Rockfish (Aggregate) Fishing in Sidney, BC

Rockfish sit tight to rock around Sidney, and the seven spots we cover give you a mix of reef, pinnacle and drop-off within a short run of the harbour. Active Pass, Colburne Passage off Moresby Island, James Island, Patrician Bay, Portland Island, Sidney Spit and Zero Rock all hold aggregate rockfish, and they fish the same way: find the structure, get your gear down to it, and keep it there.

Current runs your day here. Plan your drops around the slack, from dead slack up to about 0.5 knots, which is the window either side of high or low water. That is when a jig hangs where you put it instead of sweeping off the rock. Once the tide builds toward 2.5 knots the spots turn unfishable, and Active Pass in particular will strip your gear off the bottom long before you feel a bite.

Jigging does most of the work. Drop metal jigs, leadhead jigs with soft plastics or swimbaits over the reefs and pinnacles in 60 to 200 feet, and work them close to the rock where copper and quillback sit. Weighted bait rigs with herring, squid or cut bait fished near the bottom over the same reefs pick up quillback and yelloweye. When fish hold up off the structure, mooch a whole herring or a herring strip down the rocky drop-offs and let it sink slowly through them.