Melville Island Reef

Melville Island Reef sits offshore of Prince Rupert in British Columbia's north coast waters, a rocky reef complex spanning 30 to 180 feet that holds structure-oriented groundfish alongside migrating salmon. Lingcod and aggregate rockfish anchor the fishery from February through July, while Chinook salmon push through the area in two windows, February to April and again April to July. Anglers work the reef's edges and pinnacles with leadhead jigs and swimbaits, metal jigs, and bucktail jigs for lingcod, dropping the same profiles or bait rigs of herring, squid, and octopus to reach rockfish tight against the rock. Chinook fishing centers on downrigger trolling with whole herring, anchovy in teaser heads, spoons, and hootchies behind flashers along the reef margins, with mooching cut-plug herring effective on quieter tide stages. Current across the reef concentrates baitfish on the up-current faces, and dropping to the lower end of the depth range tends to sort out larger lingcod holding below the rockfish schools.