British Columbia Fishing Blog

The West Coast of Vancouver Island is the ultimate playground for saltwater fishermen in British Columbia between April and September. One of the more popular destinations is Tofino, which is also known for its beach surfing, storm watching, wildlife tourism and fresh seafood dining. This year, we were invited by our friends Jim, Daniel and Brian to join their Victoria long weekend fishing trip. I was both excited and anxious after accepting the invitation. The fishing was undoubtedly going to be fantastic, but the possibility of rough offshore condition, compounded by sleep deprivation due to new fatherhood, may lead to sea sickness. It was going to be an unforgettable adventure!

From Vancouver, it takes roughly six hours to reach Tofino if there are no delays at the ferry crossing. Once arriving in Nanaimo, the drive takes just over three hours. For Nina and I, travelling to a fishing destination is a new challenge which we are still trying to master since the arrival of our son Elliot. With some careful planning, we arrived on the West Coast around mid afternoon. As we drove down a hill along the Pacific Rim Highway, the famous Long Beach appeared in front of us. It was quite a sight, which explains why this area appeals to so many holiday goers.

Our accommodation during the stay is at Crystal Cove Beach Resort, which is tucked away in one of the small bays just south of Tofino. Upon our arrival, I was immediately impressed by it. Crystal Cove is a family and pet friendly resort. The central playground is always entertaining for kids and a life saver for parents who seek for some down time. The beach in front of the resort is sheltered from the wind by several islands, so it stays warm enough to walk along, throw a frisbee or have a picnic on. At night, guests can gather around bon fires under the starry sky. The atmosphere really makes it a true beach holiday!

The resort offers the best of two worlds. Instead of building a large hotel to offer the comfort expected by its guests, log cabins with similar amenities are available. They come in all sizes, from smaller beachfront cabins for couples, to larger multi-bedroom cabins for families. We stayed in a treehouse cabin, which has two bedrooms as well as a bridge leading to a treehouse! The fireplace was stocked up with enough logs to keep us toasty when the marine air cools down at night.

Our fishing guide for the trip was Jeff Hale from Braedy Mack Charters. Growing up on Vancouver Island, Jeff has had decades of fishing experience on the West Coast. His passion is finding the biggest chinook salmon in the ocean. Braedy Mack Charters has been a supporter of our website for many years, so I was eager to finally meet and fish with him.

Because the weather was less desirable on the second day, I opted to stay at the cabin with the family while others battled it out in the sea. It was a good call, because the others looked pretty exhausted after being battered by rain and wind for ten hours. Nevertheless, the fishing seemed pretty good, judging by the catches I saw when greeting them at the dock. I was looking forward to our outing on the following day, which called for drier and possibly calmer weather.

The alarm clock buzzed at 5:00am the following morning as we had to be on the dock at 6:00am. Our ride, the Braedy Mack 2, is a 25′ Offshore Pursuit with twin 150 four stroke Yamaha motors. A vessel like this is required, for both safety and comfort, when heading offshore.

We left the quiet marina into dense fog, but quickly found clear sky once we navigated through all the inshore rocks and islands. The view was spectacular, with only the ocean in the horizon ahead of us, and mountains floating above clouds behind us.

As we made our way further out, the swells became bigger. The weather may be good, but the tail of the storm from the day before was still hanging around. Jeff reassured me that we could always find more protected waters if it became too rough and we should always tell him if the condition became too much to handle, since this was just another typical day for him. The ride out to the hot spot took around 40 minutes. There were a couple of boats already trolling in the area.

Our first objective was to find some chinook salmon, which usually feed on needlefish, sand lance near the bottom during this time of the year. Using the sounder to see the contours of the sea bed, Jeff found the path where he wanted to drag the spoons and bait through. It was not simply dropping the the cannon balls into the depth and hoping for the best. Jeff was clearly using his experience to decide where the schools might be feeding. Within ten minutes after both rods were in position, the first one popped off the downrigger. While the rest of us were still mesmerized by the big waves around us, Jeff did his split second dash from the captain’s seat to the rod. Fish on! It was a chinook salmon weighing roughly around 10lb.

Seeing how quickly the bite came, Jeff wasted no time to drop the rigs down again because we probably had encountered a school of fish. Sure enough, the second fish came within minutes. Jeff’s son Daniel brought it in after a spirited fight while I documented with the video camera. It was almost identical to the first fish.

