In late summer of an even-numbered year, the tide floods in over the sand at the mouth of the Oyster and brings
pink salmon with it, a run the river’s volunteers have built up for more than four decades. Fly anglers line the beach as the water rises and cast pink and purple flies into it. Upstream, in the pools under hemlock and fir,
sea-run cutthroat will soon be following the same salmon.
The Oyster rises on the Forbidden Plateau, passes through two small lakes, and runs down through logged hills, under the Inland Island Highway, to the sea between Campbell River and Courtenay. The river changes where a tributary called the Little Oyster comes in, a few kilometres above the mouth. Below it you have the estuary, the beach, and a lower river you can reach on foot from two parking spots. Above it the river runs longer and much quieter.
Start at the mouth. The estuary and lower river make one of the island’s best short-river cutthroat fisheries, a mix of wild fish and hatchery fish released to give anglers somewhere close to home to find them. Trails through a small nature park lead from Regent Road down to the river and out to the beach. This is where the cutthroat follow salmon fry in spring and salmon eggs in autumn, and where you learn which pools hold them.
The beach is a fishery of its own. Pinks come in August of the even years, and coho and chum follow later, nosing along the shore until rain lets them into the river. Dawn and a rising tide are the times to stand there.
Above the Little Oyster, the rules list no fishing from 1 December to 30 June, so this is water for July to November. Logging roads reach it, and the headwater lakes beyond, but few anglers write about it. That makes it the part to come back for once you know the lower river.
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.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Water and habitat
The lower river runs through hemlock and Douglas fir over an old floodplain of dykes, ponds and dried-up channels, and it floods in spring and autumn. At the dry end of summer it runs low, and fish stay put until rain raises it.
Sea-run cutthroat school, and on the Oyster they gather in particular pools, sometimes in big numbers, sharing them with salmon. They lie at the head of a pool, where the riffle brings food in, and spread back toward the tailout. In the estuary they hold where moving water carries fry or eggs past them.
When to fish it
Spring is for the lower river below the Little Oyster and the estuary, as cutthroat chase fry heading out to sea. In August of an even year, the beach and estuary fill with pinks. Autumn opens up the whole river: once rain raises it, coho and chum push in and cutthroat follow them, and the water above the Little Oyster stays fishable through November. From December to June, fish only below the Little Oyster, down to the beach.
How to fish it
For spring cutthroat in the lower river, fish a small fry pattern, the kind used for fry-feeding cutthroat elsewhere on the coast. Cast across and down and strip it back in short pulls along seams and the edges of current. If a pool you know holds fish ignores it, change to a smaller fry or a shrimp pattern and slow down.
In autumn, change to an egg pattern dead-drifted along the bottom through the head of the pool, where loose eggs tumble down. Fish it to the tailout, then move to the next pool rather than pounding one.
On the beach, wade in as the tide starts to rise and cast a pink, purple or blue fly across the push of water. Strip it back steadily. If the fish swim past it, change colour before you change spots.
Steelhead want a fly swung slowly through the deeper runs. Fish it right to the hang-down before you step and cast again.
Access and safety
From the Inland Island Highway, turn east on Regent Road to the parking lot for the Oyster River Nature Park. The Fisherman’s Trail and its neighbours follow an old riverbed down to the river and the beach. They turn to mud after high water. The Jack Hames Trail joins the Pub to Pub Trail toward Salmon Point, crossing private land, so stay on it.
Near the mouth, signs along Hamm Road lead to a parking area. If the gate is shut, walk in, and keep clear of the blocked driveway. The main bridge is the place to look at the water level before you wade. The river rises with heavy rain, and the trails flood in spring and autumn.
The upper river is reached by logging roads, the Duncan Bay Main and the Oyster River Main among them. Check access before you head up, and give trucks the road.
Regulations
The Oyster is exempt from the 15 July to 31 August summer closure. Upstream of the Little Oyster River confluence there is no fishing from 1 December to 30 June. The rules list no closure for the river below the Little Oyster; check in-season changes before you go. You may fish one artificial fly on the line, Region 1 streams need a single barbless hook all year, and a bait ban applies to all Region 1 streams all year.
Release all wild trout, all wild steelhead and all char, Dolly Varden included. A hatchery trout, with a healed scar where the adipose fin was, may be kept: no more than 2 from streams within the regional trout quota of 4, no more than 1 trout over 50 cm (though 2 hatchery steelhead over 50 cm are allowed), and a possession quota of 2 daily quotas. Fishing for steelhead needs a Conservation Surcharge Stamp, and only hatchery steelhead may be kept, up to 10 a licence year across the province. Some cutthroat here carry reward tags; the regulations say what to do with one.
The beach and lower estuary are tidal, where the freshwater rules don’t apply. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets the salmon rules in both tidal and fresh water, so check its current rules for the Oyster before you keep a salmon or fish for one.
When you’ve learned the Oyster’s pools, drive twenty minutes north to the Campbell River, where the same fish run on a bigger scale.