Chinook Salmon Fishing in Sidney, BC

Sidney sits right where Haro, Satellite and Sidney channels funnel Chinook past the Saanich Peninsula, and that geography is why you can find fish here in any month. We cover nine spots that hold Chinook, including Active Pass, Colburne Passage off Moresby Island, D'Arcy Island, James Island, Patrician Bay, Portland Island, Sidney Spit and Willis Point. Resident feeder blackmouth hold around Sidney Channel, the Coal Island and James Island structure and nearby bait concentrations through winter and early spring, giving you a baseline to work with when the migratory fish are gone.

Time your trip for June through August if you want numbers. Abundance bottoms out from late May into June as the feeders spread out, then climbs sharply from July into mid-August as mature Chinook bound for the Fraser and the south Strait of Georgia push through. Late July and early August is the peak. September and October bring a second, smaller run of late Fraser and Cowichan-bound fish staging off the peninsula before they enter the rivers.

Fish the low light. Start just before sunrise and work the first couple of hours, then come back as the evening light goes. Fish moving water too, ideally 1.5 knots or more, and plan around the run of the ebb or flood rather than the turn. Downrigger trolling dominates, with flasher-and-bait or spoon setups run from 60 to 150 feet.