The Stamp is the river that carries the Somass runs from Great Central Lake
down to the tide at Port Alberni. Most of the rulebook changes that matter here sit in a handful of
lines almost nobody reads. This is that handful, pulled and dated.
What you can keep today
Trout
Daily quota 4, but not more than 1 over 50 cm. No more than 2 may come from streams, and those must be hatchery fish.sourced
Wild trout
Release all wild trout you catch in any stream, region-wide. Only hatchery-origin trout may be kept from a stream.sourced
Hook
Single barbless hook, all year, on every stream in Region 1. Not just salmon.sourced
Bait
Banned in streams region-wide, all year, except where the water-specific table names an opening. The Stamp’s lines are below.sourced
The lines that bite
Every one of these is an exception to the
region rule, quoted from the water-specific table for Management Unit 1-7.
Stamp Falls, closed Jun 15–Nov 15. No fishing between the boundary signs
200 m upstream and 500 m downstream of the falls.sourced
Headwater closed Jan 1–Apr 30. No fishing from the confluence with the Ash
River upstream to the Great Central Lake dam.sourced
Bait ban above “Girl Guide Falls” all year. The signs sit about
250 m upstream of the mouth of Beaver Creek. Below those signs, bait is banned Jun 1–Aug 24.sourced
Engine power restricted to 7.5 kW (10 hp), “on parts.” That is the synopsis’s own wording: it gives the limit but does not name the parts of the river it covers. Treat the posted signs at the launch as the boundary, and confirm before you run a gas motor here.sourced
No summer closure. The region’s Jul 15–Aug 31 stream closure covers
Management Units 1-1 to 1-6. The Stamp is in 1-7. It stays open. This is the line people get wrong.sourced
Salmon: what you can keep today
Salmon in fresh water are DFO’s call,
not the provincial synopsis. Here is DFO’s Region 1 freshwater salmon table, checked 21 Oct 2026.
Chinook
2 per day, Aug 25–Dec 31, and only 1 of them may be over 77 cm.sourced
Coho
2 per day, Oct 3–Dec 31, and both may be unmarked — the hatchery-mark-only rule lifted Oct 3.sourced
Sockeye, chum, pink
Daily limit zero. They are not listed as open for this water, so they may not be kept.sourced
So yes, you can keep salmon here today —
chinook and coho. Not sockeye, chum or pink. Region-wide, the daily limit for all Pacific salmon from
fresh and tidal water combined is 4. Minimum size to keep: 30 cm chinook or sockeye, 25 cm coho,
nose to tail fork.sourced
The closures still bind. The limits above do not open
closed water: the falls zone (200 m above to 500 m below Stamp Falls, Jun 15–Nov 15), the
Robertson Creek hatchery lagoon (Aug 25–Oct 31), and the 500 m above the lagoon (Oct 1–14)
are closed to everything.sourced
Below the tidal boundary it changes again: the
tidal Somass and Alberni Harbour sit under a different DFO table, with parts of upper Alberni Harbour
closed Oct 1–31. That is not this page’s water — check the tidal table before you fish below
the Paper Mill Dam signs.sourced
The run, as far as the record goes
The Stamp and its fishway at Stamp Falls are
where the Somass sockeye run is counted, so a chunk of the season’s honest number comes from here.
Pre-season forecasts are a guess with a date on them; the in-season counts are the real thing.
2026 pre-season. DFO forecast 700,000–1,000,000 sockeye to the Great Central
and Sproat lakes, a high return.sourced
2026 in-season. By 29 June the counts stood at roughly 35,289 through the Sproat
fishway and 99,632 through the Stamp, per the fisheries manager cited in local reporting.sourced
What people fish for, and when
The record gives you the rules and the counts; the
season people actually fish sits on top of both. This layer is local pattern — named as pattern and
credited, not dressed up as a record.
