Victoria Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
Victoria’s salt water on the Strait of Juan de Fuca: chinook under DFO’s hatchery-marked rules, halibut offshore and a modelled tide.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 11:15 a.m. model
Air / High
6 °C / 11 °C
Wind
NNE 9 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Victoria is in its winter rhythm: slow, deep and around the brightest hours. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNE around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 11 °C. Tides: high 11:15 a.m., low 5:32 a.m. and 6:11 p.m.: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 10 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 12:01 AM-2:01 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Slow
Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Lingcod
Closed today
Reopens May 1, 2027. Inside waters (Areas 13 to 19 and the inside subareas of 12, 20 and 29) are open to rockfish and lingcod 1 May to 30 September; lingcod 1 a day, 65 cm minimum, 10 a year. Rockfish Conservation Areas are closed to all finfishing.
Tie on: Jigging spoon through the ice · Dead-stick minnow · Tip-up with dead bait · Tungsten jig and wax worm. Prime windows: 12:01 AM-2:01 AM, 12:20 PM-2:20 PM, 8:43 AM-9:43 AM. Similar at 12 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
British Columbia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$11.43. British Columbia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing chinook (spring) salmon here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Chinook (spring) salmon page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Victoria today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (08:12), sunset (17:41), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 12:01 AM-2:01 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 PM; minor 8:43 AM-9:43 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Canadian Hydrographic Service predictions at tides.gc.ca for the exact times before you rely on them.
Mon
LOW5:32 a.m.-0.56 m
HIGH11:15 a.m.2.23 m
LOW6:11 p.m.-1.77 m
Tue
HIGH12:19 a.m.1.62 m
LOW6:06 a.m.-0.41 m
HIGH11:48 a.m.2.23 m
LOW6:44 p.m.-1.69 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low11 °C / 5 °C
WindNNE 9 km/h, gusts 21 km/h
Pressure101.77 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 90%
Sunrise / Sunset08:12 / 17:41
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~10 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Victoria
The best day on Victoria this week looks like Wednesday Nov 11, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Wednesday, Nov 11 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Nov 9 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 12:01 AM-2:01 AM and 12:20 PM-2:20 PM
- Minor period
- 8:43 AM-9:43 AM
- Sun
- 08:12 to 17:41
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 35 km/h
- Rain chance
- 90%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Victoria: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
The biggest Pacific salmon, called spring or king on the BC coast. Feeds along the kelp lines, points and tide rips of the BC coast before running rivers in late summer; introduced to the Great Lakes, where it runs the tributaries in fall. Retention on the BC coast changes by area and by DFO fishery notice. Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Coho salmon
BC coast: July to September; rivers: October and November
Silver, aggressive and surface-oriented. Feeds hard along the BC coast through summer and runs the Fraser Valley and Island rivers in fall, the Vedder and the Stamp among them. Hatchery coho are marked by a clipped adipose fin; what may be kept depends on the water and the DFO notice. Late fish in the rivers are dark and done; the coast is quiet until spring.
Pacific halibut
Spring and summer on the BC coast, under DFO limits
The big flatfish of the outer coast: Bamfield, Ucluelet, Tofino, Nootka and the north coast. Annual and daily limits and size rules are set by DFO and change during the season. Out of season or unfishable weather.
Lingcod
Spring to fall, with a winter closure in many areas
Closed now Reopens May 1, 2027. Inside waters (Areas 13 to 19 and the inside subareas of 12, 20 and 29) are open to rockfish and lingcod 1 May to 30 September; lingcod 1 a day, 65 cm minimum, 10 a year. Rockfish Conservation Areas are closed to all finfishing. Rule as read from Fisheries and Oceans Canada on 2026-09-27.
The toothy reef fish of the BC coast, on rock piles and pinnacles. Limits and closures vary by DFO management area.
