About Helmcken Island

Helmcken Island sits in the exposed outer waters off Sayward, British Columbia, where a rock bottom drops away steeply from 20 to 615 feet. The drop-off structure holds Chinook Salmon through their May–August peak and Coho Salmon from June into October, with both species taken on trolling using anchovy, herring, spoons, or hootchies along the edge. Lingcod stack on the rock through the February–April window and again in late summer, responding to metal jigs, swimbaits, and leadhead jigs worked close to the bottom. Pacific Halibut move over the deeper flats from April to August and take drift-jigged leadheads and metal jigs, or bottom baits like herring, squid, and octopus. Canary, copper, and darkblotched rockfish, along with Pacific cod and sablefish, share the same rock and deep contours across the year.