In a dry September the coho arrive off Port Renfrew before the river below Harris Creek is ready for them. They stack up on the bar and in the pool above it, rolling on the tide while they wait for rain, and the first real storm off the Pacific lifts the river and pulls them in. They are said to be the heaviest coho on the Island, and fresh ones keep arriving with every rise into the lower river.
The river comes in three parts. It rises in the Seymour Range and runs west down a long logged valley, squeezes through a canyon below the point where the Fleet River comes in, and opens into a broad flat valley for its last stretch. Near the end two creeks join, then a lake’s outlet, and the river splits into two branches through an estuary forest before it meets salt water at Port San Juan. Above the Fleet River the rules close the river to fishing all year, so the fishing is the valley and the tide.
The tidewater is where most people start, and it is easy to find: the bridge on the way out of town, a flat campground on the north bank run by the Pacheedaht First Nation, and a shoreline you can walk to follow the coho school as it shifts through the morning. The town side is Pacheedaht land, so ask before you fish the rocks there.
The lower river, from the estuary up past Fairy Lake to the mouth of Harris Creek, is drift water and cutthroat water.
Sea-run cutthroat live in the lower reaches all year and run up into the lake, and the classic float puts in at the bridge on the Harris Creek Main logging road and comes out at Fairy Lake.
The middle valley, up through the canyon toward the Fleet River, is the stretch to leave until you know the river. It is tight and deep, its ways in hide off logging roads, and it is where the winter
steelhead go. A big pool above the canyon has given up dark late coho to people fishing for steelhead in January.
Harris Creek is the side creek worth a day of its own, and its road leads to a spruce that everyone stops for.
Water and habitat
This is a small river with a big-river fishery. In the valley it narrows to a few rod lengths in places, running in deep channels that hold fish but are hard to swing a fly through. The fish lie in the softest part of the deep water, on the inside of a bend or in the slack under a bridge. Late in the run the coho spread out into knee-deep runs, and that is when a fly fisher gets the advantage.
The estuary is a flood forest of Sitka spruce and black cottonwood, with elk on the flats and river otters in the branches. That forest is an ecological reserve, and the rules prohibit fishing in ecological reserves, so learn where its boundary falls before you fish the branches through it.
When to fish it
The whole river is closed from 15 July to 31 August, and the river above the Fleet River is closed all year. Within those limits the year runs like this.
Summer steelhead come through in June and up to the closure, below the Fleet River. Coho stage in the tide in September and push into the lower river below Harris Creek with each rain, and the river keeps giving up big coho into December. Winter steelhead run through the valley between Harris Creek and the Fleet River, with February to April the peak.
In tidewater, fish first light, best on a low tide turning to flood. An afternoon wind usually blows up the river and flattens the bite unless fish are showing.
How to fish it
One fly at a time, on a single barbless hook. An 8-weight with sink tips covers the river.
In the tidewater you share the shore with lure casters, and a spoon flies a lot farther than a fly. Go at dawn or midweek and strip a small pink fly back through the pool above the bar. If they follow and turn off, slow down and go smaller.
On the river, after rain, coho stop in the pools where creeks join: under the Harris Creek bridge, where some hold for weeks, and at the mouth of Lens Creek late in the run. Swing a pink leech through the soft edge of the deep water; it has taken fish on a creek near town. In fresh colour, change to a bigger, darker leech on a heavier tip; when the water drops clear, go smaller and fish the morning. For coho in shallow runs, cast across and well above them, and let the fly come slowly past their noses.
Steelhead in the valley are a swing-and-step game: cover each run once, move down two steps a cast, and move on.
Access and safety
Highway 14 brings you to Port Renfrew. The Pacific Marine Road out toward Lake Cowichan crosses the river and passes the Fairy Lake recreation site, first come first served, with a car-top launch. It floods in heavy rain.
The valley roads are working logging roads, so expect trucks. The spur to the Harris Creek confluence is a rough four-by-four track. Fuel and phone signal can be scarce, so fill up and carry a map. Bears and cougars live here.
Regulations
Every stream in Region 1 is single barbless hook and bait ban, all year. Release all wild steelhead, all wild trout from streams, and all char, Dolly Varden included. You need a steelhead stamp on your licence to fish for steelhead. Salmon rules belong to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the provincial rules do not apply in tidal water, so check its notices for the bar and the harbour. Ask about fishing near the hatchery and its trap at the Fairy Lake entrance, and check the regulations and in-season changes before you go.
The Gordon River shares a mouth with the San Juan’s northern branch, and its runs are the next ones to learn.