With two fish in the cooler so fast, maybe we were going to be back at the dock with a boat load of fish before Noon! I should have known better of course, because there are no guarantees in fishing. Once the rods settled down again, we spent the next hour finding another fish on the line for me to reel in. The waves seemed to be growing as time went by. Boats around us disappeared whenever the swells crested beside us. It was an interesting experience for sure and certainly made the simplest task such as standing up or tying a knot challenging.

As I sat and stare at the back of the boat, one of the rods finally popped off the rig again. It actually took a couple of seconds to register in my head that it was my turn. I grabbed the rod from Jeff while the Islander MR3 screamed. This fish seemed to be much bigger than the first two. I was unable to gain much line at all in the first couple of minutes. Once the fish tired out a little bit, I started lifting and reeling, while trying to stay balanced on the rolling deck. It surfaced a few minutes later but the fight was far from over.

Instead of heading to the side of the boat where we intended to net it, this good sized chinook salmon went toward the other side where the second line was still in the water. Jeff scrambled to move the second rod to the other side while I kept the fish away from all obstacles. As if the fish felt our panic, it decided to turn and head back to the original side when we thought everything was under control. This time it darted beneath the second line, which I had to dodge under. It finally gave us a break on the surface. I reeled down to the flasher, walked back and Jeff reached out with the landing net for one precise scoop. Our third fish into the boat, a bright fat chinook salmon, was estimated to be between 15 and 20lb.

With the perfect landing ratio, we pressed on for the fourth fish. The next hook-up came shortly after. It was Jim’s turn but the fight was short lived. The line actually snapped when the fish surfaced, which was unusual considering its test strength. There must have been a nick on the leader. Jim managed to redeem himself as the next pull resulted in another fine fish at the end of the line. After several minutes of playing, Jeff netted the largest fish of the day – A chinook salmon that was just under 20lb.

Perhaps it was the constant stare at my camera’s viewfinder, perhaps it was the lack of sleep back at the cabin with a six month old boss, or perhaps my weak stomach simply couldn’t handle the growing swells as the morning went on. After three hours of trolling, I was becoming dizzy, but thankfully no urge to puke yet! Seeing that his client was starting to turn green, he suggested that we hit some inshore waters where the possibility of finding a halibut or two was big. More importantly, the sea was expected to be calmer at the new location. We motored back toward Tofino happily, as all of us were able to land one salmon each.

Once arriving near Tofino, we proceeded to head north. It is easy to understand why this area attracts so many users from different backgrounds. Kayakers could be seen making their way through the sound, whale watching boats were packed with tourists who eagerly awaited to see their first humpback or grey whale. We travelled past Vargas Island, Flores Island and there wasn’t a shortage of wildlife sightings. A baby humpback whale emerged beside some big rocks. Sea otters were sunbathing on the surface. Bald eagles waited on a remote island, for an injured rockfish or salmon. This was like Disneyland, or an aquarium, except better. No admission fees can replace these experiences.

We arrived in our calmer spot at Noon. The other guys were able to retain their quota of halibut on the previous day, plus witnessing a 50lb fish lost by the boat when being measured. The slack tide was approaching. The odds of catching one were pretty big. Our choice of weapon was scented white grub rigged on tandem hooks and dangled from a spreader bar. The hooks were also baited with small pieces of octopus for that extra attractant. Once hitting bottom, rig was lightly jigged. Hopefully halibut could follow the scent trail to our boat and find the presentation irresistible.

After 30 minutes of jigging, I could feel a couple of light tugs on the rod tip. Halibut typically suck and engulf the entire bait, so the only way to hook up is to be patient and wait for the big, slow take. Another minute went by, the rod was finally being pulled down. I set the hook hard and could feel a couple of heavy head shakes at the other end. The Shimano Trevala jigging rod worked beautifully. As I lifted and gained line, this fish took a couple of fast runs. When the spreader bar emerged on the surface, Jeff reached down and quickly gaffed the 20lb halibut. Dinner was on board! Halibut is by far one of the tastier saltwater fish in British Columbia, so I was ecstatic to be able to bring one home.

Our trip ended at 3:00pm back at the dock in Tofino. Jeff cleaned our fish and phoned the local fish processing plant to pick them up. Our fish were filleted, cut, vacuum packed and flash frozen at -40C. While it cost a bit to have it done, it was definitely worth it because it saved me the hassle from doing it and ensured the fish’s freshness. The last thing we wanted was to have our fish spoiled on our way home. On our last day, I stopped by the processing plant and picked up all the fish packed in 1lb frozen packs before heading home.

