One of the questions I get asked a lot is “what makes Winter Harbour fishing different from Alaska, or other parts of Vancouver Island?”

It’s a great question. After all, if you’re going to take a week off work, spend a day (or more) traveling to a far off place, and thousands of dollars, you obviously want to catch fish!

And there’s some fantastic fishing destinations up and down the west coast of North America, so it really is a tough question.

There’s lots of places you can go and catch 5, 10, even 20 springs (“chinook” for you Americans!) a day. You might even get into some good coho or a few bottom fish on the same day.

But I really don’t think there is any other fishing destination in Alaska, British Columbia, or the United States where you will consistently catch the quality and amount of multiple species – springs/chinook, coho, ling cod, and halibut – than Winter Harbour.

What’s more, is Winter Harbour and BC’s daily and overall possession limits are extremely liberal compared to other places.

For example, we can keep 2 springs/chinook, 2 coho, 3 ling cod, 1 halibut and 2 yellow eye (red snapper) per day, per person!

You can take home (aka “possession limit”) a total of 4 springs/chinook, 4 coho, 6 ling cod, 2 halibut and 4 red snapper!

Comparatively, most places in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon you can only keep 1 spring/chinook per day and take no more than a total of 2 home! Sure, there are exceptions, but when you are looking to book your next fishing charter make sure you ask how many of each species you can actually take home with you.

Because besides great fishing, you want to take home some great quality fish to enjoy all year, right?

The other thing that makes Winter Harbour different is virtually all my guests actually catch all of their possession limit for each of the species and take it all home.

Today is July 7th, 2015. Below are pictures of the past few days of fishing. Pretty incredible, huh? A dock full of spring/chinook, coho, halibut, ling cod, and yellow eye every day!

Even my “bring your own boat” guests who don’t fish on my boat are filling their possession limits. I had 3 guys just visit. It was their second time bringing their own boat, so it wasn’t like they were seasoned Winter Harbour veterans. They each brought home 108 pounds of boned and filleted spring/chinook, coho, halibut, ling cod, and red snapper!

So, it’s one thing to be allowed to catch and take home a certain number of fish, it’s another to be able to actually get it done in a few days.

And admittedly, while I’m impartial, as the bald eagles chirp at each other off the back deck of our floating cabin, there is no other place as beautiful and untouched as Winter Harbour. At some point in your fishing lifetime, Winter Harbour is a must visit.

–Oli