CH Report: Late-Season Action – August 21, 2026

Here we go, a fishing report from Langara Island and what’s happening of late on the front lines.

The overall picture is steady fishing for chinook on the east side of Langara, and some good bites in the Bowl for the patient guests working the kelp. The bite period out west is short, and you can easily miss the window. Of late, the bite has been favouring an hour before high tide in the afternoons. The mornings have been slow out there.

Gunia and Boulder Bay awoke, and some nice fish were boated over the last couple weeks. Paul had his guests into a couple 30 lb fish, as did Koehn, who boated and released a 38 lb fish with his guests, top fish for the week. The wildlife was active in there, so I personally moved on from the south shore and concentrated on the Bowl and up the east side.

Chantal found some steady fishing off Pillar Bay and at times had the kelp to herself. Mid-high teen chinook were caught and some low twenties. Below is a pic of a very nice retained chinook her guests angled this current trip.

The coho are basically absent at this time. The coho have come through early this season; the last week of June was loaded. We had coho showing through July, and now into later August they have dried up for now. That said, there have been some large northern landed. The top one I have seen at the dock was boat 7’s retained 17 lb specimen. This fish was angled at Cohoe Point. Brent’s proudly showing his northern in the photo below.

The chum are biting, and some larger ones too. These fish usually provide a wild, unpredictable fight; the big ones fool me every time. I am convinced with the first long run I have a shark on the line, then I switch to thinking a lion has the fish, and just like that the fish charges the boat and bounces off my cowling. What the Sam heck just happened? Lots of laughs with the happiest salmon a guide can angle here at Langara. Below is a pic of the top chum of the season lol, 16 lbs, caught by Dawn M. this last trip.

There is loads of bait hugging the bottom out at Cohoe Point. We are targeting that bait with success with the downriggers; 65 feet to as deep as 150 feet is producing. I switched ’er up and found a very nice chinook with Dawn M. on the 20th. Fishing 200 feet with a cutplug, Dawn angled this high-twenties chinook, which was released. You never know where you will find a large chinook. I’ve included a photo below.

Although I did not do well in the Bowl this trip, we did grab a 24 lb chinook in there to save our shift. Again, Dawn was lucky with this retained fish; she was on a roll this week. Korey was the hot boat in there and reported a quad of chinook yesterday, along with a 27 lb chinook earlier in the current trip. It’s a patience spot; three hours without a bite is common, then craziness ensues for thirty minutes. Lucky boats on the kelp all hook up, and just like that it’s over.

On the halibut front, yes, there’s always halibut. I have just been trolling them up on salmon gear. Yes, there’s always halibut; downrigger is a must. Those going out west and spending time at it are grabbing 85 to max 112 cm halibut. Most are 85 to 95 cm from what I see on the dock. Below is a pic of Nick and a nice halibut we grabbed out west while trolling deep for chinook.

And of course Lucy has been getting so much attention in the boat and on the dock. Paddy had his dog time out with me last week. I was catching not much lol, but I’ll tell you, Lucy kept us entertained.

Ok, fog, it’s here, and noted. Off to discuss what our plans are. We are looking forward to seeing all those showing up for the remaining trips for sure. There will be plenty of chinook to catch, that’s a given. And the whales are back, eagles too; all wildlife in the area are topping up on the herring before winter. Be aware, give them some space. And until next report, thanks for checking in,

Mike Tonnesen

Head Guide, The Clubhouse

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