The famous Cowichan River is one of those rivers that fishing shows love to highlight, l recently watched a fishing show on TV about this river, and it sure got me going, the brown trout they were catching were incredible. The beautiful scenery and awesome fishing bring anglers from all over the world to try their luck at the Cowichan.
The Cowichan River trail makes 20 km of the river accessible. You can drift fish in the lower half of the river and catch fish in comfort. For the trout enthusiast, there are big rainbows, cutthroat, and massive brown trout to test your skills on. This is a year-round fishery. There is also a great winter steelhead fishery from September to November and plenty of chum and coho in the fall.
On top of all that, the Cowichan River is a beautiful place just to hike around and watch the wildlife that abounds in the area. There are waterfalls and rapids, lots of campgrounds, and trails. Trestles to walk across the river gives you access to old rail grades that have been upgraded to hiking/biking trails. This is a premier hiking river, that has incredible fishing opportunities. In 2015, my boys and l spent the day hiking around on the trails, we were able to watch the salmon as they journeyed up to their spawning grounds, past falls using fish ladders and just leaping their way up other rapids and falls. It was an awesome hike.
Some campgrounds along this river are just awesome, this would be such a great place to head out for a few days of relaxing to the sounds of the river, with plenty of birds singing to brighten up the day.