Chinook Salmon Retention Spring 2022
As of April 1, 2022, DFO has made some changes to Chinook salmon retention. There’s good news and bad news. The bad news isn’t horrible.
The good news is that we’re allowed to keep one Chinook salmon per day in the Bute and Toba Inlets area — see map below, where retention areas are highlighted in orange.
That Chinook can be wild or hatchery marked (adipose fin removed). If it’s wild, the maximum length is 80 cm. If it’s a hatchery Chinook, there’s no upper size limit. In either case, the minimum size is 62 cm.
The bad news, if you can call it that, is that it takes a little over an hour to get to these areas by boat from Campbell River. On the plus side, if you’re willing to make the trip, the scenery is gorgeous.
In other portions of Areas 13, 14 and 15, there won’t be any retention of Chinook from now through July 14th. As of July 15th, we expect to again be able to keep fish in the areas closer to Campbell River.
In the meantime, if you enjoy catch and release fishing, there’s plenty of that closer to home. Plus, as of May 1st, we’re allowed to keep one lingcod (65 cm minimum) and one rockfish per day.
Here’s a link to the fishing regulations for Area 13, closest to Campbell River.
Bute and Toba Inlets Retention Areas (orange):
[for reference, Campbell River is in the bottom left hand corner of the map]
