James Island

James Island sits off Sidney in DFO subarea 19-5, a mixed-bottom corridor at mid exposure where depths run from 35 to 150 feet. The moving water through this channel concentrates baitfish and holds a rotating mix of salmon and bottomfish through the year. Coho Salmon peak from May through September and Chinook Salmon from June through August, with anglers working the corridor by trolling spoons, hootchies, or cut-plug herring for Coho and running anchovy in a teaser head behind downriggers for Chinook. Pacific Halibut hold over the mixed bottom from March through August, taken on drift-jigged metal jigs, leadhead jigs with soft plastics, or a spreader bar with bait. Lingcod fill the colder stretch from November through March, responding to metal jigs, swimbaits, and soft plastics worked close to the structure.