In early autumn the South Thompson runs slow and deep below Chase, and much of what moves in it is passing through: sockeye bound for the Adams River, chinook, and in the years they run, pink salmon. Underneath them live the river’s own fish, whitefish and rainbows and bull trout, and where salmon spawn, those fish follow the loose eggs.
It is one river with no dam on it. It leaves the bottom of Little Shuswap Lake at Chase and runs west through a wide valley cut into terraces, with sage and Douglas fir on the slopes, to Kamloops, where it meets the North Thompson. The highway and the railway keep it company the whole way. The bridges divide it into three parts: the top of the river around Chase, the long middle between the Pritchard and Lafarge bridges, and the town water in Kamloops.
Start at the top. Near the lake outlet the river is slow and deep, whitefish and rainbows are plentiful, and in autumn trout, bull trout and whitefish are said to feed hard on loose salmon eggs. The whitefish are worth a cold day of their own in winter, when the Thompson below Kamloops Lake is shut.
The middle river is the stretch most people only see from the Trans-Canada. Below the Pritchard bridge it winds through ranch country, past the mouths of Monte Creek and Campbell Creek. A canoe or small boat gets you to water the road doesn’t reach, including a provincial park you can only land at from the river. The fishing here is unproven rather than poor, and finding out is the reward.
The town water ends at the confluence in Kamloops, with city boat launches and parks on the bank. It is the easiest place to fish an hour.
When you have the measure of it, follow the water down through Kamloops into the Thompson, or up toward the Shuswap.
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.
The South Thompson is a big, slow, driftable river, deeper and gentler than the Thompson below the lake. With the current this soft, fish don’t need boulders to hide behind; they hold in the deep, slow runs, and below creek mouths where food comes in. Snowmelt raises the river in June.
Fish and forage
Rainbow trout, bull trout and mountain whitefish live here the year round, with largescale suckers and northern pikeminnow alongside. Salmon change the menu in late summer and autumn: when they spawn, loose eggs drift down to the fish waiting below. The rest of the year the whitefish feed close to the bottom on nymphs. Salmon fishing is managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada; check their notices for openings.
When to fish it
The rules list no closure for the South Thompson from Little Shuswap Lake to Kamloops at any time of year; check in-season changes before you go. Autumn, from September into October, is the time to look for trout behind the salmon near Chase. Winter is whitefish time, fished slow and deep. Anglers have taken bull trout here in April, from the shore and from a boat. June is the month to skip, while the river is high and the city may close its launches. Summer evenings are yours to work out; on the Thompson below the lake trout come up to big dry flies at dusk, and the same is worth trying here.
How to fish it
A 5 or 6 weight rod with a floating line covers trout and whitefish, and a heavier rod with a sinking tip suits bull trout. Fish one fly at a time. Behind spawning salmon, dead-drift a single egg pattern along the bottom of the run below the fish, and mend so it travels at the speed of the current; if nothing takes, go smaller and paler, or drop downstream to the next deep slot. For whitefish, a small nymph dead-drifted slow and deep through the soft runs is the method, and when the whitefish stop, a slightly bigger nymph will sometimes find a rainbow. For bull trout, swing a large streamer slowly across and down through the deepest water near creek mouths and drop-offs, and change to a darker fly or a heavier tip when it isn’t getting down. Wade carefully: much of the river runs deep close to the bank.
Access and safety
Highway 1 runs the length of the valley, but much of the bank is private, and the public rights of way to the river are hard to find; don’t cross private or reserve land without permission. In Chase, start where the river leaves Little Shuswap Lake. At Pritchard there is an informal launch with a gentle slope on the northwest side of the bridge, and at the Lafarge bridge a small beach and launch on the northeast side. In Kamloops, the Valleyview boat launch takes boats of all sizes, and the city launches at Pioneer Park and McArthur Island are put-ins further down. Pritchard Park, about 40 km northeast of Kamloops, has no road access. The river is bigger than its slow surface suggests; in high water, stay off it.
Regulations
Single barbless hooks are required on all streams in the region, all year, with one artificial fly on the line. The rainbow trout quota is two a day, none over 50 cm. Release all steelhead, and release bull trout from August 1 to October 31; at other times you may keep one bull trout, none under 60 cm. No kokanee may be kept from streams. The short river between Shuswap Lake and Little Shuswap Lake is fished under the Shuswap Lake rules, not these. Check the regulations on fishing from a boat, and check in-season changes before you go.