Lawyer Islands

Lawyer Islands sits in the sheltered waters off Prince Rupert, a cluster of rocky islets and reefs where depths run from 40 to 200 feet over broken bottom and kelp-edged structure. Lingcod and aggregate rockfish hold on the harder ledges through February to July, while Chinook Salmon push through in two windows from February to April and again from April to July, followed by Coho Salmon building from May into September. Anglers work the deeper reef edges with metal jigs and leadhead jigs with swimbaits for lingcod and rockfish, dropping into the 100 to 200 foot band where current wraps the structure. Chinook come to downrigger trolling with whole herring, anchovy in teaser heads, and hootchies behind flashers along the tide lines between the islands, and Coho respond to trolling spoons and bucktail flies worked closer to the surface as summer progresses. Tidal exchange around the islets concentrates bait against the rock faces, keeping fish stacked on predictable pieces of structure.