What happened to the steelhead
Start with the fish most people still associate with this river, because the news is not good. From the 1950s into the early 1990s the Thompson was one of the premier steelhead rivers in North America, with runs estimated at over 10,000 fish in the late 1980s, and in 1982 the average male winter-run fish weighed 16 pounds. By the late 1990s the runs were falling, which Wikipedia attributes to adverse environmental conditions and to overfishing by commercial and First Nations gill netters, and in 2016 fewer than 400 steelhead were estimated to have entered the river. Anglers' groups and conservation organizations have petitioned for protection under the Species at Risk Act.
The 2025-2027 B.C. synopsis reflects that. Region 3 lists steelhead fisheries on the Thompson, from the signs at the Kamloops Lake outlet down to the Fraser, as closed from October 1 to May 31 under its steelhead management changes, and every steelhead caught anywhere in the region must be released. The Class II classified-water status and mandatory Steelhead Stamp from October 1 to December 31 still sit in the table, marked when open, but in practice there is no fall steelhead season. If you hook one while trout fishing in September, keep it in the water and let it go.
Kamloops Lake to Lytton
The Thompson below Kamloops Lake starts at Savona and meanders west through a broad, dry valley before the Thompson Canyon begins at Ashcroft. From there to Lytton, where it joins the Fraser, it is locked in the canyon, with the dark cliffs of the Black Canyon just below Ashcroft and the communities of Spences Bridge, Bighorn, Shaw Springs and Goldpan along the way. The Trans-Canada Highway and both railways follow it, which makes access easy, but the river is big, fast and in places runs Class 5 rapids such as the Frog and the Jaws of Death that rafters come for. Goldpan and Juniper are among the small provincial parks on its banks.
There are no hydroelectric dams on the Thompson or major diversions, and the 1997 Fish Protection Act rules out dam proposals on it. The trout here include the Kamloops strain of rainbow that lives in Kamloops Lake and nearby lakes, along with coastal rainbows, round whitefish, suckers and northern pikeminnow.
July to September: the trout window
Region 3 closes all streams from January 1 to June 30 unless the table says otherwise, and the lower Thompson is not exempt, so combined with the October 1 steelhead closure the usual trout season is July 1 through September 30. There is one extra opening: from the CNR bridge below the Deadman River to the CNR bridge above the Bonaparte, trout and char may be fished in May, catch and release and artificial fly only. Single barbless hooks are required in all Region 3 streams, angling from boats is not allowed on this part of the Thompson, and upstream of the boundary signs 1 km below Martel there is a bait ban.
The regional daily quota is 5 trout and char with no more than 4 from streams and only 1 over 50 cm, but bull trout from streams must be released from August 1 to October 31. Above Kamloops Lake the Thompson follows different rules: exempt from the spring closure, closed October 1 to May 31, with 2 trout a day, none under 35 cm and rainbows none over 50 cm.
Salmon: what DFO has open in 2026
Salmon in fresh water are managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, not the province, and only in daylight in Region 3. DFO's table, last updated August 14, 2026, keeps three reaches of the lower Thompson closed to all fishing year round: below the Highway 1 bridge at Savona to below the Deadman confluence, a 4 km stretch below Juniper Beach Park, and from the Bonaparte mouth to the Highway 97C bridge in Ashcroft. From Kamloops Lake down to Goldpan Provincial Park, pinks and coho are closed and chinook and sockeye are listed as to be determined. From Goldpan down to the Skihist Ecological Reserve near Lytton, chinook were open August 28 to September 22, 4 a day with none over 50 cm, so only jacks.
Pink salmon spawn mostly below Kamloops Lake, and the Adams River, reached through the South Thompson, holds one of the largest sockeye runs in the world. Watching the salmon is legal year round; fishing for them is limited to those windows.
Spences Bridge and a river with no dams
Because nothing regulates it, the Thompson follows the snow. ECCC's long-term monthly means near Spences Bridge rise from about 230 cubic metres per second in March to 1,446 in May and 2,282 in June, then fall through 1,704 in July, 926 in August, 591 in September, 463 in October and 409 in November. No shop publishes a fishing range for this gauge, so the 14,000 to 33,000 cfs on this page is the August to November band, when the river is dropping and clearing during the trout and salmon windows. On September 24, 2026 it read 297 m3/s, about 10,500 cfs, roughly half the September average of 591.