From January into April the Lillooet does something a glacier river rarely gets to do: it runs low, cold and clear. The trout and bull trout that spent the autumn behind the spawning salmon, eating eggs, have turned to the fry and alevin coming out of the gravel, and cutthroat that came into the system in late fall are feeding with them, sometimes a rod length from the bank.
The river comes in three pieces, with two lakes between them. It rises at the edge of an icefield far up the Coast Mountains and runs down a long, narrow valley past Meager Creek. Then it levels out across the farmland of Pemberton Meadows, held in by dykes, past the town of Pemberton and into Lillooet Lake. It leaves the lake by a short channel, passes through Little Lillooet Lake, and runs a long, forested lower river to the head of Harrison Lake.
Start in the Pemberton valley. From town upstream toward the Meadows the river runs beside farm roads and dykes, and you can reach most of it on foot as far as the bridge crossing. Look where a side river such as the Ryan comes in, and along the wood the river has piled against its banks; that is where trout and bull trout hold. In October they are behind the salmon; in late winter it is the low, clear river.
The lower river, below Little Lillooet Lake, is the wilder one: a gravel road down one side of the valley, and long stretches people reach by jet boat up from Harrison Lake. Cutthroat, rainbows and bull trout own it from late fall into early spring, and wild steelhead come through in spring.
Above the Meadows, the upper valley is the open question. It is the glacier’s river, carrying silt from the 2010 slide off Mount Meager, and it comes up high and grey in summer. If you want to find out what lives in it, go in the cold months when the ice upstream is quiet.
The Birkenhead comes in right beside the Lillooet’s mouth at the head of the lake, a salmon river of its own, and beyond it the Green and the Ryan wait as the next forks up the valley.
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.
This is a glacier-fed river. Summer melt keeps it high and coloured, and the cold months drop it back to a river you can read. Sediment from the Meager slide is still working its way down toward Pemberton, and gravel is dug out to keep the channel off the farms, so bars and pools shift from year to year. Through the valley the fish hold where the current gives them a break and food comes to them: the seam below a gravel bar where eggs drift in autumn, the wood along the bank, the mouth of a clear side stream. Bull trout want the deepest, coolest water, so look for them at the head and in the belly of the big pools. The lower river is narrower and shallower, with cutthroat close to shore and around wood.
Fish and forage
The river holds resident and sea-run cutthroat, rainbow trout, bull trout and Dolly Varden, with wild steelhead in spring and big spring chinook from April to June. The salmon drive everything else. In autumn the trout and char follow spawning salmon upstream and eat eggs, then flesh; by late winter and spring they are on salmon fry, alevin and sculpin. That gives you a short fly box: an egg, a fry, a sculpin, and something to strip on the surface for cutthroat.
When to fish it
October is the egg bite, through the Pemberton valley and on the lower river, with the trout following the salmon. From late fall through the winter and into early spring the lower river is trout and bull trout water. January to April is the season for the upper river around Pemberton, when it is low and clear, and February to April is when cutthroat are most active across the system. Wild steelhead run in spring, and chinook arrive from April into June. In summer the melt makes the whole river hard to fish, and the clear side rivers are the better bet.
How to fish it
In October, find the salmon, stand below and to the side of them, and dead-drift one egg pattern along the seam where eggs wash out of the gravel. If fish see it and refuse it, change to a smaller, paler egg. In late winter, swing or strip one fry or sculpin pattern across the slower edges on a floating line with a light sink tip, starting near the bank before you wade. When cutthroat are slashing at fry near the surface, change to a Rolled Muddler and strip it fast past them; a fish will often follow it in and take at your feet. For bull trout, change to a bigger sculpin on a heavier sink tip and work it slowly through the deep holes. A 4- or 5-weight is right for the cutthroat; bull trout, steelhead and chinook need much more rod.
Access and safety
Around Pemberton, Pemberton Meadows Road runs up the valley and the dykes along the river carry walking trails; much of the valley is farmland, and you may not cross cultivated, posted or private land, or reserve land, without permission. The lower river is reached by the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road, which leaves Highway 99 near Mount Currie and follows the east side of Lillooet Lake past recreation-site campgrounds such as Strawberry Point and Twin One. Four-wheel drive is recommended, the road is not maintained for winter, and sections close after accidents or washouts, so check the district’s road conditions before you go. The upper valley is reached by forest road along the river’s north side, with a gate on the Meager Creek road. The Meager area is a known landslide zone, and the glacial water is cold, fast and too milky to show you the bottom. Expect bears.
Regulations
The rules list no closure for the Lillooet River; check in-season changes before you go. The channel between Lillooet Lake and Little Lillooet Lake counts as river, not lake, which matters because stream and lake limits differ; the lakes have their own entries. As on every stream in Region 2, use a single barbless hook all year. Wild trout and char from streams must be released, and so must all wild steelhead; check the regulations for hatchery-fish limits. Fishing for steelhead needs a Conservation Surcharge Stamp on your basic licence. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets the rules for chinook and other salmon; check them before you fish for one.