closest salmon to Edmonton

[sirmike68]

Today a guy at work was telling me that salmon will run upstream up to 500 miles inland. This got me thinking of where is the closest river or creek to Edmonton that I guy can go to catch these things? Can anybody shed some light or am I dreaming?

[John Spartan]

I think the closes they come are some of the Fraser's tributaries like the Thompson, but how far up I couldn't say. Definitely nothing here in Alberta. You might want to check with some BC fishing websites about this or the BC equivalent of our SRD.

[Walleyes]

They come up as far as the base of Mount Robson about 35 min west of Jasper.. Quite amazing really... You barely get over the divide and you start seeing Salmon spawning habitat signs on the rivers.. I'm sure if they could they would come rite over... The longest Salomon runs are on the Yukon River,, I'm not sure off hand as to the actual mileage but it is unbelievable...

[altaberg]

Fraser in Mt Robson park.
Overlander Falls is the final stop. That's about 4.5 hours from Edmonton.

Not a lot make it there. Downstream in the canyon is a drop called Twin Turbines amongst kayakers which stops many. It is visible from the bridge across the canyon.

Below that is Rearguard Falls which also stops some.

[muzzy]

They get past rearguard falls by quite a distance The fraser would be closest to Edmonton

[sirmike68]

That is truly amazing I never had an idea that they would go that far.

[John Spartan]

The question also is, are the fish in any decent shape to catch when they've come up that far? I'd think they'd be in their spawning colors and fairly beat up by the time they got that far.

[Northern_Hunting_Mom]

They wouldn't be biting by the time they get that far. They would be 3/4 dead by then.

[Bushrat]

Pretty sure there isn't an open season on them that far up the river. If you saw what they looked like by the time they get that far up you wouldn't want to eat them, pretty dark and beat up.

[Donny Bear]

By the time they get up near Mt R they are done the thompson by Clearwater BC offers some opportunity. I believe the only longer run in NA is the Yukon river run thru Alaska over the TOW to Whitehorse could be wrong on that.

[albertadave]

Originally Posted by Donny Bear

By the time they get up near Mt R they are done the thompson by Clearwater BC offers some opportunity. I believe the only longer run in NA is the Yukon river run thru Alaska over the TOW to Whitehorse could be wrong on that.

You are correct about them making it to Whitehorse, there is a fish ladder to let them get over the dam at Whitehorse. From there technically they could go right into northern BC, but I don't know how far they actually go. They are a long way from from the ocean, 12-1500 miles?, by the time they get that far.

[sirmike68]

So Clearwater is the closest I guy could go to catch some. I'll have to plan for that next year. What time of the year do they make the run through that area.

[Donny Bear]

Late August Early September if memory serves me right been a few years kinda got in the habit of flying to the coast or draging the boat out to the Island. I'll check it out.

[HotHook]

Sirmike
If you are going to Clearwater for Chinooks,the season is only open for the month of August.They start to show up around August8-10.
The exception being this year as they did not show up in any numbers.I was out there for 12 days and only heard of three being caught.We only seen one Chinook surface and roll.
It was a bad year on the rivers in B.C.The Frazer river was shutdown for salmon fishing this year because very few salmon showed up.
There is also a run of Sockeye on the Thompson up to Clearwater but they are in such bad shape when they arrive you would not want to eat them.
If you are still thinking of river fishing for salmon,try going out to Terrace on the Skeena.There is a place called China Bar 30 miles west of Terrace where a lot of the locals fish.Good luck,it's a little tougher fishing the rivers for salmon than the ocean.
HotHook

[Donny Bear]

Cool I need not make any call last time I fished out there I thought it was later but it was long ago.

[Northern_Hunting_Mom]

Ooooh, Terrace for steelhead.

I'm in. I'll even clean fish.

[winged1]

Up to Smithers three weeks ago. Fished Bulkley, Kispiox, Copper, Telkwa, Kitwanga, Skeena, including China Bar, and the Kitimat. Not a sign of steelhead and just a few Coho that were too dark for my liking, although we did see quite a few fishermen keeping them. Must have talked to over 100 fishermen and heard the same story, no fish. Kitimat hatchery reported low fish counts. Smaller streams where all full of spawning chinook.

Next year goose hunting first, then steelhead up at Smithers, second or third week of October.

[Skinnydipper]

Fished the Fraser the last week of September for Sturgeon and Salmon. The Pink run was in full swing when we were there and the Chinook fall run was just starting. FYI the possession for salmon was allowed starting at the beginning of August for just pinks, chums and chinooks this year on the Fraser, no sockeyes or cohos for keep.
I was astounded at the "commercial" nature of the aboriginal "industry" of netting on the Fraser this time out. Big aluminum barges, skid-steers with forks for loading large tubs into the large awaiting rental cube vans .