Babine River

The Babine leaves Babine Lake at Fort Babine, runs a short channel known as Rainbow Alley into Nilkitkwa Lake, then flows north and west for about 100 km to the Skeena. Below Nilkitkwa Lake, DFO runs a juvenile weir and an adult counting fence that count one of the biggest sockeye runs in the Skeena. The river below the fence is steelhead water, fished mostly from lodges that move anglers between runs by boat. Above it, Rainbow Alley is one of the province's best-known places for big resident rainbows.

Wild summer steelhead reach the upper river in September and hold through October, and the river is cold and often fishes into November. The lake above keeps the Babine steadier and clearer than most Skeena rivers, but the Nilkitkwa and the creeks below colour it after heavy rain. Read the gauge at the Nilkitkwa Lake outlet: the river fishes well between about 20 and 60 m³/s, and over about 110 it is high. Swing a sink-tip and a dark fly, or skate a waking fly in clear water. Coho come in the fall too. In Rainbow Alley, rainbows feed on sockeye fry in late spring and on eggs and salmon flesh in the fall, and the gauge there sends level and water temperature only.

Below the juvenile weir the river is Class I classified water with a Steelhead Stamp from September 1 to October 31. Unguided non-resident aliens may not fish from the weir down to the Nilkitkwa River on Saturdays and Sundays in those months. No one may angle from a boat from the fence down to the Skeena, the fence itself is closed, and the water near the fence is fly fishing only in summer. Rainbow Alley is open all year, while the rest of the river is closed January 1 to June 15. Chinook are closed, and sockeye open only by DFO notice. Fort Babine is a Lake Babine Nation community. Check the in-season changes before you book.