About Sangster Island

Sangster Island sits off Nanaimo in British Columbia, a mid-exposure kelp reef built over rock structure in 20 to 80 feet of water. The reef holds Rockfish year-round, with Lingcod concentrating from March through April and again May into August, while Chinook Salmon move through between June and September. Lingcod and Rockfish respond to jigging with metal jigs, leadhead jigs, and soft plastic swimbaits worked close to the rocky bottom, and bait fishing with herring or squid takes fish along the same structure. Chinook are targeted with trolling using anchovy, herring, or flashers with hoochies through the mid-depth zone, with mooching cut-plug herring as a supporting approach. The kelp and broken rock give each species reliable holding cover across the reef's depth range.