In October the poplars along the Kispiox turn gold and the water slides tea-coloured over rocky ledges. It looks like a trout stream. Somewhere in one of those runs is a steelhead bigger than most anglers will ever hook, and fish that size have been coming out of this small river since the 1950s.
It is also the moodiest river in the valley. A heavy rain turns it brown before its neighbours, and it is the last of them to clear, so the Kispiox rewards whoever is camped beside it on the morning it comes back.
The shape is simple. The river rises in the hills well north of Hazelton and runs south down a long valley to the Skeena at the Gitxsan village of Kispiox, with a road beside it most of the way. It falls into three parts: the lower river, where most of the fishing is; the middle river, reached by forest road and two small riverside campsites; and the headwaters above the East Kispiox, at the end of the logging roads.
The lower river is where to start. Below a side stream called Cullon Creek it winds through poplar flats beside Kispiox Valley Road, and its runs carry names that steelheaders have used for decades: the Potato Patch near the mouth, the water at Date Creek, the Powerline Hole. Big bright fish arrive in September, and by October most good runs hold them.
The middle river is the reward for driving on. The road becomes the Kispiox Valley Trail, a forest road, and there is a camp on an open, grassy bench above the water and, farther up where the Sweetin River comes in, a small forested site with a gravel beach. The famous names are all downstream, and so are most of the anglers.
The headwaters above the East Kispiox are unproven water: nobody’s famous runs, just a river worth a look if you have a raft and a spare day.
When the Kispiox is out, look over the hills to the Babine, which has usually cleared already.
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.
Confirmed
Recorded on this water in the last 15 years, or named for it by a fishery agency, its fishing rules or a fishing publication.
The Kispiox is a modest river by Skeena standards, rocky and ledged, with tannin in the water even when it is clear. Its soils are unstable and the valley has been logged, so a warm rain on early snow muddies it badly. In July it runs murky with snowmelt, then clears through August and September.
Steelhead here hold deep. Look for the slower, deeper water along ledges and in the tail of a run where the bottom breaks up the current, and fish it from the head down. In low, clear water the fish are wary, so stay back from the edge and let the fly reach them before you do.
Fish and forage
Wild steelhead are why people come, and many of them are big, thick fish. Chinook, pinks and coho run the river too. The steelhead are fresh from the sea and feeding little, so fly choice is about what provokes them rather than what imitates food.
When to fish it
The river opens on 16 June. Chinook are the early fishery, arriving in July and running into August, under federal salmon rules. Pinks follow from mid-August into September, and coho come in autumn.
Steelhead can show from late August, but the run builds through September, and the last week of September and the first two weeks of October are the best of it. November can still fish well, but freeze-up decides it: the edges ice and wading turns dangerous. Watch the weather more than the calendar, and when rain hits, give the river a few dry days.
How to fish it
Kispiox steelhead come to the surface less readily than fish on the neighbouring Bulkley, so start deep. A two-handed rod in 7 or 8 weight with a sink tip, and a dark, sunken fly such as a black or purple Woolly Bugger or an Alaskabou Blue Moon, swung slowly through the deeper slots, is the standard approach. If a run gives nothing, slow the swing and get deeper before you change flies; if the water is colouring, go bigger and darker. In low, clear water from late August into October, try the other end: a floating line and a sparse traditional orange fly fished just under the surface.
For pinks, a 6- to 8-weight with a sink tip and a pink fly is enough. Chinook need a 9- to 11-weight and heavy tips.
Access and safety
From Hazelton, Kispiox Valley Road runs north through Kispiox and up the lower valley, with private campgrounds along it, one with a boat launch. Farther up, the Kispiox Valley Trail leads to the Upper Kispiox recreation site at about km 41, which has a steep, rough hand launch, and to the Sweetin River site at about km 74. Kispiox is a reserve community and the lower road passes private land; you need permission to cross either.
Much of the river can be drifted in a raft or pontoon boat to reach more water, and sweepers are the main danger. It is a long river for its size, so keep a day’s drift to about 10 km or you will spend it rowing instead of fishing.
Regulations
The whole river is closed from 1 January to 15 June. Through the open season there is a bait ban, a single barbless hook rule and one fly on the line, and you may use a boat to travel but not to angle from. All wild steelhead must be released.
From 1 September to 31 October the Kispiox is Class II water, so you need a Classified Waters Licence and a Steelhead Stamp, and non-guided non-resident aliens may not fish on Saturdays or Sundays.
Where the river meets the Skeena, near the Potato Patch, separate confluence rules apply; check the regulations for where they start and what they say. Salmon rules come from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In a hot, low summer especially, check gov.bc.ca/FishingRegulations for in-season changes before you go.