Local guide Mike Herzberg is warning anglers floating the Kitimat River of an extremely dangerous log jam.
He drifted the river on Sunday, May 15 - the river height was at 1.2 metres.
“Approximately 200m below the big claybank below the old Crown Zellerbach Bridge site, there’s an extremely treacherous stretch of river,” he reported.
“Just below where all the trees have fallen in, the whole river piles into a large log jam. The pool was one huge back eddy at this water level - was barely enough room right up against the logs to make it through.
“What made it worse is that there’s no gravel bar upstream to pull out and take a look...the river runs bank to bank there. Plus, with all the big trees in the river, you can’t see what’s coming until you’re in it.
Herzberg said that two days earlier, with the river running at just 0.7m, there was no problem at all.
“I imagine with the high water, even more material and trees have sloughed in from the claybank and possibly made this section even worse.”
He therefore warned anyone in a drift boat to ensure all the rods stowed in the boat, not in the rodholders when they go through this section.
“I would not want to attempt this in a raft or canoe,” he said, adding, “And definitely wear lifejackets.”
(Our thanks to Noel Gyger for forwarding this alert to the Sentinel).