Starting in June and lasting through
September, British Columbia will see a major
salmon migration along the west side of
Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island.
BC’s
S ALMON
HIGHWA Y
One of the greatest salmon fishing
opportunities is found offshore of Canada’s
Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Islands.
By Jason Brooks
L
MOST NORTHERN PACIFIC SALMON LEAVE their natal waters and head out to the open
Pacific Ocean. Then as they grow the fish head north to the nutrient rich waters of Alaska and
British Columbia. Along the way the protected “inside passage” becomes home to the feeding
chinook and coho, sockeye and pink as well as the chum salmon. In a constant feeding mode,
salmon feast on herring, anchovies, sandlace, squid and other food sources that thrive along the
kelp beds and rocky shoreline. When targeting feeding salmon, it is easy to troll along any point
jutting out into the ocean and catch fish. But once they start to feel the urge to head back “home”
the fish leave the security of the shorelines and waterways and head back to the open ocean.
Pacific currents swirling around and fall storms moving water from the north to south, salmon
merge onto the highway and drop the hammer down heading for home.
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www.travelinganglermagazine.com
OOKING SOUTH THE BRIGHT LIGHTS reflected off the
water and cut through the fog. It was a commercial troller
and soon another one was to our north. Slowing the boat to
idle and looking around the two commercial fishing boats
soon turned into a few more and then a few more and before we
realized it we were surrounded. As the morning fog lifted it revealed
twelve commercial vessels trolling past in every direction. Seventeen
miles to the east was Nootka Island and the west coast of Vancouver
Island, British Columbia. We were on the “Salmon Highway” and it
seemed it was rush hour traffic.