Pink salmon
Late summer, mainly in odd-numbered years in the south
The smallest and most numerous Pacific salmon. In the south of BC the big runs come in odd-numbered years; the fish crowd the estuaries and the lower rivers in August and September. Out of season.
When to come: the Victoria calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Chinook (spring) salmon
Coho salmon
Pacific halibut
Lingcod
Pink salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 10 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Victoria today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 13 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 37 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 14 °C, wind to 37 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 37 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 14 °C, wind to 37 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
BC freshwater fishing licence, from C$11.43 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy → In salt water you also need the federal BC Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence.
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by BC Freshwater Fishing and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the British Columbia licence page before you keep anything. The zone-by-zone seasons and limits are on British Columbia fishing seasons.
Access
Salt water around Victoria needs a DFO tidal waters sport fishing licence and, to keep salmon, the salmon conservation stamp; each chinook and halibut kept goes on the licence immediately, with its length.
About this water
Victoria is a coastal town in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Victoria: the full guide
Fishing Victoria
Victoria sits at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains across the water. Its fishing is salt water close to town: chinook and coho, halibut and bottom fish, from boats out of Oak Bay and the harbours. For its chinook measures DFO groups the waters near Victoria between Cadboro Point and Sombrio Point, which span Area 19 and the eastern part of Area 20. Today’s report is scored at the city’s coordinates and uses a modelled tide.
Species and seasons
Chinook are the Victoria fish in every season, but what may be kept follows the notices: in March 2026 only hatchery-marked chinook could be retained near Victoria, the spring mark-selective fishery ran to the end of May, and wider retention followed in August. Coho join them in late summer. Pacific halibut opened coast-wide on April 1, 2026 under daily, size and annual limits, and lingcod and rockfish are fished on the reefs in their open season.
Where to fish it
Boats fish the kelp lines along the shore, the waters toward the Gulf Islands and the banks offshore. Shore anglers use the public shoreline; the Ogden Point breakwater is a busy walkway owned by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, which closes it in storms, so check the posted rules before casting there. Saanich Inlet, north of the city, had chinook non-retention and finfish closures of its own in the fall of 2026.
Planning a visit
Victoria has marinas, guides and launch ramps. The strait can turn rough quickly in a westerly, so the calm mornings are the time to get out, and a guide is the simplest way to fish it on a first visit. When killer whales are near, DFO asks anglers to stop fishing within 1,000 metres and let them pass.
The water through the year
Summer is the busiest season, with migrating chinook and coho; winter keeps a chinook fishery for anglers who pick the calm days; spring opens halibut and, from May 1, the inside-waters season for rockfish and lingcod, which in 2026 closed again on October 1. The strait is cold all year, and fog can roll in on summer mornings.
Reading this report here
Currents run hard in the strait, and the tide panel here is a modelled curve rather than the official Canadian Hydrographic Service prediction. A westerly decides most days on open water; barometric pressure and cloud round out the score.
Licence, access and rules
Salt water around Victoria needs a DFO tidal waters sport fishing licence and, to keep salmon, the salmon conservation stamp; each chinook and halibut kept goes on the licence immediately, with its length. In tidal water, salmon must now be fished with single-point barbless hooks, and one subarea of Area 19 is closed to all fishing year-round because of pollution. The current notice for each subarea is at notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
Common questions
Can I fish from shore in Victoria?
Yes, with a DFO tidal licence, from the public shoreline; at the Ogden Point breakwater, follow the harbour authority’s posted rules, and note that it closes the breakwater in bad weather.
Is there winter salmon fishing in Victoria?
Yes, for chinook on calm days, but retention can be limited to hatchery-marked fish, as it was in March 2026; read the current notice first.
When is halibut season off Victoria?
In 2026 DFO opened halibut coast-wide from April 1 to December 31, with daily, size and annual limits that it can change during the season.
Is fishing good at Victoria right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&ID=all&DOC_
- gvha.ca/about-gvha/newsroom/breakwater-closure-due-to-weather-conditio
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.