About Deer Island

Deer Island sits off Port Hardy, British Columbia, where a rock-bottom drop-off falls through mid-exposure water from 5 to 65 feet. The structure draws Chinook Salmon from May through August and Coho Salmon from June into September, with anglers working the edges by trolling anchovy, herring, spoons, and hootchies. Lingcod hold along the rock from May to August and respond to metal jigs, swimbaits, and leadhead jigs with soft plastics dropped tight to the bottom. Pacific Halibut move through the deeper reaches from March into August, taken on drifted whole herring, salmon bellies, octopus, or squid. Black Rockfish stack over the same rock from May through September, and jigging metal or leadhead jigs across the drop-off keeps them within reach alongside Pacific Cod and other rockfish.