About Anacortes Ship Channel (Guemes Channel)

Anacortes Ship Channel, also known as Guemes Channel, is a mixed-bottom drop-off near Bellingham, Washington, in DFO subarea 7, with depths running 40 to 180 feet and mid-range exposure to current. Pacific halibut hold here through the spring and summer with a peak from April to August, while Chinook salmon build from June to September and coho follow from June into October. Anglers drift herring, squid, salmon bellies, or octopus across the deeper structure for halibut, and switch to downrigger trolling with whole herring, spoons, hoochies, and flashers for Chinook holding along the channel. Lingcod work the rocky edges through the fall and winter and again from March to June, taken on leadhead jigs with swimbaits or metal jigs worked close to the bottom. Rockfish, including black rockfish through the summer, respond to metal jigs and soft plastic swimbaits along the same drop-off, with the moving tide concentrating fish over the mixed bottom.