Early Summer Bite Heating Up: Chinook and Coho Action Across Vancouver Island

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Vancouver Island fishing report. We’ve got a stable early‑summer pattern setting up across the Island. Around Nanaimo, Victoria, and Campbell River, winds are light this morning, picking up to a moderate westerly this afternoon with a slight chop in the Strait of Georgia and off Sooke. Skies are mostly mixed cloud and sun, with a chance of light showers along the west coast. Daytime highs are running in the mid‑teens to high teens Celsius, cooling off nicely overnight. Sunrise is around 5:10 a.m. with sunset close to 9:30 p.m., giving you a long fishing window. The prime bite has been in that first couple hours of light and again in the last hour before dark, especially on the slack turns. Tides around the central and south Island are running moderate: a decent morning flood pushing bait onto the structure, then a dropping tide through mid‑day, and another useful evening push. Strongest current is in the usual pinch points—off Sidney, Active Pass, and the Campbell River channels—so plan your passes around slack if you’re trolling deep for chinook. On the salt side, reports from local docks and marinas have been solid. Anglers off Sooke and Constance Bank are bringing in legal **chinook** with a mix of small **coho** starting to show, plus good numbers of **hatchery fish** in the Strait. Typical boat totals have been 1–3 keeper chinook on a good tide window, with a handful of coho and the odd pink nosing around early. Deeper runs off Nanaimo and Entrance Island are also giving up some respectable springs. Best producers: **flasher–hoochie** combos in glow green, UV white, and army truck, trolled 120–180 feet on the riggers. Skinny G and Coyotes in herring aid and Irish cream are still putting fish in the box. Anchovy teaser heads in green glow or chrome, rolled tight behind a chartreuse flasher, are money at first light. If you’re running bait, a 5‑ to 6‑inch anchovy or small herring has outfished spoons when the water’s clear. Inshore, the **bottom fish** bite has been steady. Lingcod and rockfish are hitting 4‑ to 6‑inch paddle‑tail plastics in motor oil, root beer, and white on 2–4 oz jig heads worked along rocky breaks from Oak Bay out to Race Rocks, and around Gabriola and Lasqueti structure. Add a strip of herring or squid if you want more scent. On the freshwater side, Island lakes like Cowichan, Elk, and Langford are still giving up **rainbow and cutthroat** in the early hours. Most folks are getting a couple of fish per outing, more if they dial in the bite. Small spoons, wedding bands tipped with worm, and olive or black woolly buggers trolled slow are doing best. Bass in the warmer ponds and backwaters are getting active on topwater at dawn—small poppers and frog patterns around weed edges are worth a shot. A couple of hot spots to circle today: • **Sooke Bluffs to Otter Point** – Work 120–160 feet with glow flashers and hoochies, and run one rod with an anchovy just off bottom for a shot at a bigger chinook. • **Nanaimo to Entrance Island humps** – Watch your sounder for bait balls in 180–220 feet and stack your gear around that mid‑water bait. Spoons in herring patterns have been consistent here. If you can, line up your start time with the dawn slack, keep an eye on the wind building in the afternoon, and don’t be afraid to move until you find bait and birds—most of the better catches this week came from folks who kept covering water. Thanks for tuning in to this Vancouver Island fishing update with Artificial Lure. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn