In January the Squamish runs low, long past its summer flood, and some of the glacial grey has gone out of it. Spent chum settle on the gravel bars below Brackendale, and the trees along the far bank fill with bald eagles come down to feed on them. In the same water,
bull trout and
Dolly Varden are working the tails of the runs for loose eggs, while people on the dyke watch the birds.
Ice keeps this river’s calendar. From May through August meltwater off the glaciers holds it high and silty; from autumn into spring it fishes. It comes in three parts. The lower river is wide, braided water from the Cheakamus mouth down past town to Howe Sound. The middle river follows a long valley road north through sand and gravel. The upper river runs from a canyon near a creek that carries volcanic mud off Mount Cayley up to the Elaho junction, at the far end of the road.
Start at the bottom, where the fish come in first. Coho are best in October, chum fill the river from late October through November, and the winter
steelhead are late: few show before the end of February, and the main run comes in April. The water just above and below the Cheakamus mouth is the most popular on the river, and the Mamquam confluence near town is a favourite with fly anglers. The easy way in is Fisherman’s Park, at the end of Judd Road in Brackendale, where a short trail leads to a white sand beach on the river.
The middle river is the one for room. The pavement ends about 18 km above the Cheakamus bridge and a logging road carries on beside the water. Steelhead often hold here in broad, shallow riffles, and the gravel bars of a stretch called the 24 Mile, a little further up, are where people camp on weekends.
The upper river is the surprise. Steelhead thin out above the canyon at Turbid Creek, but more Dolly Varden turn up, a fair trade for the drive.
Four side rivers carry the story on, and the Cheakamus is the first to find: it comes in clear when the Squamish runs milky.
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.
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 Squamish is glacier-fed, and when the snow starts melting in early May its tributaries go silty too, all but the Cheakamus, which a dam steadies. Some of the Cheakamus comes back into the Squamish by another road: it is taken out of Daisy Lake, sent through a tunnel under the mountain, and released from a generating station into the Squamish through a short, built channel with little habitat in it.
Below the Cheakamus the river splits around bars and islands, and the west bank between the Mamquam and Cheakamus mouths is a provincial park kept for the eagles. Above the Cheakamus a long sandy, meandering stretch has few classic pools and plenty of sweepers and buried logs. Further up the runs turn to fast gravel, and above that Turbid Creek drops mud, rock and wood into the river from the volcano; slides off Mount Cayley have dammed the Squamish for a time more than once.
Each kind of water has its fish. Steelhead lie in the broad riffles and tailouts. Bull trout use the deep tanks and pools. Salmon moving up from the tide rest in the slower runs, and the trout and char take station below them.
How to fish it
A 6 to 8 weight is the range, single or two-handed, with a sink tip for the swing. For steelhead, cast down and across, mend to slow the fly, and let it come round through the riffles and tailouts at an even pace, then take a step and cast again. Fish one fly at a time. For bull trout, swing a big streamer deep through the tanks; if nothing moves, change to a leech, and if that fails, fish an egg pattern slowly through the water just below spawning salmon. Chum take a large, lively steelhead-style fly on the swing. When the colour is up, go bright and flashy so the fish can find it. Don’t step in below someone already fishing a run; work down through it and walk back to the top.
Access and safety
From Highway 99, the lower river is reached from Squamish and Brackendale; Squamish Valley Road, north of Brackendale, leads to the Cheakamus mouth and the upper valley. A rough road near the Brackendale power station leads to a tiny parking spot and a rough trail to the river at the Cheakamus mouth, and many anglers simply fish down from the Cheakamus instead. Much of the lower valley is private or reserve land, so don’t cross it without permission. The eagle park has no road access and no crossing from the east bank; keep off its west-bank sandbars while the eagles are in.
Upriver, the Squamish River Forest Service Road carries heavy logging trucks on weekdays. Rustic recreation sites line it, from High Falls a few kilometres up to a riverside site near the Elaho turnoff, and freshet floods have closed the road and those sites before. The side creeks you cross on the way up are closed to fishing all year; only Ashlu Creek, the Cheakamus, Elaho and Mamquam Rivers and the Squamish Powerhouse Channel are open among them. Black bears share the valley, and the sandy stretch is waded with an eye on the logs. Below town the river meets the sea, and tidal water there falls under federal tidal rules and a tidal licence.