VANCOUVER ISLAND , VICTORIA & THE GULF ISLANDS


Westcoast Fish Photos


Last Casting Guide Photos


Hatley Park Castle, or the Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites. And there are plenty of stores and funky shops worth checking out in the downtown core. Be sure to sign your child up for the free Learn-to- Fish program at Langford’s Lake Ida Anne, and at Victoria’s Elk Lake, put on by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.


Sample some fine wines at the many wineries in the Cowichan Valley north of Victoria. Learn more about the Cowichan First Nation at the Quw'utsun' Cultural Centre in the town of Duncan, and take a self- guided walk among 41 exquisitely carved totem poles. Tour the British Columbia Forestry Discovery Centre to learn about the province’s logging industry, and enjoy a nostalgic ride through the dense forest aboard an old, narrow-gauge steam locomotive. You can also stroll along the


waterfront in the quaint, pedestrian- friendly town of Sidney (also known as Booktown for its many bookstores). The village’s Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre has hundreds of examples of local sea life in 17 fascinating saltwater aquarium habitats. Nearby, a must- see for the amateur horticulturalist is world-renowned Butchart Gardens, with its immaculately manicured


26 The SPORT FISHING Guide 2012


grounds and stunning seasonal floral displays.


Mainland - Rivers Inlet The long glacier-etched fjord of Rivers Inlet is the place your dreams of hooking an enormous tyee that tips the scales over 25 kilograms could be answered. A massive sport-caught tyee weighing 38.6 kilograms (85 pounds) – and another commercially-caught leviathan weighing 57.3 kilograms (126 pounds) – came from these fabled waters. These big fish are returning to the Chuckwalla, Kilbella, and Wannock rivers at the head of the inlet. To sustain this trophy chinook fishery, and to enhance the wild stocks, the local Oweekeno First Nation band have allied with the sport fishing resorts to fund and operate the Wannock River and Shotbolt Bay fish hatcheries. Anglers will also find trophy coho to over 10 kilograms – especially acclaimed for their high acrobatic leaps and palm-searing runs. In August and into September, you can take a mixed bag of salmon when big schools of willing pink and chum return. Near the mouth of Rivers Inlet, the sandy bottom, in 100 metres of water, holds some hefty


Pacific Outback Photos


halibut, along with other bottom- dwellers.


Both sides of this deep fjord (which curves some 50 kilometres into the mainland) provide plenty of uncrowded, protected fishing spots. On the southern side of the inlet’s mouth, slowly motor-mooch cutplug herring along the “Wall,” “Dome,” and “Triangle.” Also good is the craggy, indented shoreline along Fitz Hugh Sound, or the channels, islets and main islands of Penrose, Ripon, and Wallbran (on the northern side of the inlet).


Almost any crack or crevice in the inlet’s steep walls offer mature salmon an energy-saving respite from strong outgoing tidal currents, and refuge from predatory Orcas. As the tidal flows slacken, these nooks and crannies are also ideal lairs for salmon to ambush schools of baitfish. Draney Narrows, Kilbella Bay, and Wadham’s Point are popular spots to coax these salmon into hitting your lures instead, though almost any indentation in the shoreline is a worthwhile place to drop your cutplug and whole herring baits. Mature spawners tend to occupy shallower depths (between three and 15 metres) very close to the inlet’s sheer walls, along kelp beds, and


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