In August, after a long swim up the Fraser and through Harrison Lake, sockeye start turning out of Lillooet Lake and into the Birkenhead. They have stopped feeding by then, but trout follow them in. And while the glacial rivers around it run grey, this one clears in summer to water you can read stone by stone.
The river rises in the ranges south of Bralorne and runs down a long valley to the north end of Lillooet Lake, coming in just beside the mouth of the much larger Lillooet River. Think of it as two rivers. The lower one, from the lake up to Taillefer Creek, is the valley river beside the road from Mount Currie to D’Arcy. Above Taillefer it becomes a mountain stream, climbing beside the gravel road to Birkenhead Lake.
Start on the lower river. Where the road to D’Arcy crosses it on a concrete bridge, about ten minutes north of Pemberton, you are on a river with good bank access and a decent web of trails along it. The road is the easy way in, and the fishing gets better the further from it you walk. Rainbows, bull trout and Dolly Varden live here, and the river is the end of the road for chinook, sockeye, pinks and coho.
The best of it is the turn of the summer. In July the river is full of salmon fry and the trout are feeding on them; by August and September the stoneflies are out and the fish will come up for a big dry. The sockeye arrive in the middle of it.
The upper river is the one to leave until you know the lower. It runs small and quick up toward Birkenhead Lake, where a provincial park campground makes a base, and its fish are unproven rather than absent. Bring a light rod and a hunch.
When you have walked the lower river to the end of your legs, Birkenhead Lake is the next water up the road, and the Lillooet runs grey and enormous a few hundred metres from where this river finishes.
Fish in this water
Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
The bottom is uneven and rocky, deeper in places than it looks, with pools that firm up and show themselves as the water drops through summer. Fish sit along the seams where fry get swept past, at the heads of pools under broken water, and in the deeper slots; bull trout take the heaviest water.
Fish and forage
Rainbows and bull trout are what most anglers come for, but coastal cutthroat and mountain whitefish share the river. Chinook come earlier in the year than the sockeye, and pinks and coho run here too; a hatchery just north of Mount Currie raises the river’s own chinook. Under it all, stonefly nymphs live under the rocks all season, which is why a nymph is the fly to fall back on.
When to fish it
The rules list no closure for any reach of the Birkenhead; check in-season changes before you go. Cutthroat are in the lower river from April to the end of May. Snowmelt then brings it up hard; keep out of the main stem until runoff settles, which is often not until July. From then the lower river below Taillefer Creek fishes through October, and guides work it into November.
How to fish it
Use one fly at a time. Before you tie on, turn over a few rocks at the edge and match the stonefly nymphs you find; a golden or black stonefly nymph, dead-drifted along the bottom of a seam, is the steady producer. In July, change to a small streamer or minnow pattern and swing it through the edges where fry gather. In August and September, try an adult stonefly dry along the banks and the heads of pools. When the dry gets looks but no takes, go back to the nymph: wet flies tend to find the larger fish. Behind spawning sockeye, a single egg pattern is worth a drift, but stay off the gravel where they are digging.
Access and safety
From Pemberton, drive through Mount Currie and follow the road toward D’Arcy; the river runs beside it, and the concrete bridge is the obvious starting point. For the upper river, turn up the gravel road to Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park. Wade with care: the river is fast and high in early summer, and the rocky bottom will roll an ankle even in shallow water. The valley sees flash floods after heavy rain. Carry bear spray, especially in autumn when the salmon are in. Mount Currie is a Lil’wat community with reserve land along the lower valley, and the regulations bar entering Indian Reserve land without permission.
Regulations
The whole Birkenhead has a bait ban, and in Region 2 a single barbless hook must be used in all streams all year. Wild trout and char from streams must be released, so treat every Birkenhead trout and char as a fish to let go. Salmon rules come from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and this river has had salmon closures before; check the current salmon rules and in-season changes before you fish.