Today's best fishing in Gulf Islands: 7 AM to 10 AM
This page is full of real data to show you what you can see with ReelCaster in Gulf Islands.
The next 14 days in Gulf Islands
Data from: ECMWF + GFS + BlueCasterTwo weeks ahead
Most forecasts stop at the weekend. This one runs a full 14 days, so you can pick the day before you book the time off.
One number, out of 100
The best score anything in Gulf Islands reaches that day. Green is good, amber is fair, red is slow, and you can read it from across the room.
15,792 scores behind it
47 spots, every hour of every day, out to 14. This row is the best of them.
Hour by hour today at Active Pass
All times PDTOne real spot
A city has no tide or wind of its own, so this is Active Pass, the most fished mark in Gulf Islands, scored for Chinook Salmon.
Six readings, one clock
Tide, current, wind, sea, air and sky, all lined up on the same hour, so you can see what is actually driving the score.
Currents, not just tides
Modelled flow for the water off Gulf Islands, so you can see slack coming before you leave the dock.
The spots people actually fish in Gulf Islands
1 more on the mapA year of catch reports
The order here is how much each mark actually gets fished, not today's guess. The busiest water in Gulf Islands comes first.
Today's number too
Beside each name is the best score that spot reaches today, so you can weigh a proven mark against a good forecast.
Every mark has a page
Its own chart, its own species and its own rules, worked out the same way as everything above.
- 85Active PassRegularly fishedBest 11 AM–2 PM · High slack · Light ripple · Rock reef
- 83Colburne Passage / Moresby IslandRegularly fishedBest 7 AM–10 AM · Low slack · Flat · Rock reef
- 83Fairfax PointKnown markBest 7 AM–10 AM · Early flood · Flat · Rock reef
- 84Canoe Pass / Pender Island ChannelBest 7 AM–10 AM · Late ebb · Light ripple · Mixed bottom
- 85Prevost Island / Nose PointBest 7 AM–10 AM · Mid ebb · Flat · Rock reef
- 83Prevost Island / James Bay Drop-offBest 7 AM–10 AM · High slack · Flat · Rock reef
Every spot we score in Gulf Islands
Bathymetry: NONNA-10 + NRCanReal charted seabed
Depth soundings, not a stock map. The banks, reefs and drop-offs are where you can see them.
7 of 47 marks scored
Every spot we cover around Gulf Islands, each one carrying its own number for today.
Point at any of them
The name, how busy a mark it is, and the tide, sea and seabed at its best hour.
Create custom spots
Our full model on your custom private spots.
- Drop a pinAnywhere on the water. The ledge you found, the bay nobody talks about.
- Name itYour name for it, not ours. It stays private to your account.
- Choose speciesPick what you fish there, and it starts scoring from the next run.
What you can keep in Gulf Islands today
- Chinook SalmonKeep in places2 a day · min 62 cmOpen at 46 of 47 spots we cover
- Coho SalmonKeep in places2 a day · min 30 cmOpen at 40 of 41 spots we cover
- HalibutKeep2 a dayOpen at all 45 spots we cover
- LingcodKeep1 a day · min 65 cmOpen at all 47 spots we cover
- Black RockfishClosedShut at all 19 spots we cover
- Copper RockfishClosedShut at all 27 spots we cover
Rules differ between PFMAs and change in season. Check DFO for the PFMA you are fishing before you keep anything.
That was one day. Pro opens the next fourteen.
Every spot on this map, hour by hour, two weeks out, with alerts when your water crosses the score you set.
$0 today, then $33 CAD a year, which is $2.75 a month. Card required, cancel any time.
