I was born and raised in BC, started fishing at a very young age and the outdoors have been a huge part of my life. I moved to Southern California 7 years ago for work and I have missed the fishing in BC for the same amount of time. I think you are a product of your environment, if your use to beautiful rivers and lakes and the surrounding views than BC is where its at, along with the steelhead, bows and coho. Trying to catch that down here just does not happen, you can battle traffic for 6 hours to get to a lake that has bows but than your on a lake with 60 other people, and its not the same, you just start to think of your favorite spot back home when its just you the lake and the fish.
If you talk to people down here they think they have the best fishery, but its in the ocean, tuna, yellowtail, sea bass, shark. Its fun but just not the same. To me there is not that much skill involved, find the fish and reel them in with large gear. To me nailing a steelhead on the Vedder and running down river rock and trying not to break your leg and lose the your catch is way more thrilling.
I think BC is an unbelievable place to fish and live. The best in the world, I've fished in Socal, Florida, New Zealand and Australia, I personally think BC is the best out of those places maybe except for the weather. I know I'm looking forward to moving back at the end of the year, because 2 weeks during Steely season just doesn't cut it any more. So you can call me biased.