The Advantages of Taking a Nanaimo Fishing Charter Instead of a Vancouver Fishing Charter

Over the years we've had more and more clients booking fishing charters in Nanaimo instead of booking a Vancouver fishing charter. The reason? There's a few! First off, Location! Our fishing grounds are only a 10-15 minute boat ride from the dock, which means more time fishing. Our shortest trip which is 4 hours, you can still get up to 3.5 hours of fishing time in. Most fishing charters in Vancouver have longer travel times to the fishing grounds, sometimes over an hour each way. When chinook open in our area in July, the waters off Vancouver are still catch and release. Most Vancouver charters will travel across the Straight of Georgia (up to an hour each way) to fish the local Nanaimo waters for chinook during the summer. Due to the extensive travel time out of Vancouver, you can only target chinook salmon when you book a 9-10 hour trip compared to out of Nanaimo where you can target them on our shortest 4 hour trip after July 15th.

Another reason to book in Nanaimo is getting here from Vancouver is easier than ever! With multiple options to get across the straight of Georgia, you can take a ferry or float plane over in the morning and be back in Vancouver in the afternoon or evening. The most popular ways to get to Nanaimo from Vancouver are BC Ferries, Hullo Ferries and float plane. Taking a float plane from Vancouver will have you in Nanaimo 5 minutes from our dock in 20 minutes. Sea Air and Harbour Air are the local float plane companies. Walking on the BC Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Departure bay is the cheapest option although it is the longest travel time. After arriving in Departure bay its a 5 minute walk to where our boat is located.

The newest option of travel is Hullo Ferries, which travels from downtown Vancouver to downtown Nanaimo, about a 10 minute cab ride from our location. Hullo is a passenger only high speed ferry which gets you from Vancouver to Nanaimo and vice versa in 70 or so minutes.

The final advantage is cost. Typically the cost of a Vancouver fishing charter will be quite a bit higher than rates in Nanaimo. Even after paying for a walk on ferry ticket each way, the total cost will still typically be lower than charter rates in Vancouver.

Wherever you decide to fish we hope you have a great trip!

Huge Chinook Salmon caught off a Nanaimo Fishing Charter