What to fish for, and how

BC's most widely stocked freshwater fish, found in lakes and streams province-wide and catchable on everything from bait to flies.

One of BC's most widely distributed native trout, cutthroat bite eagerly on flies, spoons and bait in coastal estuaries and interior mountain streams alike.

Sea-run rainbow trout prized for hard fights; most wild BC steelhead waters are catch-and-release only and many require a Classified Waters licence.

Hard-fighting cold-water char, easily confused for each other, and kept under tight limits or catch-and-release in most BC waters.

A hard-biting, non-native char that tolerates cold, thin water and is often targeted for harvest to protect native species.

A slow-growing, deep-water char found in BC's cold lakes, best targeted near thermoclines in summer or through the ice in winter.

Landlocked sockeye that school in open water and fall for small dodger-and-fly or dodger-and-worm rigs trolled deep through a BC summer.

A native BC river fish that bites hardest in cold water, making it one of the best light-tackle targets of the winter season.

A sail-finned northern BC native that rises eagerly to dry flies but can't handle heavy harvest pressure.

An aggressive, toothy predator native to BC's Peace region but invasive elsewhere, pike hit hard on big lures in shallow, weedy water.

BC's only freshwater cod bites best after dark and under the ice, and it is one of the best-eating, least-fished species in the province.

An aggressive, hard-fighting warmwater species established in BC's Interior and southeast, and growing fast in popularity.

An aggressive, introduced warmwater gamefish holed up in weedy lakes across southern BC, prized for fast, visual topwater action.

A schooling panfish that bites readily and can overpopulate small BC lakes, making it one of the best species for introducing a kid to fishing.

BC's walleye are concentrated in the Columbia system; fish them slow, near bottom, in low light for one of the best eating fish around.

BC's giant catch-and-release river fish, worked slow and deep with bait on bottom in the Fraser and similar systems.

General tactics for water where BC's regs just say "trout/char," since one quota often covers several look-alike species at once.