Canada’s greatest catches: 216 fishing hot spots from sea to sea to sea

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BC’S TOP 20 HOT SPOTS FOR CATCHING BIG CHINOOK SALMON

Haida Gwaii

BRITISH COLUMBIA: CHINOOK SALMON

Why this is one of Canada’s must-have fishing experiences

Sure, you can catch chinook salmon returning to their natal rivers, but you can also tackle them when they’re still bright chrome and tougher than hell out in the chuck. And B.C. rightfully lays claim to some of the best open-water and riverine chinook fisheries on the planet, complete with magnificent mountain backdrops and wildlife viewing, including a good chance of spotting feasting grizzlies, marauding orcas or mist-spewing humpbacks.

The largest of the Pacific salmon species, chinook are also known as kings, and for good reason: they’re downright royal looking, as in warrior-king, complete with shining armour. And they fight hard, bending stout rods to seemingly the point of breaking, then screaming off on line-thieving runs. Whether you’re casting, mooching or downrigging, it doesn’t take long to realize you have a chinook on the line—the violent headshakes and knuckle-busting reel peelers are dead giveaways.

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For anglers, the ultimate goal is to catch the king of kings, a chinook weighing 30 pounds or more, otherwise known as a tyee. And if you’re really lucky, you just might hook a chinook topping 50 pounds. It happens, as Newmarket, Ontario’s Deborah Whitman-Perry can attest: she caught and released an 83-pound three-ounce behemoth near Rivers Inlet in 2012. Wow.

WHEN TO GO: Year-round, depending on location

HOT TACTIC: Mooching a whole-herring rig

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THE HOT SPOTS

  1. Campbell River
  2. Chatham Sound
  3. Chilliwack/Vedder Rivers
  4. Clayoquot Sound
  5. Comox
  6. Cowichan River
  7. Dean River
  8. Fraser/Harrison Rivers
  9. Haida Gwaii/Langara Island
  10. Kitimat River
  11. Milbanke Sound
  12. Nootka Island
  13. Port Hardy
  14. Powell River
  15. Quatsino Sound
  16. Rivers Inlet
  17. Skeena River
  18. Stamp River
  19. Tofino
  20. Ucluelet