Kitimat River

The Kitimat comes down from the mountains northeast of Kitimat, turns south along the valley Highway 37 follows from Terrace, and meets the sea at the head of Kitimat Arm, below the town. It is a coastal rain river: big in June with snowmelt, up and down with every fall storm, and fishable through most of the year. A hatchery on the lower river adds fish to the wild runs, so there is usually something to fish for.

Chinook are the summer fishery, from late May into July, and the river below the Highway 37 bridge is open to chinook until July 31. Coho follow from August into October, with pinks and chum in late summer. Winter steelhead arrive from December and build through March and April, and the hatchery fish with a clipped adipose fin may be kept. Read the gauge below Hirsch Creek: the river fishes well between about 50 and 150 m³/s, and over about 350 it is blown out after a big storm. It colours fast and clears in a few days. Swing a fly or drift a float through the runs and tailouts. Cutthroat, Dolly Varden and rainbows are in the river most of the year.

The synopsis says the Kitimat's angling rules are under review, so check the in-season changes before you fish it. No one may fish the west half of the river between the signs at the hatchery outfall. The tributaries and the river above the Highway 37 bridge are closed March 16 to May 31, and every Region 6 river is closed to steelhead May 15 to June 15. Powered boats are not allowed. The river below the Highway 37 bridge is the only part open to salmon, and DFO sets the limits, which change through the season. Kitimat sits in Haisla territory.