Through most of the summer the Nahatlatch runs high, and the lakes along it have barely a beach to stand on. The river leaves Frances Lake and drops at once into a run of rapids that raft crews give names to, and by the time it reaches the Fraser it has come down through a canyon few boats attempt. It is a loud river. People drive up from Boston Bar to camp, paddle and raft it, and the fishing here is a quieter question that most of them never ask.
The river is built in three parts, with three lakes strung through the middle. Above the lakes it is a mountain river coming down out of the Coast Mountains past Mehatl Creek. In the middle it widens into Nahatlatch Lake, then runs through short channels to Hannah Lake and Frances Lake. Below Frances Lake it turns into whitewater and falls steeply to the Fraser.
The upper river is the find. Most people stop at the lakeside campsites or the raft take-out, but the logging road carries on up the valley beyond Nahatlatch Lake, and that water above the lakes holds small to middling trout in the hot months. Start along the road toward Mehatl Creek and work upstream.
The lakes and the channels between them are where the camps are, and where coho, pinks and
steelhead come in to spawn. The lakes themselves have a name for slow trout fishing, though Nahatlatch Lake holds rainbows and
Dolly Varden, and the water under the rock lookout has given some up.
The lower river is steep, fast and hard to fish with a fly, and its best water is the pools that form below the rapids, where Dolly Varden and whitefish wait. The first stretch below Frances Lake, about 400 m down to the signs at the logging bridge, is closed to fishing all year.
When the snowmelt finally drops, late in the summer, the beaches come back. That is the time to drive past the lakes and see how far up the valley the road still goes, toward the falls on Mehatl Creek, which comes down out of a park of its own.
Water and habitat
The Nahatlatch falls from high in the Lillooet Ranges to the Fraser Canyon, and it is cold and steep for most of its length. Below Frances Lake it is near-continuous rapids, two of them hard enough that rafts carry around them, then a canyon of grade IV and V water above the Fraser. Fish here hold where the river lets them: in the soft water at the tail of a rapid, in the eddies at its edges, and in the slow pool that forms before the next drop. Between the lakes the gradient eases into gravel channels. Small side creeks such as Log Creek hold resident rainbows and Dolly Varden. The lake outflows carry strong currents, and the lake water is very cold.
When to fish it
From January through May no part of the river below Nahatlatch Lake can be fished, and the upper river stays closed into June. In June the lower river below Frances Lake opens, outside the closed water at the logging bridge, but it is high and dangerous then; leave the channels between the lakes and the upper river until July. High water lasts into mid-August, so for the upper river above Nahatlatch Lake and the channels between the lakes, the second half of August through October is the season worth driving for, and the hot weeks of late August are the best of it above the lakes.
How to fish it
One fly at a time. On the upper river, start with a buoyant caddis or attractor dry and fish it up into the slow water at the edges of the runs and the tails of pools, keeping your drifts short. When nothing comes up, switch to a weighted stonefly nymph and get it down at the head of the pool where the fast water slows. On the lower river, stand back from the edge of each rapid and swing a small streamer through the pool below it for Dolly Varden; if a few swings bring nothing, move to the next pool rather than staying. On Nahatlatch Lake, try a slow-stripped leech pattern off the rock lookout, and expect to work for it.
Access and safety
From Highway 1 at Boston Bar, turn onto Boston Bar Station Road, cross the bridge over the Fraser to North Bend, and stay on Chaumox Road. About 10.5 km from North Bend it becomes the Nahatlatch Forest Service Road, and the park entrance, marked by an information shelter, is about 26.5 km from Boston Bar. Rustic campsites run along the road: Log Creek just outside the park, then Frances Lake, Hannah Lake, Nahatlatch Lake, Salmon Beach and Squakum Creek. A rough boat launch sits near Salmon Beach. Beyond the lakes the road goes on toward the Mehatl Creek trailhead and Grizzly Falls, with a gate on a side road and a gated bridge farther up; reports vary on how far you can drive, and a high-clearance vehicle helps.
This is an active logging road, busy on weekdays, narrow, rough and dusty. Give trucks the road. The river’s rapids are serious, and the canyon is no place for a wading angler. Grizzly and black bears and cougars are about; treat or boil your water. Check the park’s advisories for road washouts and closures before you set out.
Regulations
The Nahatlatch is a Region 3 (Thompson-Nicola) stream. From Frances Lake downstream about 400 m to the fishing boundary signs at the logging bridge, there is no fishing at any time. Downstream of Nahatlatch Lake, including Hannah and Frances lakes, there is no fishing from 1 January to 31 May. The rules list no closure for the river below Frances Lake from 1 June to 31 December, outside that closed water at the logging bridge. Above Nahatlatch Lake the regional stream closure applies, from 1 January to 30 June, and the rules also close part of the water between the lakes until 30 June. For Nahatlatch Lake itself, check the regulations. The trout daily quota is 2, none under 30 cm. Use a single barbless hook and one fly. Release all steelhead, and carry a Steelhead Conservation Surcharge Stamp if you fish for them. Release bull trout (Dolly Varden) from streams from 1 August to 31 October; the regional limit is 1 bull trout (Dolly Varden), none under 60 cm. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets the salmon rules. Check in-season changes before you go.