When to fish Gulf Islands
Each row is shaded against that species' own best month here, so a dark cell means a good month for that fish rather than a comparison between them.
| Species | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinook Salmon | ||||||||||||
| Coho Salmon | ||||||||||||
| Halibut | ||||||||||||
| Lingcod | ||||||||||||
| Black Rockfish | ||||||||||||
| Copper Rockfish |
Chinook Salmon: January poor, February fair, March fair, April fair, May excellent, June peak, July peak, August peak, September fair, October poor, November poor, December poor. Coho Salmon: January none, February none, March poor, April poor, May fair, June excellent, July peak, August peak, September peak, October excellent, November none, December none. Halibut: January none, February poor, March excellent, April peak, May peak, June peak, July peak, August excellent, September good, October poor, November none, December none. Lingcod: January fair, February fair, March excellent, April good, May fair, June fair, July good, August good, September fair, October fair, November fair, December fair. Black Rockfish: January fair, February fair, March fair, April fair, May good, June good, July good, August good, September good, October good, November fair, December fair. Copper Rockfish: January fair, February fair, March fair, April good, May good, June good, July good, August good, September good, October good, November fair, December fair.
- Chinook Salmon. Gulf Islands Chinook show a strong summer peak (July–August) as maturing Fraser and Puget Sound stocks stage and migrate through the islands toward natal rivers, with the sharpest abundance in late July. A secondary lift in winter/spring reflects resident 'feeder' (immature) Chinook that overwinter in these inshore waters, keeping abundance well above zero year-round.
- Coho Salmon. Coho abundance in the Gulf Islands peaks in late August through September (weeks 34-37) as maturing adults stage and migrate toward Fraser and local river systems. A modest early-summer bump (weeks 26-33) reflects feeder/immature coho building through the season, while winter and early spring show minimal presence as most fish are offshore or have spawned out.
- Halibut. Pacific halibut in the Gulf Islands are least abundant in winter when many fish move to deeper offshore shelf spawning grounds; abundance builds through spring as they migrate inshore to shallower feeding banks, peaking late spring through early summer (May–July). A secondary late-summer feeding presence holds before numbers taper into fall as fish begin their seasonal move back to deeper water.
- Lingcod. Lingcod are resident, non-migratory reef/rock-structure fish in the Gulf Islands, present year-round with modest seasonal shifts. The spring peak (Feb–May) reflects males aggregating on nesting rocks to guard egg masses in shallower, more accessible water, making them locally most concentrated; abundance stays near baseline the rest of the year with slight dips during post-spawn dispersal into deeper water in early summer.
- Black Rockfish. Black rockfish are resident, non-migratory, long-lived reef dwellers in the Gulf Islands, so abundance is essentially flat year-round with only a slight rise through the warmer months when fish are more active and dispersed on shallower structure. The minor late-fall/winter dip reflects reduced feeding activity and movement to deeper water during coldest temperatures, but the stock never leaves these waters.
- Copper Rockfish. Copper rockfish are non-migratory, long-lived resident bottomfish tightly associated with rocky reef and kelp structure in the Gulf Islands, so their biological abundance is essentially flat year-round. Minor seasonal variation exists as fish may move slightly deeper in winter, but they remain present in these waters every week with no true biological absence.
Before you go
Water around Gulf Islands falls into 10 areas, and the rules can differ between them. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets them.
- 17-1
- 17-2
- 18-1
- 18-2
- 18-3
- 18-4
- 18-5
- 18-9
- 18-10
- 18-11
Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence
Fisheries and Oceans Canada · 2026-27
Annual, Canadian resident, 16 to 64: $25.86
Salmon Conservation Stamp $7.39, required to keep any salmon. Releasing does not need it.
This is the federal tidal licence. Fishing fresh water in BC needs a separate provincial licence, and one does not cover the other.
Fishing Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands sit in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, where a maze of channels and passages threads past 40 fishing spots. Chinook Salmon anchor the fishery from May through August, followed by Coho Salmon that hold from June into October, while Lingcod peak earlier in the year from February through April. Many of the spots cluster around rocky reefs, submerged points, and current-swept ridges that hold bottom fish year-round, with Copper Rockfish available across all twelve months. Anglers work the Chinook run mainly by trolling through the tide lines and along the drop-offs. The heart of the salmon season falls across the summer months, though the reef structure keeps rockfish and lingcod in play through the winter.