From late summer into December, salmon gather in the big pool below Stamp Falls in their thousands, sockeye first, then coho and chinook, waiting their turn at the fish ladder cut beside the falls. Black bears come down to the river for them. Stand on the bluff above and you are looking at the run that brings the crowds to this short river, though the water around the falls itself is closed to fishing through the run.
But the fish worth finding are past the crowds. Summer steelhead slip through the lower river and settle in the upper river for months, in runs clear enough to watch them hold.
Understand the shape first. The Stamp leaves Great Central Lake at a dam and runs a short way south to Port Alberni, where it meets the Sproat and becomes the Somass. One tributary, the Ash, and one waterfall cut it into three parts. Above the Ash it is the upper river, hard to reach and very clear. Between the Ash and the falls is the park water. Below the falls is the lower river, the big winter water, running down past a rapid called the Bucket toward town.
The middle river, from the Ash down to Stamp Falls, is where to start. A long trail follows the bank upstream from the campground, and a pool just below the Ash, known as Money’s Pool, has its own anglers’ trail. From Money’s Pool down to the boundary signs above the falls, it holds summer steelhead from late summer and salmon through the autumn, and it is the easiest place to find a run with nobody on it.
The lower river is the classic winter steelhead water, wide and heavy, where fresh fish from the sea tend to stay low in the river. Walk in from the falls or from the Fish and Game club grounds near Girl Guide Falls.
The upper river, from the Great Central Lake dam down to the Ash, is the reward for anyone with a boat or the will to push through bush. Leave it until you know the river; much of it can only be fished well from a boat.
Ahead are the Ash, the Sproat and Great Central Lake, all within a short drive of the park gate.
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 Stamp is a big, clear river draining a big lake, with boulder runs, bedrock at the falls, and pools between. Steelhead hold on the edges of fast water and behind boulders, out of the main push but close to it. In the upper river the runs are clear enough to sight-fish, which also means fish near the trails see a lot of anglers. Below the falls the river widens, the runs get longer, and in winter there is little room behind you for a backcast.
Fish and forage
Steelhead are the river’s fish, with a summer and autumn run and a winter run, both helped by the hatchery at Robertson Creek near the top of the river. Chinook, coho, chum and sockeye run through as well, and cutthroat and rainbow trout, some of them large, turn up among them. The summer fish feed like trout until about mid-October, then turn to the eggs of spawning chinook and stay near the spawning gravel. A good rain washes loose eggs out of the beds, and the fish feed hard behind it.
When to fish it
Summer steelhead show in small numbers from May and build through August; look for them in the upper river and in the park water upstream of the falls signs. The best of the summer and autumn fishing is from mid-October to the end of November, after a heavy rain, in the upper river and in the park water between the Ash and the falls. Winter fish arrive from the second week of December and peak in January; fish them in the lower river below the falls and the park water above it, through March. The upper river, from the Ash to the lake dam, is closed from 1 January to 30 April. The water around Stamp Falls, from signs 200 m above the falls to 500 m below them, is closed from 15 June to 15 November, so through the autumn salmon run, fish the park water above the signs or the lower river well downstream.
How to fish it
For summer fish that are looking up, a waking dry fly over a run you can see into is the best moment on this river. If they won’t come up, change to a large stonefly nymph or a small intruder and fish it deeper. Once the fish turn to eggs in late autumn, many pass a swung fly, and a single egg pattern drifted under an indicator along the seam below spawning salmon takes them; move upstream after each fish, since they spook in the clear water.
In winter use a two-handed rod, which handles the wide river with no room behind you, and a sink-tip with one intruder. Swing it slowly across the soft edge of fast water and around boulders, step a few paces after each cast, and let the fly hang at the end of the swing. If nothing takes, go heavier on the tip before you change the fly.
Access and safety
Take Highway 4 past Port Alberni and turn onto Beaver Creek Road; most access to the river is off it. Stamp River Park has a day-use area, a campground on the river, and a short trail to the falls. Money’s Pool is reached by a gravel road off Beaver Creek Road to a signed anglers’ trail; part of the way crosses private land, so stay on the trail. The Fish and Game club grounds, off McKenzie Road, ask you to sign in, and trails run up and down the river from there. Much of the west bank is private, and you may be asked to leave if you cross it.
The roads are rough: a high-clearance vehicle helps, and four-wheel drive after rain or snow. The falls are high and the rocks around them slippery, so keep back from the edges. Bears are drawn to the salmon, so make noise on the trails and carry bear spray. Guide boats and bank anglers crowd the best runs in season.
Regulations
Bait is banned all year upstream of the signs at Girl Guide Falls, about 250 m upstream of the mouth of Beaver Creek, and below those signs from 1 June to 24 August. All year, there is no fishing within 23 m downstream of the lower entrance to the fish ladder, or within 100 m of a government fish hatchery. Engine power is limited to 7.5 kW (10 hp) on parts of the river; check the regulations for which parts. Across Region 1, streams carry a single barbless hook. Release all wild steelhead, all wild trout and all char, including Dolly Varden. Hatchery steelhead, with a healed scar where the adipose fin was, may be kept: no more than 2 over 50 cm a day within the trout daily quota of 4, no more than 2 trout from streams, and no more than 10 hatchery steelhead a licence year across BC. Fishing for steelhead needs a Steelhead Conservation Surcharge Stamp, and keeping one needs a paper licence with the fish recorded on it. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets the salmon rules: check their freshwater notices, and any in-season changes, before you fish.