Coho salmon
Excellent
The river run. Float gear with roe or a jig, or cast spinners and spoons in the slower tailouts after a rise in water.
Kitimat River Fishing Report
Updated Fri, Sep 25, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Kitimat River: big early-summer chinook, fall coho and steelhead near the town at the head of Douglas Channel, with a live gauge.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
0.98 m83.7 m³/s
Air / High
7 °C / 16 °C
Wind
N 7 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 08FF001, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Kitimat River rewards patience today, with cool water and short feeding windows. The gauge reads 0.98 m, up 0.29 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind N around 6 km/h, rising pressure near 1010 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Water sits around 11 °C for the season (estimated). With the full moon, the solunar majors run 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Good
Fish are staging or moving to the rivers. On the coast, the deeper banks and the winter feeders; in Great Lakes rivers, drifted roe and spinners in the deeper runs.
Steelhead
Fair
Fall fish on the move: float fishing with roe, beads or jigs, and swung flies through the tailouts.
Tie on: Float and roe · Swung fly through the tailout · Jerkbait, long pauses · Hair jig on the rock. Prime windows: 10:25 AM-12:25 PM, 10:25 PM-12:25 AM, 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Cooler at 12 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
British Columbia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$11.43. British Columbia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Steelhead page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Kitimat River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:26), sunset (19:25), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM; minor 4:55 AM-5:55 AM. Full Moon, 99% lit.
Water and weather
Live readings from Water Survey of Canada station 08FF001 (KITIMAT RIVER BELOW HIRSCH CREEK).
River level, last 30 days
Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 08FF001. Latest reading 2026-09-25 04:15.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp7 °C
High / Low16 °C / 7 °C
WindN 7 km/h, gusts 26 km/h
Pressure101.04 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain76% cloud, 28%
Sunrise / Sunset07:26 / 19:25
MoonFull Moon, 99%
Water temp (seasonal)~11 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Kitimat River
Today is the pick of the week on Kitimat River, at 3 out of 5. Every day is scored by the same engine as the report above: pressure trend first, then wind, sky and season. Pick a species and the plan for that day changes with it.
Best day this week: today, Sep 25 — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, Sep 25 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:25 AM-12:25 PM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
- Minor period
- 4:55 AM-5:55 AM
- Sun
- 07:26 to 19:25
- Moon
- Full Moon, 99% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 28%
Scores are a planning aid built from forecast data, not a promise.
Species guide
The species that matter on Kitimat River: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Steelhead
BC: winter run December to April, summer run into fall; Great Lakes: fall and spring
Sea-run rainbow trout, the fish of the Vedder, the Skeena system and the Island rivers in winter, and of the Great Lakes tributaries in fall and spring. In BC wild steelhead are released; a steelhead conservation surcharge applies on top of the licence. Fall fish on the move: float fishing with roe, beads or jigs, and swung flies through the tailouts.
Coho salmon
BC coast: July to September; rivers: October and November
Silver, aggressive and surface-oriented. Feeds hard along the BC coast through summer and runs the Fraser Valley and Island rivers in fall, the Vedder and the Stamp among them. Hatchery coho are marked by a clipped adipose fin; what may be kept depends on the water and the DFO notice. The river run. Float gear with roe or a jig, or cast spinners and spoons in the slower tailouts after a rise in water.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
The biggest Pacific salmon, called spring or king on the BC coast. Feeds along the kelp lines, points and tide rips of the BC coast before running rivers in late summer; introduced to the Great Lakes, where it runs the tributaries in fall. Retention on the BC coast changes by area and by DFO fishery notice. Fish are staging or moving to the rivers. On the coast, the deeper banks and the winter feeders; in Great Lakes rivers, drifted roe and spinners in the deeper runs.
Sockeye salmon
Summer, only when DFO opens a fishery
The Fraser and Skeena salmon, prized and tightly managed. Recreational sockeye fisheries open only by DFO notice in years when the run allows; many years they stay closed. Out of season.
When to come: the Kitimat River calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Coho salmon
Chinook (spring) salmon
Sockeye salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 11 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Kitimat River today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataThu, Sep 24
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
Wed, Sep 23
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at excellent. High of 10 °C, wind to 6 km/h.
Tue, Sep 22
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at excellent. High of 12 °C, wind to 13 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
BC freshwater fishing licence, from C$11.43 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy →
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by BC Freshwater Fishing and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the British Columbia licence page before you keep anything.
Access
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the non-tidal salmon and steelhead surcharges as required.
About this water
Kitimat River is a river in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Kitimat River: the full guide
The Kitimat River
The Kitimat River runs from the Coast Mountains through a wide valley to the town of Kitimat at the head of Douglas Channel, south of Terrace. It is known for a strong early-summer chinook run, supported by a hatchery, and for its fall coho and winter steelhead. The Water Survey of Canada gauge below Hirsch Creek supplies the level, the flow and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Chinook run from late spring into midsummer, coho in the fall and steelhead in winter and spring, released when wild; pink salmon come in some years, and cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden live in the river. The retention rules are set by DFO and the synopsis and change in season.
Where to fish it
The lower river near the town and the bars up the valley are fished from the bank and by drift boat. The river is braided in places, and the channels change after floods. The DFO hatchery in the valley is behind much of the chinook run, and the water near it has its own rules.
Planning a visit
Kitimat is about an hour’s drive south of Terrace. The town is small, with a few guides and lodges; Douglas Channel below it is tidal water with its own DFO rules. Terrace has the nearest airport with regular flights.
The water through the year
Snowmelt keeps the river high in early summer, the chinook months; the fall rains bring big rises and the coho; winter can be cold and icy along the banks. Chinook are the June and July fishery, coho the September and October one, and steelhead the late winter and spring one.
Reading this report here
The gauge shows the melt and the rain rises; a falling river is the time to fish. The chart shows the last 30 days; pressure and sky build the score. The first clear days after a spring rise are often the best chinook days.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the non-tidal salmon and steelhead surcharges as required. The Kitimat’s rules and in-season changes are linked below.
Common questions
When is the chinook run on the Kitimat River?
From late spring into midsummer.
Where is Kitimat?
At the head of Douglas Channel, about an hour south of Terrace.
Can I keep steelhead from the Kitimat?
Wild steelhead are released; the synopsis sets out any exceptions.
Is fishing good at Kitimat River right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Water level and flow readings
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 08FF001 — KITIMAT RIVER BELOW HIRSCH CREEK
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.