Mathue Totten
By David Y. Wei and Suzanne L. Clouthier
The rhythm is broken. A flash of silver. A bulge of water. A sudden tug. Slack line. In an instant, adrenaline flows; your pulse quickens – your heart thumps hard against the suddenly too-tight confines of your chest. Everything is happening so quickly, yet you feel like you’re reacting in slow motion.
Take a deep breath. Clear your mind. Force your hands, feet, and body to try to move as one. Hot dang! Fish on! But what kind of fish has taken your offering?
In British Columbia, anglers can pursue over 100 species of saltwater game fish. With almost 27,000 kilometres of rugged coastline encircling some 6,000 islands and reaching deep into glacially carved fjords on Vancouver Island and the mainland, anglers can opt to fish in locations ranging from the busy urban setting of Vancouver Harbour – almost in the shadow of skyscrapers – to the wild and hauntingly beautiful isolation of the Central Coast, Vancouver Island’s west coast, or Haida Gwaii.
Salmon? There are five varieties of Pacific salmon on our coast. Anglers can enjoy year ’round saltwater angling for aggressive two- to four-year-old feeder chinook. In June, mature three- to tyee-sized six-year-old chinook join with immense shoals of adult coho, pink, sockeye, and chum on their season-long spawning migrations. Anglers can find these fish in the open Pacific Ocean along the “salmon highway” (which follows the 50-fathom bottom contour off the western coasts of Haida Gwaii, the Central Coast, and Vancouver Island); along the Inside Passage between the north-south chain of coastal islands and the mainland; and in coastal inlets.
Bottomfish? Many species of kitchen-friendly rockfish – along with halibut, sablefish, and formidable, razor-fanged lingcod – find homes around underwater structure like ledges, drop-offs, shoals, and reefs, as well as big gravelly plateaus along the edge of the continental shelf. Smaller members of the sole and flounder family hug the sandy bottoms in shallower water.
And with today’s generation of reliable outboard motors powering brawny sport fishing boats, anglers are heading far offshore to the warm, dark-blue waters of the open Pacific to pursue migratory albacore tuna.
In protected waters between 60 and 100 metres deep, drop a prawn trap baited with a can of tuna-flavoured cat food or, in sandy shallows, a crab trap baited with fish heads; your reward for the hard work of pulling up the trap could be a gourmet meal of delicious crustaceans.
David Wei
Lake fishing
For freshwater anglers, British Columbia has more than 80 varieties of freshwater game fish. Thousands of lakes — over 850 of them three square kilometres or larger – hold predominantly rainbow trout, but many also hold mixed populations of rainbow, cutthroat, and brook trout; kokanee; Dolly Varden and lake char; whitefish; and burbot. Some northeastern lakes hold northern pike, Arctic grayling, and walleye, while lakes in the southeast, on Salt Spring Island, and in southern Vancouver Island have smallmouth and bigmouth bass and perch. Find gargantuan fish-eating strains of rainbow trout in Kootenay, Shuswap, and Quesnel lakes, as well as in smaller lakes like King Salmon and Kuthai in northwestern B.C. Big lakes like Canim, Muncho, and Atlin are home to heavyweight, pot-bellied lake char. Ardent anglers seeking the ultimate in sightseeing and fishing experiences need only charter a floatplane or helicopter to access remote lakes in spectacular settings where wild fish may have never seen a lure.
Thousands of streams and rivers in British Columbia hold rainbow, brown, cutthroat, and brook trout, while others also have whitefish, grayling, sturgeon, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and northern pike. In rivers that drain to the coast, fish for rainbows, searun cutthroat, or Dolly Varden all year, and salmon or steelhead trout during the summer and fall – even sign up for that bucket-list heli-fishing adventure to fish the most remote of these rivers, at the heads of many of the province’s great glacial fjords. And more anglers are taking an interest in the catch-and-release fishery for the Fraser River’s white sturgeon, North America’s biggest freshwater game fish.
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of British Columbia annually releases millions of hatchery-reared freshwater game fish into about 1,000 lakes and streams throughout the province. Some releases provide easy-to-catch fish for very young, old, or novice anglers. Others provide non-native (and non-reproducing) eastern brook char for fly-fishers, or challenge experts with releases of sterile AF3N rainbow trout that grow very quickly. The Society is also helping with the recovery of endangered white sturgeon populations in the Nechako and Upper Columbia river systems. Visit the GoFishBC.com website for the latest stocking reports, and to sign up for the free e-newsletter.
For salmon anglers, the Pacific Salmon Foundation supports conservation projects throughout the province to restore and enhance salmon runs. Read more about their invaluable work at PSF.ca.
With world-class fishing for so many fresh- and saltwater species of game fish, combined with easy access to first-class services, meals, and accommodations at most locations, you’re sure to find at least one fishing spot in our vast province that will be perfect for you.