Steelhead
Good
The winter run. Slow and deep: float gear right on the bottom, swing slower, and fish the days after a small rise in water.
Kitimat River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Kitimat River: early-summer chinook, fall coho and hatchery 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
1.71 m271 m³/s
Air / High
3 °C / 7 °C
Wind
NNE 2 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 08FF001, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Kitimat River is in its winter rhythm: slow, deep and around the brightest hours. The gauge reads 1.71 m, easing 0.05 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNE around 2 km/h, rising pressure near 1013 hPa and a high of 7 °C. Water sits around 3 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 12:24 AM-2:24 AM and 12:42 PM-2:42 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Slow
Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Tie on: Jigging spoon through the ice · Dead-stick minnow · Tip-up with dead bait · Tungsten jig and wax worm. Prime windows: 12:24 AM-2:24 AM, 12:42 PM-2:42 PM, 9:37 AM-10:37 AM. Similar at 7 °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 (08:51), sunset (17:45), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 12:24 AM-2:24 AM and 12:42 PM-2:42 PM; minor 9:37 AM-10:37 AM. New Moon, 0% 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 2026-11-09 02:15.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp3 °C
High / Low7 °C / 3 °C
WindNNE 2 km/h, gusts 15 km/h
Pressure101.29 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset08:51 / 17:45
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~3 °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.
Best day this week: today, Nov 9 — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, Nov 9 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 12:24 AM-2:24 AM and 12:42 PM-2:42 PM
- Minor period
- 9:37 AM-10:37 AM
- Sun
- 08:51 to 17:45
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 11 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
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
Open now Closes May 15, 2027. No fishing for steelhead in rivers and streams 15 May to 15 June. The province says Kitimat River regulations are under review: check the in-season changes page before fishing. Rule as read from Government of British Columbia on 2026-09-27.
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. The winter run. Slow and deep: float gear right on the bottom, swing slower, and fish the days after a small rise in water.
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. Late fish in the rivers are dark and done; the coast is quiet until spring.
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. Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
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
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 3 °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 dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 8 °C, wind to 18 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 6 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 8 °C, wind to 21 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. The zone-by-zone seasons and limits are on British Columbia fishing seasons.
Access
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the non-tidal salmon and steelhead surcharges as required, and bait is banned on the river.
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 its early-summer chinook, and the synopsis marks a no-fishing zone near the Kitimat Hatchery outfall. The Water Survey of Canada gauge below Hirsch Creek, station 08FF001, 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; the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC stocked steelhead smolts in the river as recently as 2019. The synopsis lets anglers keep hatchery rainbow trout and hatchery steelhead, both identified by the clipped adipose fin, and every wild steelhead must be released. Salmon retention is set by DFO and changes 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; powered boats are banned on the river. The river is braided in places and the channels shift after floods. That closed zone covers the west half of the river between boundary signs, and the synopsis also closes the tributaries and the river above the Hwy 37 bridge from March 16 to May 31.
Planning a visit
Kitimat is a short drive south of Terrace. Douglas Channel below the town is tidal water under DFO rules: in the tidal river mouth, north of a line from the old Eurocan dock to MK Bay Marina, DFO allows chinook retention only from April to July for the 2026–27 season.
The water through the year
Snowmelt keeps the river high in early summer, the chinook months; fall rains bring big rises and the coho; winter can be cold and icy along the banks, with steelhead the fish of late winter and spring.
Reading this report here
The gauge shows the melt and the rain rises, and a falling river is the time to fish. The chart runs back 30 days; pressure and sky build the rest of the score, and the first clear days after a spring rise are often good chinook days.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the non-tidal salmon and steelhead surcharges as required, and bait is banned on the river. The synopsis notes that the Kitimat’s angling regulations are under review and asks anglers to check the province’s in-season changes page before fishing; salmon limits come from DFO Fishery Notices.
Common questions
When is the chinook run on the Kitimat River?
From late spring into midsummer; DFO sets what may be kept, and in the tidal mouth chinook may be retained only from April to July.
Where is Kitimat?
At the head of Douglas Channel, south of Terrace in northwestern British Columbia.
Can I keep steelhead from the Kitimat?
Only hatchery steelhead with a clipped adipose fin, within the synopsis quota; wild steelhead must be released.
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
- Pages checked
- www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/sports-recreation-arts-and-culture/outdoor-r
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- gofishbc.com/stocked-fish
- www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/recreation/fishing-hunting/f
- api.weather.gc.ca/collections/hydrometric-stations/items?STATION_NUMBE
- 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.