About Heath Islet

Heath Islet sits off Qualicum Beach in DFO subarea 14-3, a rocky drop-off along the outer exposed coast where the bottom falls from about 30 to 150 feet. The structure holds Copper, Canary, and China Rockfish along with Pacific Ocean Perch, while Chinook Salmon peak from July through September and Coho Salmon run from June into October. Lingcod fishing is strongest from January through March, worked with metal jigs, swimbaits, or leadhead jigs over the rock, or with whole herring, squid, and live greenling on the bottom. Chinook hold along the drop-off and respond to trolling anchovy, herring, spoons, or hootchies, with mooching cut-plug or whole herring as an alternative over the deeper edges. For Coho, trolling hootchies, spoons, small plugs, or a bait strip behind a flasher covers the upper water column, and bucktailing flies works the surface.