BRITISH COLUMBIA FISHING MAP
Fishing Hot Spots
From Victoria, Sooke and Port Renfrew through the Gulf Islands and the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver, up to Comox and Campbell River, through Johnstone Strait to Port Hardy and Cape Scott, down the wild west coast of Vancouver Island past Tofino, Ucluelet and Bamfield, and north along the central coast to Rivers Inlet, Hakai Pass, Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii. Tap any star or dot to see what it is and what to fish there.
More map layers
Fishing & access
Marine chart layers
Parks & rules
Safety: these are planning references. Use current official charts, weather and marine alerts and proper safety equipment before heading out.
Lake guides for this map
Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:
Fishing Hot Spots by area
Headlands, islands, sounds and the offshore banks. Tap one to fly to it on the map.
Chinook, coho and halibut on the wild Pacific coast
British Columbia is salmon country. Chinook (spring or king) salmon run along the coast most of the year, with the biggest fish, the "tyee" of 30 pounds and more, in summer at places like Campbell River, Rivers Inlet and Langara Island. Coho fill in from midsummer into the fall, and pinks run in odd-numbered years. Halibut, lingcod and rockfish live on the banks and reefs all along the coast, and in warm summers albacore tuna show up far off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Much of the coast is remote, with big tides, fog and open-ocean swell. Many of the best spots are fished from lodges you reach by floatplane or from charter ports like Sooke, Ucluelet, Tofino, Campbell River, Port Hardy and Prince Rupert.
Rules: you need a BC Tidal Waters sport fishing licence, plus a salmon conservation stamp to keep salmon, and you must record every chinook you keep. Salmon fishing uses barbless hooks, and rockfish you release must go back down with a descending device. Rockfish Conservation Areas are closed to most hook-and-line fishing, and in summer and fall parts of Swiftsure Bank, Juan de Fuca Strait, the Gulf Islands and the mouth of the Fraser River close to salmon fishing to protect southern resident killer whales. Limits and openings change by area and season, so check the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) area page before you go.
BigJoe’s gear for British Columbia
What BigJoe would bring to fish these waters.
As an Amazon Associate, BigJoe earns from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing extra and helps keep these maps free.