Vedder River Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
The Vedder and the Chilliwack: one river from Slesse Creek to the Fraser, with fall salmon, hatchery winter steelhead and a live Water Survey of Canada gauge at Vedder Crossing.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Level
1.88 m33 m³/s
Air / High
6 °C / 12 °C
Wind
SSE 5 km/h
Sources: Water Survey of Canada station 08MH001, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Vedder River has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the warmest hours. The gauge reads 1.88 m, up 0.49 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSE around 5 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 12 °C. Water sits around 6 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:55 PM-1:55 AM and 12:14 PM-2:14 PM: the windows to build the day around.
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.
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: 11:55 PM-1:55 AM, 12:14 PM-2:14 PM, 8:40 AM-9:40 AM. Similar at 13 °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 coho salmon here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Coho salmon page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Vedder River today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (08:08), sunset (17:34), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:55 PM-1:55 AM and 12:14 PM-2:14 PM; minor 8:40 AM-9:40 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Vedder River Water Level today, and the weather
Live readings from Water Survey of Canada station 08MH001 (CHILLIWACK RIVER AT VEDDER CROSSING).
River level, last 30 days
Water Survey of Canada real-time hydrometric data, station 08MH001. Latest reading 2026-11-09 03:20.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low12 °C / 6 °C
WindSSE 5 km/h, gusts 13 km/h
Pressure101.71 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 95%
Sunrise / Sunset08:08 / 17:34
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~6 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Vedder River
Today is the pick of the week on Vedder 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
- 11:55 PM-1:55 AM and 12:14 PM-2:14 PM
- Minor period
- 8:40 AM-9:40 AM
- Sun
- 08:08 to 17:34
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 10 km/h
- Rain chance
- 95%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Vedder River: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Coho salmon
BC coast: July to September; rivers: October and November
Open now Closes May 1, 2027. No fishing from Tamihi Rapids Bridge to Vedder Crossing Bridge 1 May to 30 June; upstream to Slesse Creek 1 April to 30 June. Below Vedder Crossing: fly only and bait ban in May, no fishing in June. Rule as read from Government of British Columbia on 2026-09-27.
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.
Chum salmon
Fraser Valley and Island rivers: October and November
Open now Closes May 1, 2027. No fishing from Tamihi Rapids Bridge to Vedder Crossing Bridge 1 May to 30 June; upstream to Slesse Creek 1 April to 30 June. Below Vedder Crossing: fly only and bait ban in May, no fishing in June. Rule as read from Government of British Columbia on 2026-09-27.
The late-fall salmon of the lower mainland and the Island, big and hard-fighting. Runs the Vedder, the Harrison and the Stave in numbers some years. Retention depends on the run and the DFO notice. Late fish hold in the lower river; slow presentations near the bottom.
Steelhead
BC: winter run December to April, summer run into fall; Great Lakes: fall and spring
Open now Closes May 1, 2027. No fishing from Tamihi Rapids Bridge to Vedder Crossing Bridge 1 May to 30 June; upstream to Slesse Creek 1 April to 30 June. Below Vedder Crossing: fly only and bait ban in May, no fishing in June. 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.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
Open now Closes May 1, 2027. No fishing from Tamihi Rapids Bridge to Vedder Crossing Bridge 1 May to 30 June; upstream to Slesse Creek 1 April to 30 June. Below Vedder Crossing: fly only and bait ban in May, no fishing in June. Rule as read from Government of British Columbia on 2026-09-27.
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 Vedder 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
Coho salmon
Chum salmon
Steelhead
Chinook (spring) salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 6 °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 Vedder 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. Chum salmon led the card at excellent. High of 13 °C, wind to 29 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Chum salmon led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 19 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Chum salmon led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 31 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 steelhead conservation surcharge to fish for steelhead and the non-tidal salmon surcharge for salmon.
About this water
Vedder River is a river in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Vedder River: the full guide
The Vedder at Vedder Crossing
The Chilliwack River runs west out of Chilliwack Lake and becomes the Vedder River at Vedder Crossing, on the edge of the city of Chilliwack, before the Vedder Canal carries it to the Fraser. Anglers search for it under both names, and the provincial synopsis regulates it as a single water, the Chilliwack/Vedder Rivers. The Water Survey of Canada gauge at Vedder Crossing, station 08MH001, supplies the level, the flow and the 30-day chart on this page.
Species and seasons
Pink salmon run in odd-numbered years, coho, chum and chinook come through in the fall, and winter steelhead follow into spring. Each May the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC releases winter-run steelhead smolts into the Chilliwack at Vedder Crossing, so adipose-clipped hatchery fish are part of the run, and every wild steelhead must go back. Salmon retention is decided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) notice by notice: in the fall of 2025, chum on the Chilliwack/Vedder were opened for catch-and-release only.
Where to fish it
The lower Vedder, below the crossing toward the canal, is the easy-access water with long gravel bars; the Chilliwack above the crossing is faster and runs through a narrower valley. Float fishing with roe, wool or jigs is the local method, and fly anglers swing the runs for steelhead. Single barbless hooks are required in every stream of Region 2 all year, and DFO bars fishing within 100 m of any government facility used for counting, passing or rearing fish.
Planning a visit
Fall weekends bring crowds to the lower river; weekdays and the upper river are quieter. Respect the private land along the banks and use established access points. The 2025–2027 synopsis keeps the river closed above a line 100 m below the Slesse Creek confluence, closes Slesse to the Tamihi Rapids Bridge from April 1 to June 30 and Tamihi to Vedder Crossing from May 1 to June 30, and below the crossing makes May fly-only with a bait ban and closes June.
The water through the year
Snowmelt keeps the river high in late spring and early summer; it drops and clears in late summer and rises again with the fall rains that bring the salmon in. The better days often come as the river falls and clears after a rise, when fresh fish hold in the tailouts and the water still carries a little colour.
Reading this report here
Start with the level and flow from Vedder Crossing: a rising, coloured river moves fish but is hard to fish, while a river dropping after rain is the classic window. The chart covers the past 30 days, and air pressure and cloud cover round out the score.
Licence, access and rules
A BC freshwater licence is needed, with the steelhead conservation surcharge to fish for steelhead and the non-tidal salmon surcharge for salmon. Region 2 lets anglers keep a small daily quota of hatchery steelhead, and once it is reached you must stop fishing that water for the day. Salmon openings on the Vedder come from DFO Fishery Notices, searchable by area at notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca, and the province posts in-season changes on its freshwater fishing regulations page.
Common questions
Is the Vedder the same river as the Chilliwack?
Yes. It is the Chilliwack River above Vedder Crossing and the Vedder below it, and the synopsis regulates the two as one water.
When do salmon run in the Vedder?
Pinks in odd-numbered years, then coho, chum and chinook through the fall; whether any may be kept is announced each season by DFO fishery notice.
Can I keep a steelhead from the Vedder?
Only a hatchery steelhead with a clipped adipose fin, within the Region 2 quota; every wild steelhead must be released.
Is fishing good at Vedder 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 08MH001 — CHILLIWACK RIVER AT VEDDER CROSSING
- 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
- gofishbc.com/stocked-fish
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- api.weather.gc.ca/collections/hydrometric-stations/items?STATION_NUMBE
- www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/recreation/fishing-hunting/f
- 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.