Sturgeon: catch and release, with its own licence
The 2025-2027 B.C. synopsis is blunt about it: the Fraser watershed, from the CPR bridge at Mission up to and including the Williams Lake River in the Cariboo, is the only white sturgeon fishery in the province's non-tidal waters, and it is catch and release only. Every angler who fishes for sturgeon there needs a White Sturgeon Conservation Licence on top of the basic licence: $28.57 a year, $9.14 a day or $17.14 for eight days for residents, and $68.58, $17.14 or $34.29 for non-residents. It is also the one situation in Region 2 where dead fin fish may be used as bait. Above the Williams Lake River, and anywhere sturgeon are listed under the Species at Risk Act such as the Nechako, fishing for them is closed.
The fish can be enormous. A sturgeon estimated at 500 kilograms and 3.76 metres was caught and released in July 2012, and one of 890 pounds and 352 cm, thought to be over 100 years old, was tagged and released in 2021. Guides such as Yves Bisson Sturgeon Co. on the lower river and Sturgeon Fishing BC out of Lillooet scan, tag and measure every fish as part of the research program, and the Lillooet operation opens its season on April 1.
Jesperson's, Herrling and Seabird: the spawning closures
Between May 15 and July 31 the province protects confirmed sturgeon spawning areas on the gravel reach between the Harrison River confluence and just above Hope. The Jesperson's Side Channel, the Herrling Island side channel and the Seabird Island north side channel are closed to all fishing for those dates, and a regional notice describes seven more voluntary closure areas in the same stretch. The Fraser above Mission is also closed to all fishing from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise, the area around Landstrom Bar and Croft Island is closed May 1 to October 31, and boats under 20 metres must not impede commercial traffic.
Region 2 requires single barbless hooks in every stream and the release of all wild trout, char and steelhead from streams. Steelhead fishing on the Fraser mainstem above Mission is closed from August 15 to December 31.
Salmon above Mission: closed until further notice
Be clear on this before you tow a boat to Chilliwack. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Region 2 table, updated September 16, 2026, lists the Fraser mainstem upstream of the CPR bridge at Mission as closed to salmon fishing from April 1 until further notice. The Harrison River, a tributary that joins below Hope, is open for hatchery-marked coho from September 1 to December 31 at 4 a day. For the fall, DFO defines an adult chinook on the Fraser from September 1 to December 31 as over 62 cm rather than 50 cm, which matters only if an opening is announced.
Upriver in Region 3 the picture is similar. At Lillooet, from the Seton River confluence down to the signs about 4 km below town, pinks are closed and sockeye are listed as to be determined. The Fraser is Canada's largest salmon producer, carrying all five Pacific species plus steelhead, but in 2026 the legal fishing on the main stem is for sturgeon.
The canyon, Hells Gate to Lillooet
Above Yale the river is locked in its canyon, and at Hells Gate, just below Boston Bar, it squeezes through a gap about 35 metres wide. Region 3 rules apply from the Spuzzum Creek boundary upward. Steelhead fishing is closed from Spuzzum to Hells Gate from August 15 to December 31 and closed all year above Hells Gate. Trout fishing on the mainstem is closed below Hells Gate from September 1 to November 15, from Hells Gate to the Thompson confluence from October 1 to November 30, and above the Thompson from October 1 to 31. There is no fishing between signs 6.5 km below Boston Bar and 2.8 km below Hells Gate, none from the Bridge River Rapids fish ladder to the railway bridge north of Lillooet from March 31 to June 20, and white sturgeon are catch and release throughout Region 3.
Sturgeon Fishing BC describes the middle Fraser as the reach from the Williams Lake River confluence down to Hope, and runs its trips on a 50 km stretch near Lillooet, away from the lower-river boat traffic.
What the Hope gauge is telling you
ECCC's record at Hope runs back to 1912, and the river's largest flood there, an estimated 17,000 cubic metres per second in June 1894, is still the design flow for flood work. ECCC's long-term monthly means there are about 900 m3/s in February and March, 5,016 in May, 6,956 in June and 5,477 in July, falling to 3,445 in August, 2,303 in September, 1,924 in October and 1,632 in November. No guide publishes a target number, so the 57,000 to 122,000 cfs range here is the August to November band, after the freshet has passed. On September 24, 2026 the gauge read 1,230 m3/s, about 43,400 cfs, roughly half the September average.