You cross into the Ashnola valley on a red covered bridge, built for a railway, just west of Keremeos, and from there the road follows a river that hardly ever stops being whitewater. One story says the name means “white waters”. Nobody is sure, but the river fits it: cold, quick water out of the Cascades, and in the slack behind the boulders, small wild rainbows.
The river comes north out of Washington, crosses the border into Cathedral Park, and runs down a long, narrow valley to the Similkameen. A gravel road follows it most of the way, and the river falls into three parts. The lowest few kilometres run past a campground and reserve land near the bridge. The long middle runs beside the forest road, through country the 2023 fire burned. The top runs inside the park, where the road gives out and trails climb toward the high lakes.
The middle river, along the forest road above the end of the pavement, is the place to start. Pull over where the river comes close, climb down, and fish the pockets and small pools on the near bank, a few casts each, then move on. The campsites near the Lakeview trailhead and at Buckhorn put you close to the river.
The lower river near Keremeos is the easy reach, with riverside sites at a campground run by the Lower Similkameen Indian Band. Much of the land around the mouth is reserve, and you need permission to cross it, so fish from the campground or ask first.
The upper river inside Cathedral Park is the far end. Most people on the park trails are headed for the lakes, and the river runs on through the timber below them, fished by very few.
The whole river closes from 30 July to 15 September, so the Ashnola is fished in July and again from mid-September.
Higher still, the park’s lakes hold wild rainbows and cutthroat, and late in the year you can watch trout spawning from the footbridges at their outlets.
Water and habitat
The Ashnola is steep and continuous, with miles of Class IV whitewater and high snowmelt water in May and June. There are few big pools. Trout hold in the pockets behind boulders, in the slower water along the banks, and in the tails of the small pools where the current gathers before the next drop. Whitefish sit deeper, in whatever slow water the river gives them.
Since the 2023 fire, much of the valley above the lower river is burned timber with new growth coming in. Expect less shade on the water through those reaches, and more wood in the river after storms.
How to fish it
You fish one fly at a time. Start with a black dry fly, a size 12 or 14 Black Gnat or a black-bodied Elk Hair Caddis, and fish it short: a rod-length of line, high rod, a float of a metre or two through the soft water behind a rock or along the near bank. If a pocket doesn’t produce in a few drifts, it won’t. Move up.
When nothing rises, change to a small bead-head stonefly or Pheasant Tail nymph, drop it into the slot behind the same rock and let it tumble along the bottom. After mid-September, start with the nymph in the pool tails and go back to the dry only when you see a rise. For whitefish, fish the same small nymph slow and deep through the slowest water you can find.
Wade little. The current is heavy and continuous, and most of the fishing is done from the edge.
Access and safety
Ashnola Road leaves Highway 3 about 3 km west of Keremeos and crosses the red bridge, with Ashnola Campground on the road beyond it. About 10 km on, the pavement ends and the Ashnola Forest Service Road follows the river upstream into the park. The Lakeview trailhead turn-off is between the 13 and 14 km markers, with a small campground at the trailhead, and Buckhorn Campground is near the 16 km marker.
The 2023 fire cut this road and destroyed the bridge that carries the private road toward the park’s core. Check road, bridge and park advisories before you go, and watch for falling trees on burned slopes, especially in wind. The valley is part of a corridor the Lower Similkameen Indian Band has declared a protected area, and a day-use fee may apply.
In the park there is no cell service, grizzly and black bears live here, and all water should be treated.