In January the Chilliwack runs cold and clear between snow-dusted banks, and the crowds of the autumn salmon season have gone home. Somewhere in the boulder runs below Slesse Creek a
steelhead is holding near the bank. These fish don’t travel in schools here, so you find one by covering water, a swing at a time, with the valley to yourself.
The river leaves Chilliwack Lake high in the mountains and drops through forest beside Chilliwack Lake Road. It picks up Slesse Creek, squeezes through a canyon above Tamihi Rapids, and runs out to the bridge at Vedder Crossing, where it changes its name and becomes the Vedder. Everything above a pair of boundary signs just below Slesse Creek is closed to fishing all year, so the fishing river is two stretches that meet at the Tamihi Rapids bridge.
Start on the lower stretch, from the Tamihi bridge down to Vedder Crossing. A paved road follows it past a string of runs with local names, fast water and pools crowded with boulders, and steelhead and salmon sit in the pockets behind the big rocks. Much of the land on the road side is private, so the ways in are the pullouts and the recreation sites around the bridge. The pullouts take the most pressure. Walk away from the car and the water empties out.
Above the bridge, a gravel road runs along the far bank and the river turns wilder. Look for the canyon pools around Allison Pool, the pool in front of the Thurston Meadows campground with room for about three rods, and a run below a long set of rapids where fish moving upstream are said to stop and rest.
Bull trout dropping down from Chilliwack Lake turn up mostly in this upper water, a bonus for whoever is swinging there for steelhead.
Below Vedder Crossing the same fish carry on through dyked gravel runs to the Fraser. Above the boundary signs the valley road keeps climbing to Chilliwack Lake, past the water nobody is allowed to fish.
Water and habitat
This is a powerful mountain river of fast runs, pools and rapids, with no serious falls. Fish hold where a boulder breaks the current, in the soft pocket behind it, and along the seam where fast water meets slow on the inside of a run. In low, clear water and early in the morning, undisturbed steelhead often lie close to the bank in water barely knee deep. Heavy rain brings the river up fast and turns it brown, and it can stay unfishable for a few days.
When to fish it
July and August are quiet months on both stretches, with summer chinook, trout and whitefish. September through November is when the salmon are in, and it is the busiest time of year. Coho peak in late October, and a bright fish can still turn up in early December.
Steelhead arrive from December. The fishing is slow through early February and improves greatly in March, when both stretches can be fished. The upper stretch, from the Slesse boundary signs down to the Tamihi Rapids bridge, closes from 1 April to 30 June, so in April the steelhead water is the lower stretch below the Tamihi bridge. That lower stretch closes from 1 May to 30 June, which shuts the whole river through May and June.
How to fish it
A two-handed rod of 12 to 14 feet lets you cover big water and hold a fish in heavy current. Swing a sink-tip line: start at the head of a run, fish the inside seam before you wade, then step down and work outward toward the tailout. Let a steelhead take the fly fully before you set. If nothing touches the fly, move to the next run rather than flogging one.
For steelhead in low, clear water, tie on a small, bright fly, and chartreuse is a good place to start. As the river rises and colours, change to a larger, darker Intruder-style fly. If the swing isn’t getting down, go to a longer or heavier tip rather than a weighted fly, which swims badly. For coho, a type IV or V sink tip suits this river’s fast water. Start with a small, flashy marabou streamer; if chum and pinks keep grabbing it, change to a muddler or a streamer in subdued, natural colours, which coho still take and the others take less often.
Never step in below another angler: most people start at the top of a run and work down. When float fishers share a pool, time your casts with theirs.
Access and safety
From Highway 1, turn south at Chilliwack to Vedder Crossing, then follow Chilliwack Lake Road up the valley. Recreation sites at Tamihi Creek, Tamihi Rapids, Allison Pool and Thurston Meadows give you camping and a way down to the water; some take reservations, so look before you rely on one. Respect private land on the paved-road side.
The current is strong enough that you need to brace yourself even at normal levels. When the river comes up high and dirty, wading turns dangerous: wait it out. Kayakers and rafts use the river, so expect boats through your pool in summer.
Regulations
BC requires a single barbless hook in all Region 2 streams, all year, and one fly on the line. You need a Conservation Surcharge Stamp on your basic licence to fish for steelhead, whether you keep or release them. Every wild steelhead must be released. Hatchery steelhead may be kept: two over 50 cm a day within the regional trout limit, no more than two days’ quota in possession, and ten per licence year across BC. Record each one on your paper licence at once, and once you keep your day’s quota you must stop fishing the river for the rest of that day. Wild trout and char from streams must be released. Salmon seasons and limits are set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, so check their current notices before you fish for salmon, and check the provincial regulations for in-season changes.