The Yakoun runs the colour of strong tea, and through the winter the brightest thing in its lower water is a
steelhead fresh in from Masset Inlet. It is the biggest river on Haida Gwaii, and for steelhead it is the one the islands’ anglers have long fished hardest.
It rises in a lake near the island’s west coast and runs north through the middle of Graham Island to the head of the inlet, just south of Port Clements. It comes in three parts: the top below the lake, which is set aside as a winter sanctuary for spawning steelhead; a long middle river in logging country; and a lower river that slows into tidewater.
Start in the middle river. Logging roads run close beside most of it, with spurs down to the water, and the winter steelhead fishing gathers in the kilometres just below the boundary signs that mark the closed water. The runs near King Creek come up when anglers talk about this stretch, and so does one they call the Tunnel Run. Ask in Port Clements and someone will tell you where it is.
The lower river is the one people walk past. A ten-minute trail through old forest, about six kilometres south of Port Clements, leads to the bank where the golden spruce stood until it was cut down in 1997. Below there the river slows toward the inlet, and on a rising tide bright fish push up out of the salt. Here the tide table matters more than the hour.
The top of the river, from the lake outlet down about 13 km to boundary signs below Phantom Creek, is closed to all fishing from 1 October to 30 April. From May through September it is small, quiet water near the Rennell Sound road, worth a look for cutthroat and
Dolly Varden.
West over the hill the Mamin drains into Juskatla Inlet with runs of its own, and east across the island the Tlell winds out through Naikoon toward the open sea.
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.
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 Yakoun is skinny water for a river this size, and rain changes it fast. Heavy rain can put it out of shape, so check the hydrometric gauge before you drive in and be ready to wait for it to drop. The stain hides the bottom, so read the surface instead: travelling steelhead rest in the walking-pace glides below a riffle and along the soft edge of the main current, and the slack water beside a logjam is worth a careful swing. Every salmon of the coast passes through the estuary at the mouth, and so do the river’s cutthroat and steelhead.
How to fish it
For winter steelhead in the middle river, a 7- or 8-weight two-hander or a single-hand 8-weight with a sink tip covers the water. Swing one dark leech or tube fly across the glides, take a step between casts, and let it hang at the end of the swing below logjams and seams. If nothing touches it, go to a heavier tip and slow the swing down. If fish are showing but not taking, change to something smaller and less bulky.
In the lower river, start casting as the tide turns and move with the push of fish. Around the estuary, a bucktail on an 8-weight, stripped when coho are jumping, is an island habit. For cutthroat up top, drop to a 5- or 6-weight and swing a small streamer along the edges.
Access and safety
Port Clements is the base, on the island’s main highway. The golden spruce trail starts from the Juskatla road south of town. Most of the river is reached on private logging roads, which have long been open to the public only after working hours; ask at Juskatla for a road map and the current rules on access. Watch for logging trucks, and carry a GPS and spare fuel, since the Port Clements pumps have been known to run dry. A CB radio is worth having on the active roads.
The lake and the lower river sit inside conservancies, and the lower river holds old Haida village sites and the remains of fish weirs; leave anything you find where it lies. Mayer Lake, toward Tlell, has lakeshore camping. No powered boats are allowed on the Yakoun.