Fresh Vancouver Fishing Reports

Terrific Winter Fishing and 2025 Outlook! So far, the winter salmon fishing and weather in the Vancouver area has been terrific this season with abundant chinook salmon, clear skies and calm waters! Catches of spot prawns and dungeness crabs, a winter bonus, have also been strong. The 2025 fishing outlook from the Department of Fisheries has also just been released and we are again expecting spectacular chinook and coho salmon returns to this area as the year progresses. As if that weren’t enough, 2025 is also a peak return year for Pink Salmon, which means millions of these scrappy fish will be keeping us busy as well. In short, it’s a terrific time to book your fishing trip in the Vancouver area in 2025! Let’s go fishing!

Following an outrageously unbelievable salmon season this summer and fall, we are now looking forward to another great winter chinook salmon season! While winter, or “feeder” chinook are smaller than their migratory cousins, some consider these chrome-bright, silver bullets to be the best eating fish of the year! In addition, setting traps for delicious spot prawns and dungeness crab is a little added bonus on the winter trips only. So, bundle up and let’s go fishing!

The summer salmon season in Vancouver waters has been nothing short of spectacular so far, with terrific weather and an abundance of salmon! August has continued the trend with solid numbers of coho salmon caught and increasing numbers of large chinook salmon being caught. As expected, based on our amazing salmon return forecasts, fishing has simply been off the charts! In fact, despite my 25 + years of experience fishing for salmon over the entire coast of BC from Vancouver to the Alaska border, the salmon fishing in the Vancouver area so far this August has been as good, if not better than anything I’ve ever experienced, anywhere. I can’t wait to see what September holds, as that is when we typically catch our biggest salmon of the year! September spots are still available - book your spot today and experience the abundance and excitement of salmon fishing in Vancouver!

July was a hot, sunny month in Vancouver with no rain recorded at all until the 29th! And the salmon fishing has been pretty hot too! The sunny skies and solid to spectacular action on coho salmon certainly made this a month to remember. Also, in the past week, catches of bigger chinook salmon have started to fill in nicely as well, which is normal for this time of year as we enter our “big fish” season of Aug/Sept. Lots of sunshine, screaming reels, double-headers and spectacular salmon returns to the Vancouver area have us looking forward to another terrific summer of salmon fishing! Summer spots book up fast so be sure to reserve your spot early!

Salmon numbers in Vancouver waters have been strong for the past few years, and this year is proving to be no exception! Hooking into 10 - 20 Chinook salmon on just the half-day charters has been the norm over the past few weeks, and we’re just getting started! Coho salmon catches have also been steadily increasing, and should continue to do so, adding to the action packed days. Summer spots are filling quickly, so be sure to book your spot early! Let’s go fishing!

The ‘2024 Salmon season is shaping up to be nothing short of spectacular!!! In 2023, salmon anglers around Vancouver and southern BC waters enjoyed numbers of fish that haven’t been seen in years. And in fact, Canada’s Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently released their statistics which reflects this historical abundance of salmon. Some highlights: * in the immediate Vancouver area, summer return chinook salmon (stock 4.1) to the Fraser River in 2023 were estimated at an astounding 627,000 fish - which is about 6 times the average annual return for the past decade! In addition, another indicator stock for the fall return chinook salmon to the same river was also over twice the escapement goal. * in the southern Georgia Strait, another indicator stock from the Cowichan River was estimated to be over three times the escapement goal, and has been well over this goal for the past several years. In short, most of the runs of chinook salmon on the south coast of BC are very healthy and at high levels of abundance. In addition, last year also saw a great abundance of coho (silver) salmon, and huge numbers of pink salmon as well. Bottom line - 2024 is shaping up to be another one for the record books, so if salmon fishing is on your to-do list, conditions couldn’t be much better! Be sure to book your spot early, and let’s go fishing!