From the middle of July into early September,
Arctic grayling on the Pine come up for a dry fly. In the faster runs they rise, roll over the fly and take it on the way back down, so the hard part is waiting for the line to tighten before you lift. All of it happens a short walk from Highway 97, beside a road most people use to get somewhere else.
The Pine starts in the Misinchinka Ranges at Pine Pass and runs east with the highway to Chetwynd, then leaves the road and runs on to the Peace just above Taylor. It comes in three parts. The top is small mountain water near the pass. The middle is the highway river west of Chetwynd, where a bridge on the old Hasler road, roughly where Hasler Creek comes in, splits the upper water from the lower. Below Chetwynd the Sukunka and then the Murray join, and the bottom of the river runs through grassland breaks you reach by boat.
Start on the highway water between that bridge and Chetwynd. This is the easiest stretch to get at, with pull-outs, bridge crossings and short dirt roads down to pools and runs. It holds grayling along with
rainbow trout,
mountain whitefish and
bull trout, and a 4-weight is all the rod it needs.
Above the bridge the river shrinks as it climbs toward the pass, along the edge of a big provincial park that straddles the continental divide. The places to find on the map are the Pine River Bridge and the mouths of Link and Silver Sands creeks, small water for a short rod and a slow walk up the bank.
The lower river is the one for exploring. From a boat launch at East Pine, where the Murray joins, you can run up the Pine past open grass hillsides, with esker ridges and kettle ponds behind them, to water you can’t see from any road.
After that, the tributaries: the Sukunka, which comes in near Chetwynd with grayling and whitefish of its own, and the Murray, running down out of the foothills to meet the Pine at the East Pine launch.
Access and safety
Highway 97 follows the upper river from Pine Pass to Chetwynd, with rest stops and access points along it; the easiest are west of Chetwynd. Park well off the highway at pull-outs. Pine Le Moray Provincial Park, about 70 km southwest of Chetwynd near the pass, has a small first-come campground at Heart Lake, usually open from mid-May to mid-September; bring bug spray. Willow Creek Forest Service Road meets the river above the Hasler Road bridge.
East Pine Provincial Park, about 30 km east of Chetwynd on Highway 97, has pit toilets and a boat launch near the mouth of the Murray, and it is the way into the lower river. Pine River Breaks Park, on the north side of the river about halfway between Chetwynd and East Pine, can be reached by boat from that launch, or on foot by Sundance Pit Road to a trail on Crown land. It has no drinking water and no developed trails, and black bears are seen there. Do not cross private land without permission.
Close by, Azouzetta Lake in the Pine Pass holds mainly rainbow trout, and Moberly Lake, about 30 km north of Chetwynd on Highway 29, has
northern pike and lake char.
Regulations
BC’s own rule for the Pine is catch and release for all fish upstream of the Hasler Road bridge. On every stream in Region 7B you must use a single barbless hook all year, bait is banned all year, and fin fish may not be used as bait; only one artificial fly is allowed on the line. All fish from streams must be released from 1 April to 15 May, and rainbow trout and Arctic grayling of any size from 1 May to 15 June. Bull trout from the Peace watershed must be released all year.
Below the Hasler Road bridge the regional quotas apply, and the grayling and whitefish rules for the Peace and its tributaries need careful reading, so check the regulations before you keep any fish. Check www.gov.bc.ca/FishingRegulations for in-season changes before you go.