Sandheads

Sandheads is an outer-exposed sand flat at the mouth of the Fraser River in DFO subarea 29-4, off Vancouver, where depths run 25 to 80 feet across broad, current-swept bottom. The spot draws Chinook Salmon from June through August and Coho Salmon from June through September, with Pacific Halibut moving through from March into August and Sturgeon present through the year. Downrigger trolling with anchovy in teaser heads, hootchies, and flashers covers the salmon effectively along the shallower edges, while mooching cut plug herring works through the tide changes that concentrate bait on the flat. Halibut anglers drift jig leadhead jigs with swimbaits or large metal jigs across the sand, and bait anchoring with whole herring or salmon heads produces on the deeper margins. Tide flow off the river mouth is the defining feature here, stacking bait and dictating when each species feeds.