Bella Coola River

The Bella Coola starts where the clear Atnarko and the glacial Talchako meet at Stuie, at the edge of Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park, and runs about 60 km west down a steep-walled valley past Firvale and Hagensborg to the sea at Bella Coola. Highway 20 follows it the whole way, so this is one of the few Central Coast salmon rivers you can drive to. The Atnarko, the clear branch above, runs through the park and is covered on this page too.

Chinook are the headline, from late May into July, and many of them spawn in the Atnarko. Coho follow from August into October, and pinks and chum run in summer. The Talchako's glacial silt gives the Bella Coola a green-grey colour most of the summer, while the Atnarko runs clear. Read the gauge above Hammer Creek: the river fishes well between about 60 and 180 m³/s, and over about 400 it is in flood. Snowmelt and glacier melt keep it big from May into August, and fall storms raise it fast. Drift boats and wading anglers both work it. No one may angle from a powered boat on either mainstem.

Steelhead are closed on the Atnarko and the Bella Coola. Trout and char are limited to 1 a day, none under 25 cm, with every cutthroat released, except for a spring quota on the Bella Coola mainstem. DFO sets the salmon limits, which change through the season: on the Atnarko chinook close after July 22, and coho are open only below the sign near Tweedsmuir Park Lodge. Grizzly bears fish the same water, especially on the Atnarko in late summer and fall, so carry bear spray and make noise. The valley is Nuxalk territory. Check the in-season changes and DFO's notices before you go.