishing package: the guide, the gear, lunch and transport, including the helicopter on a heli day Sage rods and reels and Simms waders from the tack room, for guests on a guided fishing package A pressurised, heated drying room for waders, boots and outdoor clothing Telephone, high-speed wireless internet and cable television in every room
Not in the price	Tax Getting to the lodge: the flight or drive to Port McNeill and the 15-minute boat ride, or a chartered floatplane; the lodge helps arrange it BC tidal fishing licence, $38.85, printed and in your hand on arrival Tips for staff; the lodge suggests 15% of the trip value per guest A private boat for a party of two, $1,950 The cellar wine list, massages, and the half- and full-day helicopter adventures, priced on request	Taxes Gratuities Fishing licences: a BC freshwater licence and steelhead stamp for the rivers, a tidal licence with the salmon stamp for the saltwater day Fishing itself: heli fishing at $3,900 or $4,750 a day, a guided saltwater day $1,000, a local river day $500, the party barge lake day $550 The heli-picnic ($475 with a heli fishing day, $1,750 without), the Hot Springs Cove hike ($1,350) and golf ($90) Alcohol: the rate card lists non-alcoholic drinks only Getting to Campbell River
Deposit	33% at booking. Inside 60 days of the trip the whole balance is due at booking.	Not published
If you cancel	More than 90 days out: deposit kept, but fully transferable to another date in the same season; with the lodge's permission, to the next season 90 days or fewer: all funds forfeited; a transfer to another date in the same summer at the lodge's discretion if there is space Moving to the next calendar year: 25% of the deposit paid is applied to a visit the following summer	Not published
Getting there	Boat from Port McNeill (the Port McNeill dock; the lodge sets arrival and departure times, confirm them before booking travel): 15 minutes by boat to Malcolm Island, not in the price. Timing partly our estimate.	Road from Gold River (100 Muchalat Drive, Gold River; the lodge meets flights at Campbell River): in town; the transfer from Campbell River, about an hour, is in the rate, in the price.
Sleeps	18 guests	18 guests
Region	North Vancouver Island, British Columbia	Nootka Sound, British Columbia
Source	2026 tariff, read 14 September 2026	2026 tariff, read 14 September 2026

"From" is the lowest adult double rate in the newest tariff, per person for the shortest stay sold; the all-in line adds the tax the calculator adds. Anything marked "our estimate" is ours, not the operator's.

Which one

What the record says

The two are not priced the same way, Sointula Lodge is priced as a package (4 Day Fishing Trip) and The Lodge at Gold River priced by the night, so the fair comparison is per night: about $780 per person at The Lodge at Gold River against about $2,345 at Sointula Lodge, both before tax.

The Lodge at Gold River has the longer season, All year against May to October at Sointula Lodge, the whole year.

The Lodge at Gold River lists more in the price, 9 items to 8; both lists are in the table.

The Lodge at Gold River starts in Gold River itself; Sointula Lodge is 15 minutes by boat to Malcolm Island from Port McNeill.

Both sleep 18.

Which of those matters is yours to weigh; the pages behind each place have the rest, and the calculators price a stay for your own party.

Sointula Lodge
The record and the Ledger What a trip costs, all in Request availability
The Lodge at Gold River
The record and the Ledger What a trip costs, all in Request availability

Answered from the record

Which is cheaper, Sointula Lodge or The Lodge at Gold River?

What is included at Sointula Lodge and at The Lodge at Gold River?

Sointula Lodge lists 8 things in the price, starting with your log cabin, meals and a guided day on the water every day. The Lodge at Gold River lists 9, starting with transport to and from Campbell River and a suite in one of the three cabins. The full lists, and what each leaves out, are in the table on this page.

How do you get to Sointula Lodge and to The Lodge at Gold River?

Sointula Lodge: Boat from Port McNeill (the Port McNeill dock; the lodge sets arrival and departure times, confirm them before booking travel): 15 minutes by boat to Malcolm Island, not in the price. Timing partly our estimate. The Lodge at Gold River: Road from Gold River (100 Muchalat Drive, Gold River; the lodge meets flights at Campbell River): in town; the transfer from Campbell River, about an hour, is in the rate, in the price.