Do I need a fishing licence in Nanaimo?

Yes. Saltwater fishing around Nanaimo needs the Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, $25.86 a year for a canadian resident, 16 to 64 in 2026-27. The Salmon Conservation Stamp ($7.39) is 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.

Today's best fishing in Nanaimo: 3 PM to 6 PM

This page is full of real data to show you what you can see with ReelCaster in Nanaimo.

Today's best fishing in Nanaimo: 3 PM to 6 PM

Updated today

Chinook fishing at Entrance Island (Nanaimo) looks good today.

ReelCaster scores every hour at Entrance Island (Nanaimo) from 0 to 100, reading the tide, current, wind and weather for Chinook. The higher the score, the better your odds. Green means go.

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Every spot around Nanaimo, scored

Each number is today's best score out of 100 at that spot. The card walks the most-fished spots.

View Nanaimo fishing map

Nanaimo report

2026-10-18

Chinook and Coho are the story around Nanaimo this week

The next 14 days in Nanaimo

Data from: ECMWF + GFS + BlueCaster

Two 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 Nanaimo reaches that day. Green is good, amber is fair, red is slow, and you can read it from across the room.
23,856 scores behind it
71 spots, every hour of every day, out to 14. This row is the best of them.

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Hour by hour today at Entrance Island (Nanaimo)

All times PDT

One real spot
A city has no tide or wind of its own, so this is Entrance Island (Nanaimo), the most fished spot in Nanaimo, 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 Nanaimo, so you can see slack coming before you leave the dock.

Conditions · now

Time

2 PM

Now

Score

Fair

Tide

12.5 ft ▼

Ebbing

Current

—

Ebb

Wind

8 kn

NNW · steady

Sea state

Flat

0.0 m

Air temp

14°

Mild

Weather

Overcast

100% cloud

The spots people actually fish in Nanaimo

62 more on the map

A year of catch reports
The order here is how much each mark actually gets fished, not today's guess. The busiest water in Nanaimo 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 spot has a page
Its own chart, its own species and its own rules, worked out the same way as everything above.

Every spot we score in Nanaimo

Bathymetry: NONNA-10 + NRCan

Real charted seabed
Depth soundings, not a stock map. The banks, reefs and drop-offs are where you can see them.
68 of 71 spots scored
Every spot we cover around Nanaimo, 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.

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What you can keep in Nanaimo today

Chinook SalmonKeep in places2 a day · min 62 cmOpen at 61 of 65 spots we cover
Coho SalmonKeep in places2 a day · min 30 cmOpen at 63 of 68 spots we cover
Dungeness CrabKeep4 a day · min 16.5 cmOpen at all 12 spots we cover
SurfperchKeep in places8 a dayOpen at 10 of 13 spots we cover
Flounder / Sole (Flatfish)Keep in places8 a dayOpen at 3 of 5 spots we cover
HerringKeep20 a dayOpen at all 3 spots we cover
LingcodClosedShut at all 59 spots we cover
Black RockfishClosedShut at all 31 spots we cover
Rockfish (Aggregate)ClosedShut at all 17 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 Nanaimo

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.

Relative abundance by month for each species around Nanaimo
Species	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Chinook Salmon
Coho Salmon
Lingcod
Dungeness Crab
Black Rockfish
Surfperch
Flounder / Sole (Flatfish)
Herring
Rockfish (Aggregate)

Chinook Salmon. Nanaimo (Gulf of Georgia) holds resident/feeder Chinook through winter and spring, giving a steady baseline, while the strong summer peak (late July–August) reflects mature Fraser and local river-bound Chinook staging and migrating through the Strait. Abundance tapers through September–October as fish enter rivers to spawn, hitting the annual low in fall before winter feeders rebuild presence.
Coho Salmon. Nanaimo-area Coho peak in late August through September as returning adults stage off the Nanaimo River and surrounding Strait of Georgia beaches before spawning; a modest summer build reflects feeder/immature coho present through mid-summer, while winter and early spring see the lowest biological presence as fish have spawned out or dispersed offshore as juveniles.
Lingcod. Lingcod are resident year-round in Nanaimo-area waters (Strait of Georgia reefs and ledges), so abundance never drops to zero. The clearest peak is late winter to early spring (Feb–Mar) when males aggregate on nesting reefs to guard egg masses, making them highly concentrated and catchable, with a modest secondary bump in mid-summer as post-spawn fish feed heavily on baitfish.
Dungeness Crab. Dungeness crab are resident year-round in Nanaimo's protected waters, so abundance never drops to zero, but adult hard-shell biomass peaks late summer through fall (Aug–Oct) after the spring/early-summer molt when crabs harden and fill out. The early-summer molt period (May–Jul) shows a modest dip as many crabs are soft-shelled and less catchable, with a gradual winter tapering as crabs move to deeper water.
Black Rockfish. Black rockfish are non-migratory resident bottomfish around Nanaimo's rocky reefs and are present year-round, so the curve stays broad and flat. Slight summer peak (July–August) reflects warmer water, higher metabolism, and more active surface/mid-water feeding, while winter shows a modest dip as fish hold deeper and feed less in colder temperatures.
Surfperch. Shiner and pile perch remain resident in Nanaimo's nearshore, eelgrass, and pilings year-round, so the curve stays broadly near baseline. The clear late-winter/early-spring peak (Feb–Apr) reflects the pre-spawn aggregation when gravid, live-bearing females stack up along beaches and structure, after which numbers ease through summer as fish disperse.
Flounder / Sole (Flatfish). Flatfish are resident year-round in Nanaimo's sandy/muddy nearshore flats and estuaries, so abundance never drops to zero. A spring spawning aggregation (Feb–Apr) and a stronger late-summer/early-fall peak (Aug–Sep), when fish move onto shallow warm flats to feed, drive the two bumps; winter fish stay deeper and slightly less concentrated.
Herring. Nanaimo lies within the Strait of Georgia herring migration corridor, with the massive late-winter spawning aggregation peaking February–March (weeks 6–11) when mature herring flood inshore to spawn. Outside the spawn, most adults disperse offshore into deeper Strait waters, leaving lower but non-zero background presence from juvenile and resident schools, with a slight late-year uptick as pre-spawn fish begin staging.
Rockfish (Aggregate). Rockfish (aggregate) are long-lived, non-migratory residents of nearshore reefs and rocky structure around Nanaimo, so biological abundance is essentially flat year-round. The very slight summer rise reflects warmer water pulling fish shallower and more concentrated onto reef edges, but the stock never leaves and is never biologically absent.