If you are considering a saltwater fishing trip for your family this summer on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, then you may want to give Jeff’s Braedy Mack Charters and Crystal Cove Beach Resort a try. There are many different fishing experiences to be had in this province, some are for more extreme anglers while others are suitable for families. This particular trip, in my opinion, was very family oriented and I look forward to returning so we can share the experience with our son when he is a bit older. What impressed me about Jeff was not simply his local fishing knowledge, but his ability to understand his clients and cater their needs. These are attributes of an excellent fishing guide, who can provide the West Coast fishing experience you are looking for. For more information about Tofino’s Braedy Mack Fishing Charters, please visit Jeff’s website www.fishingtofino.ca.

The month of April always keeps me restless. Fishing licences are renewed, the weather is warmer, the days are longer so suddenly a number of exciting fisheries in the Lower Mainland emerge and conflict with each other. The problem is definitely not a lack of fish but overly abundant opportunities to take advantage of. Too many options, too little time, so I have to pick and choose what I want to fish for. Last April I invested most days on steelhead fishing and this year I decided to target anadromous cutthroat trout in the Lower Fraser River.

Going fishing for anadromous cutthroat trout doesn’t simply mean going out and catching them. To “successfully” catch these cutthroat trout, 99.9% of the time involves trying to find them. This means visiting all the spots where (you think) they might be, sitting and waiting for signs of fish, casting and retrieving to see if anyone is home. Cutthroat trout anglers often come home without touching a fish, record down the findings in the fishing journal and repeat the same routine in the next outing. Sooner or later, a school of feeding fish will appear in front of you. The elation being felt when that happens can almost equate to winning the lottery jackpot.

Coastal cutthroat trout, or anadromous cutthroat trout, are present in the Lower Fraser River and tributaries throughout the winter months. Larger, mature fish spawn, while smaller, younger fish feed. In spring, they become especially active when salmon fry begin their downstream migration. Feeders, and larger fish that have recovered from spawning, take advantage of this time by feeding on these juvenile salmon.

While this feeding goes on until early summer, the window of angling opportunities is limited to the first part of April because of freshet. Once freshet begins in mid April, it becomes almost impossible to target them with artificial lures and flies in the murky water. For now, water clarity remains excellent so I have been taking advantage of this by spending a few hours per day looking for them.

While fish have not been too difficult to find, having the right presentation has not been easy. During a trip last week, I discovered that the spoons I had were too big for their preference. On the following day, I returned with a fly fishing rod and some flies which imitate salmon fry, only to find fish feeding outside of my casting distance.

This week I decided to pack the spinning rod along and carried a box of smaller lures. The timing was pretty well done. The evening incoming tide has brought some active fish into a slough where unsuspecting salmon fry were milling about. Fish could be seen thrashing on the surface. Salmon fry were being pushed out of the water like sea lions being hunted by killer whales. The smaller lures did not fail me. Several healthy fish were brought in, but the much bigger ones were harder to trick. Overall, the results were satisfactory but I will once again tempt these fish with a fly fishing rod next time.

I have also been spending more time lately to capture good underwater photographs. Here are a couple from this week and you can expect to see more in the future! In the meantime, be sure to get out and give the Lower Fraser River cutthroat trout fishery a try.

After exactly four months and three days since I last fished (three days before the baby arrived), I decided to come out of hibernation and visit one of my favourite fisheries. Kawkawa Lake opens on March 1st each year for its kokanee fishery. Originally I had intended to go on opening day so I could bring my father along during his visit, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. A week after opening, the weather was finally giving us a break so I wasted no time to get the boat ready after Nick provided an encouraging report.

We arrived at the lake at 9:30am and it was flat calm. With the sun beaming down and the view of the big snowy mountain in the background, this was starting out very nicely. By 10:00am I had the boat loaded up while Nick and Fred from Chilliwack Dart and Tackle were already anchored and anticipating for the first bite. Just as I cruised past them, Nick reeled in the first kokanee of the day.

There were the odd risers on the surface, but most fish were swimming right on the bottom at 45ft as they always do when it is calm and sunny. We were fishing with krill and a variety of other bait. While bait fishing seems easy, there are lots of uncertainties when fishing at 45ft of depth. The fish could be anywhere. If the bait is suspended a few feet away from the school, then chances are you will be staring at a motionless rod all day.

