Rockfish (Aggregate) Fishing in Cowichan, BC

Rockfish sit still while everything else in Cowichan moves. Copper, quillback, black and yelloweye hold to the same rocky ground year after year, and they do not migrate, so the fish you find on a reef in February are the fish you find there in August. Abundance stays flat across all 52 weeks. That takes the guesswork out of timing your trip and puts the emphasis where it belongs, on picking structure and picking your tide.

We cover 11 spots in the area that hold rockfish, including Cowichan Bay Reef, Enterprise Reef in Stuart Channel, Danger Reefs, Burial Islet and the mouth of Bird's Eye Cove at Maple Bay, the Genoa Bay area, Active Pass and Race Rocks. The rocky edges of Sansum Narrows, Satellite Channel and Saanich Inlet all hold resident fish on pinnacles and broken bottom.

Current decides your day. Fish the slack, from dead stop up to about 0.5 knots, and expect the ground to be unfishable by roughly 2.5 knots. Work the window either side of high or low water, when your gear hangs where you drop it. Jigging is the main game: metal jigs, leadhead jigs with soft plastics and swimbaits worked vertically over reefs in 60 to 200 feet. Back that up with bait fishing, herring, squid or octopus strips on a dropper rig near bottom, to pull quillback and copper off structure.