Chatham Islands

The Chatham Islands sit off Victoria's eastern shore in DFO subarea 19-4, a mid-exposure cluster of rocky reefs and kelp-fringed structure dropping into 40 to 150 feet of water. The ground holds Kelp Greenling and Yelloweye Rockfish year-round, with Pacific Halibut moving through from March to August and Lingcod peaking from November to March and again April through June. Current pushes hard around the island edges on flooding and ebbing tides, concentrating bait along the rock walls and pinnacle tops. Anglers work the broken bottom and transition zones where reef meets sand, with the deeper edges producing the larger halibut and lingcod.