As soon as I dropped anchors, the sounder showed a big school of fish directly below me. The beeps kept on coming and I thought that it was broken because I’ve never seen it that active before. Immediately the rod tip started moving and I managed to miss all three chances in the first ten minutes.

I decided to anchor 100 feet away from Nick. Seeing that we were anchoring at the same depth, I didn’t think the fishing results would be very different. Once again I was completely wrong. While I couldn’t trigger another bite, Nick managed to haul in one fish after another on each drop.

“Come on closer!”, he yelled. I hesitated and re-anchored at 50 feet away from him.

“Closer! No fish there!”

I pulled up anchors once again after another 30 minutes of no fish. Meanwhile, Nick and Fred had already reached their limit of four fish each in the cooler.

I re-anchored at 5 feet away from Nick and I reached the conclusion that spots do not always make a difference. While I was still trying to trick a fish to bite, Nick continued to pull them up from the deep like a commercial long-liner!

Finally, after 15 minutes of fiddling around, I detected a soft bite on the rod tip. Perhaps I am simply too rusty after many fishless months, I don’t seem to remember kokanee bites to be that light. I missed the first hit, but it managed to hook itself after I left the rod alone for a few more minutes. The first fish was finally in the boat, a fat silver kokanee measured at 13 inches long.

Just as I was getting excited about the non-stop action, the bites stopped for everyone! “Time to move.”, Nick announced, “We are going to target cutthroat trout now.”

I decided to stick to the same spot and hope the school would return for another feeding frenzy. The southwesterly breeze picked up gradually as I waited. A trout must have sympathized my poor performance and ran itself into the line. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful for a couple of hours.

Eventually there were some surface activities. While the sun was still out, the chop on the water provided a good cover for fish. I pulled out the float rod and adjusted the depth to around 5 feet. It took no time for the little orange dot to disappear. Finally I was in the zone. The bites could not be stopped. Each cast was followed by a bite a minute after. I managed to bring in both kokanee and landlocked coho salmon in a variety of sizes.

The last hour of the trip definitely saved the day, because I was sure that no fish other than the lonely one was coming home. In the end I brought four healthy looking kokanee back and enjoyed them very much by lightly seasoning and baking them in the oven. This is why fishing can be so exciting, every trip is an unique experience with plenty of lessons to learn.

Watch the video feature “Spring Kokanee”

In the past decade or so, the opening of Tidal Fraser River’s coho salmon fishery has almost always been during the Thanksgiving Weekend. I have always made an effort to put in some time during the opening weekend because something exciting always seems to happen. It is an unpredictable fishery, because you never know what you will catch. It is also a very social fishery, the same friends always return to the same spot. Not only do we get to fish, it is also the only time of the year when we get to catch up. I could not fish on opening day, so I was eager to get back at it on Sunday.

The tide was very good. The peak was around Noon, with a gradual outgoing afterward. Not only we had the opportunities to intercept fish following the incoming tide, the gradual outgoing can actually be just as productive at times. I arrived at 10:30am and had planned to put in a few hours of spinning with my new Shimano Clarus/Sustain outfit. Rated 8 to 12lb test, it is a bit heavier than what I would preferred but I was quite happy with how sensitive the tip is. The Sustain 2500 is spooled with 8lb test Maxima Ultragreen, which has always been my go-to line for pink and coho salmon in the Tidal Fraser River.

I decided to leave my cured roe back home, to avoid the mess and concentrate on spincasting for once. Many years ago, I used to have very successful outings by only casting and retrieving lures. In the last few years, I have strayed to trying out bottom fishing with roe as well as casting lures. Both techniques are very enjoyable, but it is never good when you start switching between techniques throughout an outing.

I only managed a few casts with the 1/8oz spinner before a couple of friends passed by on their bikes so we ended up chatting for a good 15 minutes. Once they left, I proceeded to work the spinner while chatting with Nina on the phone. Suddenly, the blade stopped turning and it felt like as if I was dragging it on the bottom. I lifted the rod slightly and felt some solid kicks. “Fish on! I gotta go, bye!”, I said on the phone. At first the light weight suggested that it was a bull trout, but it was in fact coming toward me fast. I picked up the slack line and it immediately bolted to one side where other anglers’ lines were. This was no bull trout, it was clearly a large coho salmon. I could not do anything except holding on and letting the smooth drag working this hot fish. Once it finished the 100ft dash, it came straight back at me again so I was back to reeling madly to tighten the line. The fish surfaced in front of us after a few minutes. One nearby angler was kind enough to have the net ready for me. I carefully guided it into the net and the first coho salmon from the Tidal Fraser River was landed, after only doing a dozen casts!

