In November the last runs of Norrish Creek fill with chum, so many that the coho among them are the fish you have to find. Most are dark by then. Every so often a bright one turns up after rain, fresh in from the slough, and somewhere behind the spawners the cutthroat are working the loose eggs. People who live here call it Suicide Creek, and the regulations print that name beside the real one.
The creek comes out of the mountains on the north side of the Fraser Valley. It rises at Dickson Lake, a reservoir under Mount Wardrop that few people visit, picks up its west fork just below the outlet, and runs down a steep logged valley beside a gravel road. It comes out onto the valley floor east of Dewdney, crosses the farmland, and ends in Nicomen Slough rather than the Fraser itself. That gives you three parts: the lower creek, the valley above it, and the headwaters.
The lower creek is the part to fish, and where to start. From the road bridge on the valley floor down to where the creek meets the slough, it is a string of short runs and pools you can cover in a morning. It is salmon water small enough to read at a glance, and in a good November the best runs have two or three rods on them.
The valley above is steeper water beside the road, where the creek tumbles off the mountain front. It is the main drinking water source for Abbotsford and Mission, with a treatment plant about six and a half kilometres up the road, so treat it gently. How far the salmon get, and what lives above them, is yours to find out.
The headwaters at Dickson Lake are a long drive up a gated road, more of an expedition for the curious than a fishing destination.
When the creek runs low and clear and the runs are crowded, walk down to the slough. The water below the highway bridge at Dewdney has more room and often more fish.
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.
Norrish is a short, steep coast stream that drops off the mountain front onto the floodplain. Heavy rain brings it up fast and can blow it out for a few days. The fish hold in the deeper runs and the tails of the pools on the lower creek, and in the quiet backwater where the creek meets the slough. Heavy storms in the winter of 2006 to 2007 washed out sections of the valley road, and a rock slide later blocked it and damaged the water intake; expect the valley to keep changing.
Fish and forage
Coho and chum run the creek in autumn to spawn, and chum far outnumber the coho. Some of the coho are hatchery fish with the adipose fin clipped. Coastal cutthroat follow the salmon in and sometimes spawn in the creek themselves. Steelhead come back in small numbers, the odd winter fish rather than a run.
When to fish it
The whole creek is closed to fishing from 1 May to 30 June, and it reopens on 1 July. Coho and chum are in the lower creek from September to December, and November is the peak. Low, clear water makes them slow and spooky, so the days after a good rain are the ones to watch for. From January to April the lower creek is quieter: cutthroat and the chance of a winter steelhead.
How to fish it
A 6- or 7-weight is plenty for this size of water, with a floating line and a short sink tip for the deeper runs. Wade little and cast short. In the clear water of a dry spell, keep low and fish the first and last light.
For coho, swing or strip a small dark fly through the slower water at the tail of each run. An egg-sucking leech is the first fly to try; if fish follow and turn away, go smaller and darker, then slow the strip. Chum take pink or purple flies, and a bright, flashy chum pattern dead drifted along the bottom of a run is often the answer. For cutthroat, fish a small minnow pattern or a nymph behind the spawning salmon, where the eggs drift. If a run gives nothing in a dozen casts, move to the next. There are only so many runs, and the fish are either in them or still in the slough.
Access and safety
The lower creek is reached from Lougheed Highway east of Dewdney. Hawkins Pickle Road leads north from the highway towards the bottom of the valley road and the nearby Inch Creek hatchery. Anglers park along the highway past the slough crossing and walk in. Much of the floodplain is farmland: do not cross cultivated or posted land without permission, and watch for barbed wire on the fences, which will open a pair of waders. The valley road is gated; it has been open by day for workers and the public, but don’t count on it, and keep an eye on the time. It is an industrial road to a water plant, so give the crews room.
Regulations
Region 2 rules apply. You must use a single barbless hook in all streams in the region, and your licence allows one line with one fly on it. Wild trout and char from streams must be released, and all wild steelhead must be released. You need a Conservation Surcharge Stamp on your basic licence to fish for steelhead, even if you release every fish. Salmon fishing is managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, so check its rules for coho and chum, including whether a clipped coho may be kept, and check in-season changes to the provincial regulations before you fish.