| Species | Window | How it’s fished |
|---|
| Chinook | Late summer, peaking Sep–Oct | Runs start late summer; large, hard-fighting fish. Drifting gear near the bed; spoons and hootchies on the lower river. |
| Coho | Sep–Dec, often 8–15 lb | Spoons, hootchies, weighted floats with yarn/wool; egg patterns as they move onto the redds. |
| Sockeye | Jun–Aug, in clear summer water | Drifted through holding water on the lower and mid river. |
| Steelhead & trout | Steelhead Nov–Mar/Apr; resident trout year-round | Fly (egg-eating patterns, streamers) or bottom-bounced roe as the salmon spawn out. |
Species windows from local pattern, credited to
Bea, 21 Oct 2026.local pattern The fall window is corroborated by DFO: Robertson Creek Hatchery, which feeds
this system, lists chinook and coho adults at the river Sep–Nov.sourced
Named gap. The exact peak date moves year to year and no source fixes it. The in-season
count at the falls is the record; I will not put a calendar guess on it.
Stocking: what the province still does here
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC runs
the provincial stocking program, and its public report is current to 21 Oct 2026. For the Stamp, it is
a closed book.
No recent releases. The provincial stocking report shows no releases at the
Stamp River in the last five years; the last recorded plant was in 2005 (steelhead fry). This river
is not a put-and-take water.sourced
The live production here is salmon, and it is DFO’s. Robertson Creek
Hatchery, at the bottom of the Stamp, rears chinook and coho for the Somass system, keeps a conservation
stock of Nahmint chinook, and runs a sockeye lake-enrichment program. Its release totals live in
DFO’s Salmonid Enhancement Program records, not in the provincial stocking report.sourced
Named gap. The recent release numbers
(2006–2026) sit in DFO’s SEP data, which I have not pulled. I will not estimate a plant
size.gap
The local pattern
Fish the tide when the run is in. The lower river and the Somass mouth are where
the fresh fish stack before they climb. The further up you go, the more you are fishing residents, not
migrants. Named as local pattern, not as record.local pattern
The falls is a viewing spot first. It is the count point and a closed zone each
fall; treat the boundary signs as the line, not a suggestion.local pattern
Where people get in. The closed water is the falls itself (200 m above,
500 m below, Jun 15–Nov 15); anglers work the water further up or down instead — around the
Fish and Game Club, Money’s Pool, and along the Stamp River Anglers Trail. Roadside access is easy, so
pressure concentrates at the short walks.local pattern
Sources & method
Regulations. BC Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis 2025–2027 (Government of BC),
Region 1 water-specific table, Management Unit 1-7, rows “STAMP RIVER” and “ASH RIVER.”
Retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Regional rules: BC synopsis, Region 1 general (summary of regulations), retrieved 21 Oct 2026.
- Salmon limits. DFO, Region 1 — Vancouver Island: Recreational salmon fishing limits,
openings and closures (freshwater table), rows “STAMP RIVER” and “SOMASS RIVER.”
Retrieved 21 Oct 2026. Fishery notices cited by DFO: FN1069 (coho, effective Oct 3, 2026),
FN1013, FN0504.
- Stocking status. Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, Fish Stocking Reports
(provincial stocking program), waterbody “STAMP RIVER,” report current to 21 Oct 2026:
no releases in the last five years.
- Current enhancement. DFO, Robertson Creek Hatchery (Pacific Region / Salmonid Enhancement
Program), supporting chinook and coho for the Stamp/Somass watershed; adults at the river Sep–Nov.
Retrieved 21 Oct 2026. Release totals are held in SEP records and are not quoted here.
- Local pattern. Species windows, methods, and access points contributed by Bea (local
knowledge), 21 Oct 2026. Named as pattern, not as record.
- 2026 run. DFO pre-season sockeye forecast bulletin (publications.gc.ca); in-season fishway
counts as reported locally and cited to the Hupacasath fisheries manager, July 2026.
This page is a sample of the work, not a fishing plan. It names what the
record says and where the record stops.
The Tide RipFishing dailies and sourced place reads · Vancouver Island