It was a hatchery marked coho salmon, which was really surprising. For some reason, the likelihood of catching a hatchery marked fish is pretty small in the lower portion of the Fraser River. The last time I was able to capture one, was in 2004. Since then, there have been many large wild fish caught, so no fish have been in the cooler for awhile. It was also incredibly chrome. This is one good thing about fishing in the Tidal Fraser River, the salmon you catch will always be in this state because they are always fresh arrivers from the ocean. I dispatched the fish and Gunther, who just arrived, took the photograph for me. For some reason, I always connect with a coho whenever he arrives, just like two years ago. This buck was approximately 10lb, perhaps bigger. I have never been concerned about weight, all I know is this was now my largest of the season.

Once the fish was cleaned and packed in the cooler, it was back to fishing again. I could feel a few light taps but failed to connect with them. An hour later, I brought in a couple of small bull trout, which explained why the taps were so light. Eventually, I was quite bored with the little spinner so a 3/8oz spoon was tied on. A few more light taps came and went just after Noon. Finally, the line did something strange as if the spoon was being pushed up. This was followed by another solid hit. It was definitely not another bull trout. I set the hook and more solid kicks could be felt. Another coho, similar to the first one in size, swam toward me immediately. The line was kept tight, it did one giant leap before taking a couple more runs. I brought it close to shore where the net was waiting. Just when I thought the second fish was in the bag, the hook popped out, sending the lure flying into the air. Disappointed I was not, because two solid hook-ups in three hours were more than what most anglers could ask for. I was quite lucky today. Satisfied with the result, I packed up at 2:00pm to save the better fishing for another day.

After a rather awesome first outing on Sunday, I decided to return for more with Nina yesterday. We started at 11:00am, to catch the last portion of the incoming tide and had planned to leave at 3:00pm. The entire incoming tide was very uneventful, unlike yesterday. Beside a couple of coho jacks that we saw hooked and released, we did not any luck at all. That’s the name of the game when it comes to fishing in the tidal portion of the Fraser River. The fish are always travelling, so you will only catch some if you put in the hours. Eventually, you bound to encounter a few fish.

I persuaded Nina to stay for another hour or so, to catch the first part of the outgoing tide because sometimes it can be just as productive. The bites indeed came on at around 3:30pm. I first released a bull trout, then a northern pikeminnow. It is pretty unusual to encounter minnows during this time of the year because water is cooler and keeps them inactive. I guess this year is bit of an exception due to the sunny days. Nina missed a good hit on the bait rod just before 4:00pm. I retrieved the line for her, rebaited, cast it out. As soon as the bait settled, when I tightened the line, another good take occurred. Because I still had the rod in my hands, I set the hook well and in came a good sized coho jack. Our friend netted it for me and we could clearly see the adipose fin so freedom was granted after a couple of photographs were taken.

After the release, I proceeded to miss three light takes on a spoon. There was definitely a school of jacks moving through but it was rather brief. We ended the outing at 4:30pm. This has been another memorable, successful Thanksgiving Weekend in the Tidal Fraser River.

Water clarity during the outgoing tide degraded really fast for some reason. Incoming tide’s water clarity is sitting at between 2 and 3 feet, which is more than enough for spinners and spoons to stay visible in the water.

If you live in the Lower Mainland and fish the Chilliwack River, you will notice that water level is at its all-time low. Many anglers have suggested that these conditions make it impossible for salmon to enter the stream, which explains the poor fishing.

While the bulk of the salmon run is still waiting for higher water, fish have definitely been moving into the river for many weeks now. Fishing is challenging when water is lower not due to a lack of fish, but they tend to be easily spooked under heavy fishing pressure.

In the past week, we have been able to connect with several coho salmon. Best fishing is of course at first light when fish are still unaware of their surroundings. Float fishing with a spinner has been great to me, while fishing with roe seems challenging as the bites are too light at times.

On the weekend, we decided to see how many fish were already in the Chilliwack Salmon Hatchery. The channel leading up to the hatchery is indeed quite full of both chinook salmon and coho salmon. Here are a couple of photographs and video. If you still doubt that there are fish in the river, then perhaps these will boost your confidence during your next outing.

Learn more about Chilliwack River’s fall salmon fishery…