Nahmint Lake is located in the Nahmint Valley, southwest of Port Alberni, Vancouver Island. The watershed is full of rivers, lakes, plenty of wildlife, and some impressive mountain peaks, like Kiltsa mountain to the north. Kiltsa is a snow-capped mountain visible from Highway 4 on the drive to Tofino.
The lake drains into Alberni Inlet along the Nahmint River, which winds its way through some impressive rapids and waterfalls to Nahmint Bay on the inlet. The river once had some huge salmon returns of chinook, pink, and chum, but there is very few chinook or pink returns now. There are still some big runs of chum though.
This is a beautiful lake with very nice forests and mountains around it, the bird and wildlife in the area are incredible, and the lake is great for camping. Bring your camera and have a nice time. There are 12 campsites at the Nahmint Lake rec site along with a boat launch, picnic tables, and toilets. There is a great beach that runs from in front of the campsite over to where the Nahmint river flows in, there is a great little sandbar at the river mouth, you can bottom fish from here.
There are some massive rainbow trout in this deep lake, the lake is 140 meters deep at its center and some rainbows here can reach up to 4.5 kg. Sometimes you can hook into one just past the drop-off here at the river mouth, but you will have better luck getting the biggies by trolling deep. There are also cutthroat trout, kokanee trout, and dolly varden char here. You can even catch the odd steelhead in this lake.
This is a beautiful site on Nahmint Lake that is situated in a large old-growth rainforest of giant hemlock, fir, and spruce trees. The mountain views are just incredible and the falls and rapids in the river as it runs through the canyons on its way to Nahmint Bay. The most impressive of these falls has to be french falls up on Nahmint Mountain. You will be amazed at their beauty.