Seasons of the Stamp
by Dan Lougheed
Most steelhead rivers have limited seasons of productive fishing while the Stamp River provides
the angler with the chance of catching a bright steelhead throughout the entire year. The river has both wild and hatchery runs
of summer and winter steelhead.
Spring
Summer
As the summer progresses the river levels will drop, while the numbers of returning summer runs will increase daily. August is the month in which both the hatchery and wild summer steelhead return in their largest numbers. In current years the numbers of returning fish have been low. The wild component will seldom exceed two hundred fish while the numbers of hatchery smolts released have been drastically reduced and as such the hatchery return is small as well. The Sommas river system is a large place and a few hundred steelhead spread over so much water means that anglers can expect to work hard to find a fish. The returning steelhead will move up river in a determined manner so an angler who fishes through a lovely run with no results should not give up hope as a pod of fresh fish can move in at any given time.
The Alberni Valley can be a hot place in August and the surface of
Great Central Lake can reach temperatures of up to twenty degrees Celsius. Steelhead have adapted to each river system over
thousands of years. In the same way that the steelhead of the Bulkley River will rise to dries in very cold temperatures, the
fish of the Stamp will rise when the river is very warm. In many locations temperatures over sixteen degrees Celsius will result
in limited surface activity but as the Stamp commonly runs this temperature in August the fish will still respond. Successful
anglers will often concentrate their efforts early in the morning and at dusk when the sun is off the water and the daily water temperatures
are lowest. If the river temperature reaches twenty degrees or greater, anglers should find another activity as the mortality
rate increases significantly at this point.
Fall
The River is a very busy place in the fall; anglers, bears and fish all converge on the Stamp. By October the majority of the summer run steelhead will be in the river. Most of the wild fish will have headed for the tributaries where they were spawned, while the hatchery fish will be located in the upper river near the hatchery. With large runs of coho and chinook salmon it can be difficult to remain focused on steelhead fishing. The steelhead are still there and they often take advantage of all the spawning salmon and consume loose eggs. On occasion summer steelhead will be caught with damaged noses from digging eggs out of the gravel.
The winter run of steelhead of the Stamp are early returning fish and it is not uncommon to catch winter run fish in the lower river in late November. As the Stamp is lake fed the water temperatures in late November and early December will be relatively high and floating line tactics will still work for the summer run fish. The early winter run fish are more difficult to coax to the surface and flies fished lower in the water column will often be more successful. December will normally see good returns of winter run steelhead. Areas of the Stamp can be tough to get to due to private property but new angler trails have increased access to both the lower and upper river. Late fall will bring the first heavy rains and the river can often be very large and difficult to fish. The positive aspect to the winter high water events is that there will often be fresh fish in the river
with
the levels drop back into shape.
Winter