ReelCaster

Rockfish (Aggregate) Fishing in Prince Rupert, BC

15 spots · peak Feb-Jul

Rockfish hold on Prince Rupert's rocky reefs and pinnacles all year, and they do not move. Yelloweye, quillback, black and copper stay tight to the same structure season after season, which means the 15 spots we cover here produce on a near flat curve from January through December. February to July is the peak, when post-spawn fish spread shallower and nearshore reefs and kelp edges carry more of them. Through winter the fish sit deeper and more scattered, but they are still on the same rock you fished in June.

Work the water off the islands: Bell Passage, Chatham Sound, the Digby Island Kelp Beds, Dundas Island, Edye Passage, Hunts Inlet on Porcher Island, Kennedy Island and the Kinahan Islands. Jigging carries the day. Drop metal jigs, leadhead jigs with soft plastics or swimbaits along pinnacle walls and reef edges in 80 to 300 feet. Bait fishing backs it up. Cut herring, squid or octopus on a weighted dropper rig, fished tight to the rock, pulls yelloweye and quillback out of the cracks.

Time your drops around the tide. You want dead slack to about 0.5 knots, the window either side of high or low water, when your jig hangs where you put it instead of sweeping off the structure. By roughly 2.5 knots you are wasting lead. Plan your run between islands around those slack windows and fish the rock hard while they last.

When to go

Rockfish (yelloweye, quillback, black, copper) are non-migratory resident structure fish in Prince Rupert waters year-round, so abundance stays near baseline. The slight late-spring through early-summer peak reflects shallower post-spawn distribution and increased availability on nearshore reefs as water warms, while winter shows fish holding deeper and more dispersed but still present.

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Relative abundance by month: Jan 80 percent of peak, Feb 88 percent of peak, Mar 97 percent of peak, Apr 100 percent of peak, May 94 percent of peak, Jun 91 percent of peak, Jul 90 percent of peak, Aug 89 percent of peak, Sep 84 percent of peak, Oct 81 percent of peak, Nov 78 percent of peak, Dec 78 percent of peak.

Relative abundance through the year around Prince Rupert. Peak: Feb-Jul

How anglers fish it around Prince Rupert

jigging

Most used here

Anglers work jigs along rocky pinnacles and reefs in 80-300 feet around the islands off Prince Rupert.

Bait and lures
  • metal jigs
  • leadhead jigs with soft plastics
  • swimbaits

bait fishing

Cut bait on a weighted dropper rig is fished tight to structure for yelloweye and quillback.

Bait and lures
  • herring
  • squid
  • octopus

Tide, current and light

These are the conditions ReelCaster weights when it scores rockfish (aggregate) at Prince Rupert spots, and they are the ones worth planning a trip around.

Current
100% of the score

Fish the slack

Best from dead slack up to about 0.5 knots of tidal current, and unfishable by roughly 2.5 knots. In practice that is the window either side of high or low water, when gear hangs where you put it.

Tides here read off Prince Rupert RoRo, Fairview Terminal, Prince Rupert

Where to fish for rockfish (aggregate)

Every spot we cover around Prince Rupert that holds rockfish (aggregate), with today's score for this species. Open the spot for the tide, wind and the next 14 days.

SEE THEM ON THE PRINCE RUPERT MAP →

Other Prince Rupert guides

Guide last reviewed August 2026. Seasons, limits and closures change: confirm the current DFO notice before you fish.