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Best chum salmon lakes in British Columbia
6 British Columbia waters hold chum salmon, 6 mapped with real state-agency depth surveys. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. A powerful schooling Pacific salmon that uses coastal channels and bay shorelines while returning to streams and hatchery terminal areas.
- Skidegate Inlet — 364 ft max · survey depth data · Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Pacific Chinook Salmon, Pacific Coho SalmonWhy #1: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Nanaimo Harbour — 148 ft max · survey depth data · Cutthroat Trout, Chum Salmon, Pacific Chinook Salmon, Pacific Coho SalmonWhy #2: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Port San Juan — 86 ft max · survey depth data · Chum Salmon, Pacific Chinook Salmon, Pacific Coho SalmonWhy #3: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Port Clements — Masset Inlet — 38 ft max · survey depth data · Pink Salmon, Chum SalmonWhy #4: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
- Brentwood Bay and Tod Inlet — 254 ft max · survey depth data · Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Pacific Chinook Salmon, Pacific Coho SalmonWhy #5: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site, 1 carry-in or shore-oriented
- Degnen Bay — 25 ft max · survey depth data · Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Pacific Coho SalmonWhy #6: survey-backed contours receive the ranking's data-quality boost · 1 public access site
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How to use this ranking
The order is a map-planning ranking, not a claim about today's fish population. It favors larger mapped waters and gives survey-backed contours a three-times data-quality boost. Agency population surveys, current regulations, access and recent conditions should make the final decision.
Compare maximum depth across 37,233 lake records · See British Columbia waters with public access data
When to fish chum salmon in British Columbia
- Spring 10–70 ft — A low-confidence pre-return search; use current reports and visible forage.
- Summer 4–70 ft — Work current lanes, rock-lined travel structure and freshwater approaches where returning schools are visibly traveling; timing is stock-specific.
- Fall 3–60 ft — Focus on shoreline return corridors beside rock and current, not featureless deep water; handle spawning fish carefully.
- Winter 25–100 ft — Not a dependable winter bay target; rely on current local reporting and a confirmed legal fishery.
Also in British Columbia: best largemouth bass lakes · best smallmouth bass lakes · best walleye lakes · best northern pike lakes · best crappie lakes · best rainbow trout lakes · best yellow perch lakes · best common carp lakes · best chinook salmon lakes · best coho salmon lakes · best steelhead lakes · best lake trout lakes · best brown trout lakes · best brook trout lakes · best kokanee lakes · best lake whitefish lakes · best burbot lakes · best arctic grayling lakes · best cutthroat trout lakes · best cisco (lake herring) lakes · best pumpkinseed lakes · best brown bullhead lakes · best pink salmon lakes · best pacific chinook salmon lakes · best pacific coho salmon lakes
Chum Salmon elsewhere: Washington · Alaska