SUMMER FISHING REPORT

Where is the best fishing close to Vancouver? Our Summer fishing report breaks down each month and gives you tips on how to make the most of your BC fishing trip! There are plenty of cool options for fishing and the general fishing report is solid on all fronts, especially good on our Vancouver salmon fishing charters and sturgeon fishing tours of the Fraser River.  Below you’ll find detailed Vancouver fishing reports for June, July and August. For a weekly report you can visit our BC fishing blog or use our quick and easy contact form to send us an inquiry.

June is a pretty interesting month on the local fishing scene, it’s a hard time to have any consistency with a fish report as conditions vary drastically based on weather and temperatures. You can expect the highest water of the year on local rivers in June, making for difficult, and sometimes impossible, fishing access on the streams and rivers of BC’s south coast. This is due to the warmer temperatures and higher freezing levels allowing for the accumulated Winter snow to melt. If you’re really wanting to go fly fishing in June there is some fun beach fishing for cutthroat trout close to Vancouver. There is also some good lake fishing in Whistler, BC.  The best report we can give you is for June salmon fishing on the ocean, overall a super good time for some action packed saltwater fishing!

There is some good sturgeon fishing in June as well. By June we usually see the Fraser River at its peak heights and on the drop. The majority of the big river conditions have subsided and the angling opportunities begin to take shape again. In conclusion, June is a really good month for salmon fishing charters, not great for river fishing and solid for sturgeon fishing. If you’d like an updated June fishing report or more information on fishing with us please use the contact form below.

Now we feel as Summer has fully arrived. July is a wonderful month weather wise throughout British Columbia and offers a variety of different freshwater and saltwater fishing opportunities. River conditions are getting better by the day and ocean conditions are some of the best of the year. Trout fishing on local rivers is best on dry flies or small nymphs. The Ashlu, Mamquam and Cheakamus rivers are all local favourites in July, as is the Birkenhead River near Pemberton BC, north of Vancouver. On odd years (2021, 2023, etc) there is the first push of Pink Salmon into the rivers near Vancouver. Hit up the Harrison or Squamish River for the best Pink Salmon fishing, which starts by mid July. More reports on salmon fishing and sturgeon fishing below these notes…

You can count on saltwater salmon fishing to be consistent throughout the month of July. There is a variety of salmon species in local waters, including Sockeye, Pink, Coho and Chinook salmon. There’s four out of the five species of Pacific salmon! Ocean conditions are nice, an easy time for any age or ability level to get out for a fishing charter. The July Sturgeon fishing report is all about consistency. July will be one of the overall most consistent months for fishing on the Fraser River, with multiple daily hookups. To wrap up the July fishing report we will let you know July is a crazy busy month for us. If you are interested in some July dates it is advised to inquiry early as we are usually at 100% capacity in July and August.

The saltwater fishing report for salmon is expect some of the best fishing of the year in August. Rods are moving, fish are biting and there is a fun variety of salmon species in local waters, include Chinook, Coho, Pink and Sockeye salmon. The best river fishing in August is on the Squamish River and some smaller local tributaries including the Cheakamus and Mamqaum rivers. There are all wild rivers north of Vancouver and on odd years there are healthy runs of Pink Salmon that offer fantastic fishing. On even years (2020, 2022, etc) there are no Pink Salmon returning, so fly fishing for trout is the main focus. Below we talk more about August fly fishing and give you more details on Fraser River sturgeon fishing.

Trout fishing is best on some of the smaller streams around Vancouver. To the east of the city the Harrison River offers some good cutthroat fishing while the Skagit River is a local favourite for dry fly rainbow trout fishing in August. If you want to venture a bit further from Vancouver, the small Birkenhead River north of Whistler, has some awesome trout fishing. Bull trout will smash streamers while rainbows prefer smaller nymphs and dry flies. There is a small run of Sockeye salmon that enter the Birkenhead River in August, leave those guys alone! Instead, catch the trout that come to feed on the late Summer spawn! Sturgeon fishing is really good, if you’ve been reading this report in entirety you’ve probably picked up on that by now.  We’ll wrap up our Vancouver Summer fishing report, with this simple bit of advice: Just get it wet and hang on!