British Columbia fishes two worlds. On the coast, salt water from Victoria and Sooke to Nootka Sound, Bamfield, Tofino and Prince Rupert runs on the salmon, chinook and coho above all, with halibut and lingcod offshore. Inland, the rivers of the Fraser Valley and the north carry the salmon and steelhead runs, and the plateau lakes around Kamloops and the big mountain lakes such as Kootenay and Okanagan hold rainbow trout and kokanee. The pages here cover both, with live Water Survey of Canada gauges on the rivers and lakes that have one and a modelled tide curve on the coast.
Reports current for Friday, September 25
Every one of the 29 British Columbia waters we cover has a live read this morning. None reaches 4 out of 5 and 3 are slow. Water runs 11 °C to 15 °C. Pressure is rising on most of them, which costs a point in our model when the sky is clear. 22 have a better-than-even chance of rain.
Best right now: Bulkley River at Smithers 3/5, Campbell River 3/5, Capilano River 3/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
The Vedder and the Chilliwack: the Fraser Valley’s busiest salmon and steelhead river, with a live Water Survey of Canada gauge at Vedder Crossing.
Salt water off Canada’s biggest west coast city: chinook and coho in the summer, crabs off the docks, and the Fraser and Capilano on the doorstep.
Campbell River on Discovery Passage: big chinook, the Tyee Club’s rowboat tradition and Discovery Pier for shore anglers.
The capital’s salt water on the Strait of Juan de Fuca: winter and summer chinook, halibut on the offshore banks and shore fishing from the Ogden Point breakwater.
Sooke on the Strait of Juan de Fuca: summer chinook and coho along the shoreline west of Victoria, with Otter Point and the harbour as landmarks.
Nanaimo on the Strait of Georgia: winter and summer chinook, coho, and the Nanaimo River for steelhead and salmon.
Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island: chinook and coho in the sound and on the outside, halibut on the banks, reached from Gold River and Tahsis.
The lower Fraser at Mission: white sturgeon catch-and-release and the salmon runs of Canada’s greatest salmon river, with a live gauge.
Bamfield on the east side of Barkley Sound: remote salmon and halibut water at the end of a long gravel road.
Ucluelet on the Pacific Rim: chinook, coho and halibut off the open coast and Barkley Sound, from the town beside the national park.
The Elk River at Fernie: westslope cutthroat trout on the dry fly in the Rockies of southeastern BC, with a live gauge.
The Skeena near Terrace: one of the world’s great steelhead rivers, with chinook, coho and a live gauge at Usk.
The Capilano in North Vancouver: coho and steelhead below Cleveland Dam, a hatchery river in a city park, with a live gauge.
The Kitimat River: big early-summer chinook, fall coho and steelhead near the town at the head of Douglas Channel, with a live gauge.
Kamloops and its lakes: the home of the Kamloops trout, hundreds of stocked lakes within an hour, and ice fishing in winter.
Port Alberni at the head of the Alberni Inlet: the Somass sockeye, late-summer chinook and the Stamp River close by.
Tunkwa Lake in the Thompson plateau: stocked rainbow trout, chironomids in spring and ice fishing in winter.
Powell River on the Sunshine Coast: salmon and bottom fish in Malaspina Strait, and lakes behind the town.
Kootenay Lake: the giant Gerrard rainbow trout, kokanee and bull trout in a long mountain lake, with a live level gauge.
Pedder Bay near Metchosin: a sheltered launch onto the strait west of Victoria, for chinook, coho and halibut close to Race Rocks.
Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: offshore chinook and halibut from the surf town at the end of the road.
Barkley Sound between Bamfield and Ucluelet: summer chinook and coho, the Alberni Inlet sockeye route and the Broken Group Islands.
The Cowichan near Duncan: brown trout, steelhead and salmon in a Canadian Heritage River, with a live gauge.
The Harrison between Harrison Lake and the Fraser: huge fall chum runs, coho and cutthroat, with a live gauge below Morris Creek.
Okanagan Lake at Kelowna: kokanee and rainbow trout in the long valley lake, with a live level gauge at the city.
The Stave below Ruskin Dam: fall chum and coho on a short, dam-controlled river in the Fraser Valley.
The Squamish near Brackendale: chum, coho and pinks in fall and winter steelhead in a glacial river, with a live gauge.
Prince Rupert on the north coast: salmon and halibut in Chatham Sound, at the mouth of the Skeena.
The Bulkley near Smithers: summer steelhead on the swung fly in fall, a classified water with a live gauge.
Species activity across the covered waters, written for the Canadian year. Peak of the year: August.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for the dominant water type here, in degrees Celsius (estimated, not a reading).
| Water | Type | Live data | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vedder River | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Vancouver | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Campbell River | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Victoria | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Sooke | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Nanaimo | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Nootka Sound | Coast | modelled tide | Jul |
| Fraser River at Mission | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Bamfield | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Ucluelet | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Elk River at Fernie | River | Water Survey gauge | May |
| Skeena River at Terrace | River | Water Survey gauge | Jan |
| Capilano River | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Kitimat River | River | Water Survey gauge | Jan |
| Kamloops | Town | modelled | May |
| Port Alberni | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Tunkwa Lake | Lake | modelled | May |
| Powell River | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Kootenay Lake | Lake | Water Survey gauge | May |
| Pedder Bay | Coast | modelled tide | Jul |
| Tofino | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Barkley Sound | Coast | modelled tide | Jul |
| Cowichan River | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Harrison River | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Okanagan Lake at Kelowna | Lake | Water Survey gauge | May |
| Stave River | River | modelled | Aug |
| Squamish River | River | Water Survey gauge | Aug |
| Prince Rupert | Town | modelled tide | Jul |
| Bulkley River at Smithers | River | Water Survey gauge | Jan |
Think of BC in three parts. The coast, from the sheltered Strait of Georgia to the open Pacific outside Vancouver Island, is salmon country, fished by trolling, with the runs peaking from early summer to fall. The Fraser Valley and the northern rivers, the Vedder, the Harrison, the Skeena and the Bulkley, are fished from the bank and the drift boat for salmon in the fall and steelhead in winter and spring. The interior, around Kamloops and in the Kootenays, is lake country, with ice fishing where winter allows.
Fresh water is licensed by the province, with surcharges for steelhead, salmon, some big lakes and white sturgeon, and a classified waters licence on the classified rivers; salt water is licensed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and a salmon conservation stamp is needed to keep salmon there. Salmon retention on the coast and in the rivers changes by fishery notice during the season, and the BC synopsis and the DFO area pages are where those changes live.
On the rivers, the gauge is the first thing to read: a rise after rain moves fish and a drop and clear brings the best fishing. On the coast, the tide and the wind decide the day, and the tide panel is a modelled curve that says so; the Canadian Hydrographic Service publishes the official predictions. On the lakes, the water temperature estimate places the fish above or below the thermocline, or under the ice.
If you fish both fresh and salt water, yes: a BC freshwater licence and a DFO tidal waters licence, with extra surcharges or stamps for salmon and steelhead. See our British Columbia licence page.
On the coast from early summer to fall, and in the rivers in the fall; what may be kept changes by DFO notice and the synopsis.
The south and west coast of Vancouver Island, Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast and Prince Rupert; the Fraser, Vedder, Harrison, Stave, Capilano, Squamish and Cowichan; the Skeena, Bulkley and Kitimat; the Elk; and Kootenay, Okanagan and the Kamloops lakes.