Named spots
| Spot | Type | Depth | From nearest port |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyuquot | port | – | 21 nm |
| Nootka / Friendly Cove | port | – | 25 nm |
| Tofino | port | – | 38 nm |
| Zeballos | port | – | 21 nm |
| Bushby Rock | bank | 13 fm | 46 nm |
| Cape Cook (Brooks Pen.) | headland | – | 17 nm |
| Clayoquot Canyon | canyon | 115 fm | 29 nm |
| Clerke Reefs | bank | 8 fm | 22 nm |
| Cole Rock | bank | 10 fm | 3 nm |
| Crowther Canyon | canyon | 348 fm | 20 nm |
| Earl Ledge | bank | 28 fm | 44 nm |
| Egeria Shoal | bank | 44 fm | 39 nm |
| Escalante Rocks | bank | 4 fm | 4 nm |
| Esperanza Canyon | canyon | 325 fm | 22 nm |
| Estevan Point | headland | – | 13 nm |
| Foster Rock | bank | 45 fm | 44 nm |
Nearby buoys
2026-10-30 23:00 UTC · NOAA NDBC 46206
2026-10-30 23:00 UTC · NOAA NDBC 46132
2026-10-30 23:00 UTC · NOAA NDBC 46207
2026-10-30 23:00 UTC · NOAA NDBC 46204
Latest NOAA NDBC observations. Satellite and in water readings may differ.
Fishing West Vancouver Island
The west coast of Vancouver Island is a big-water fishery with a long open-Pacific shelf, and the chart is built to help you read it from the surfline out to the tuna grounds. You launch from Tofino, Ucluelet, Nootka, Zeballos or Kyuquot and run to the structure that matters: the shelf break, La Perouse and the offshore humps, and the warm blue water that pushes in from the west in late summer. That is where the pelagic season sets up, so the hunt is about finding the breaks and color edges that stack over that structure.
Read the chart as layers that work together. SST breaks mark the seams where cool coastal water meets the warmer offshore water. Chlorophyll color changes show where green, bait rich water edges against clean blue. Depth structure, the banks and the shelf break, concentrates that life into a smaller area you can troll. When a temperature break, a color edge and a piece of structure line up, that overlap is where you start looking.
Albacore tuna are the headline offshore target, holding in the clean warm water that arrives in July through September, often 30 to 60 miles out. Closer in you have chinook and coho salmon along the coast and over the humps, with halibut and lingcod on the banks. The tuna follow the warm blue water, so the chart is intelligence for narrowing a huge ocean down to the few edges worth running to, not a promise that fish are on a given break today.
Treat this as a planning tool and not for navigation. This coast is exposed and conditions change fast, so check the marine forecast, confirm current regulations and closures with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and run it with local knowledge.
What you get with ReelTemps
- Sea surface temperatureFind the temperature break
- Chlorophyll-aSpot the green-to-blue color seam
- Composite & single passBlended picture or the freshest overpass
- CompareTemperature and color side by side
- Depth readoutFathoms and feet on hover, tap or mark
- Currents & buoysSee the water move and ground-truth it
- Route, ruler & waypointsPlan the run and save your spots
From the water
I've tried every temp map out there and they all feel like they were built ten years ago. I'm not exactly a tech guy, but this one actually makes sense the second you open it. First time using it, I marked a break in about 30 seconds the night before and boated bluefin right on it the next morning.
Used to burn half a tank driving around looking for color change or a solid temp break. Now I check ReelTemps before I leave the dock and I know exactly where I'm going. Less time driving around guessing, more time with lines in the water. The weather forecast is always spot on too!
Albacore season used to mean a couple hours of homework the night before and just hoping it held up. Now I do most of my research that morning and pull it up on my phone if things change once we're out there. Makes calling an audible a lot easier.