Before you go

Management areas

Water around Nanaimo falls into 21 areas, and the rules can differ between them. Fisheries and Oceans Canada sets them.

14-3
14-4
14-9
17-3
17-4
17-5
17-6
17-7
17-8
17-10
17-11
17-12
17-13
17-14
17-15
17-16
17-17
17-18
17-19
17-20
17-21

Licence you need

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.

Full licence guide Buy from Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Fishing Nanaimo

Nanaimo sits on the east coast of Vancouver Island, fronting the sheltered waters of the Strait of Georgia and the passages that thread between the surrounding islands and reefs. The area holds 89 fishing spots where Coho and Chinook Salmon draw the most attention, both peaking from June through September, while Lingcod fill out the season with a spring run in March and April and a longer stretch from May into August. Many of the spots cluster around rocky points, submerged reefs, and current-swept passages, with more exposed structure lying off the outer edges. Salmon anglers work these waters primarily by trolling, covering ground to track fish through the summer months. Copper Rockfish round out the local catch, keeping the fishery active well beyond the peak salmon window.

Local intel

Launch at Brechin Point and ride the flood out to Five Finger Island. Chinook sit tight to that drop, so run a glow hootchie down 90 to 130 feet and stay on the contour. Last two hours of flood is the window. On the ebb, work the back eddies off Snake Island and the Gabriola shore. Watch the Qualicum wind, it fills in mid afternoon and turns Northumberland Channel into a washing machine, so go early. For lingcod, jig the rocky humps right through slack water.

Common questions about Nanaimo

›What is the best time of year to fish Nanaimo, BC?

Early summer through early fall is the strongest all round window on this stretch of the Strait of Georgia. Chinook build from May and peak through June, July and August, while coho run hot from June into September. Lingcod and rockfish hold on the reefs all year, so even a mid winter trip has something to target.

›What fish can you catch around Nanaimo and where do they hold?

The headline species are Chinook and coho salmon, lingcod and rockfish, with Dungeness crab worked in the sheltered nearshore water. Salmon are found out in the open Strait and stage near estuary and beach edges as they get close to spawning, with mature fish pushing toward the Fraser and the Nanaimo River in late summer. Lingcod and rockfish are resident and non migratory, so look for rocky reefs, ledges and pinnacles.

›What fishing techniques work best in Nanaimo?

Trolling is the backbone of the local salmon fishery, with mooching and bucktailing both productive when fish are feeding near the surface or holding tight to a bait ball. For bottom species like lingcod and rockfish, jigging and drift jigging over structure and drifting bait are the standard approaches. Crab trapping and ring netting round things out in the protected shallows, and hard shelled crab is at its best from late summer into fall.

›Can you fish from shore in Nanaimo or do you need a boat?

Most of the fishing here is boat based, because the salmon fishery relies on trolling and mooching across open water in the Strait of Georgia. Shore anglers do best working rocky shoreline structure and kelp edges where resident species such as rockfish, greenling and the occasional lingcod live year round. If you want consistent access to Chinook and coho, get on a boat or book a guide.

›What conditions should I watch before heading out on the water at Nanaimo?

The Strait of Georgia is open water and can build quickly when wind runs against tide, so check the marine forecast and the tide tables before you commit to a long run offshore. Tidal movement also drives the bite, particularly for bottom species held on reefs and ledges where current concentrates bait. Note that the waters around Nanaimo are split across several DFO management subareas in Areas 14, 17 and 18, so confirm which one you are fishing before you drop a line.

Nanaimo report

The next 14 days in Nanaimo

Two weeks ahead

One number, out of 100

23,856 scores behind it

Hour by hour today at Entrance Island (Nanaimo)

One real spot

Six readings, one clock

Currents, not just tides

The spots people actually fish in Nanaimo

A year of catch reports

Today's number too

Every spot has a page

Every spot we score in Nanaimo

Real charted seabed

68 of 71 spots scored

Point at any of them