Fishing Tours Calendar

Kingfish Westcoast Adventure Tours offers Day Booking services and multiple day packages for all five species of Pacific Salmon, Steelhead and Halibut. Please inquire for specific dates and availability.

fishing-calendar-2015

 

The Kitimat River during the year

JANUARY – FEBRUARY: Fishing for cutthroat and Dolly Varden is usually good during these cold winter months. The first Steelheads show up on the Kitimat River system, heading up to the tributaries. Due to the winter weather, the river will generally be low and clear. Small flies, lures, spinners, and bait are all worth trying when fishing for trout.

MARCH – MAY: Steelhead fishing usually begins in March on the Kitimat River. Silver chrome monster steelhead-strain rainbows will leave anglers breathless as they travel upstream only a couple of feet away from the shoreline. Although success can be irregular in this month, it gradually improves late in March and through April. Late April experiences the first small chinook run, good runs of steelhead entering the river, with many good-sized fish taken at this time. The run of steelhead peaks at the beginning of May and remains strong until the middle of the month. Only Hatchery clipped steelhead may be retained.

JUNE: Although a few Chinook salmon enter the river in late May, June and July are the prime times to target the lower tidal section. This section is approximately 2.5 miles long before the Kitimat River runs into the Kitimat Arm. Success on the upper river system can vary during the first two weeks of the month. Chinook fishing improves in the third week of June and usually continues until the end of the month. The river is higher now than earlier in the year and can rise very quickly with snowmelt if temperatures rise.

JULY: With many of the fish entering the river on each high tide the lower tidal section is outstanding and many anglers experience 10-20 hook up’s with silver chrome monster chinooks during a tide change. The run of chinook peaks during
the first week of July. Fishing for chinook is very good throughout the month of July, but dark fish start showing up in catches after the middle of the month. Many pink and chum salmon are found in the river in July. Late in the month the occasional early coho are caught. The river will tend to be fishable during July, but is still subject to fluctuations due to snow melt or rain. Fishing for chinook can be highly productive.

AUGUST: Chinook fish has all but ended, but the odd chinook can still be caught. Coho fishing is staggered until the middle of the month, when the first good runs begin entering the river. Fishing improves steadily towards the end of August and the chances of catching coho are very good during the last week of August. The Kitimat River is generally low and clear throughout the month. Good rainfalls later in the month will raise the river and bring in fresh runs of coho with every high tide. The fishing will be the best when the river begins to drop and clear after a period of rain.

SEPTEMBER: The coho run peaks in the Kitimat River at the beginning of the month fishing for these salmon remains excellent until the middle of September. Success is still prominent towards the end of the month, but many of the coho are starting to darken in colour. A heavy rain at the end of September will raise the water level and many of the coho will leave the main river and head up their spawning tributaries. The river is generally clear throughout most of this month.

OCTOBER: If the heavy fall rains have started, then coho can still be caught in the main river. Most of the coho are now dark, but the occasional silver one can still be taken. Trout fishing is still very good in October, but heavy rains will muddy the river and make fishing difficult.

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER: Trout fishing remains good during these months and throughout the entire year. There is still a slight chance to catch a coho. The river is usually fairly low and clean.

The Douglas Channel during the year

JANUARY – MARCH: The Douglas Channel and surrounding waters are frequented by north off-shore winds during this period. Although the winter fishing for spring salmon is quite good, fishing is restricted near the head of the inlet. The winter feeding spring salmons range in weight from three to twelve pounds.

MARCH – JUNE: March starts our busy season as the winter northerlies have now swung to southerlies. The winter spring salmon are now fairly abundant and mixed with the incoming seasonal spring spawners and are heading for rivers. These returning fish can be as large as 75 pounds.

JUNE – SEPTEMBER: During these months, fishing can take place in numerous areas. Fishing for chum, pink, coho and chinook can be phenomenal. At times our sportsmen will venture anywhere within a 135 km radius of Kitimat’s marinas. With the coming of coho and sockeye salmon, each year around the beginning of July, you will find the fishing enthusiast working the outer coast. As these silver beauties work their way to spawn, the angler will be just behind. Pink and chum salmon are basically a commercially caught salmon. Coho salmon are a very active, hard fighting salmon with a weight range from three to 30 pounds.

SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER: After September and as the weather cools and the winter winds start, we move into a time when our saltwater sportsmen tend to work the head end of the Douglas Channel for winter spring salmon as our area is one of the west coast’s prime feeding areas. Jumbo prawn fishing is a nice alternative during most winter months.