Nanaimo Fishing around the Fingers Islands
It’s the middle of summer (July 17th) and this day I decided to put some mileage on my yak! I didn’t stay and focus on a specific area like I typically do. On this day the wind was perfect and albeit pretty hot, so I figured I’d paddle out toward the Five Finger Islands off Nanaimo called “The Fingers”. These are a group of 5 islands that represent 5 fingers and look somewhat like a hand. It’s a local popular hotspot for Salmon off Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia.
Put on some Mileage!
I launched out of Charlaine Boat Ramp, and started fishing out front of Shack Islands. From there I headed to the Hudson Islands and roamed around there, but didn’t get any action. There were some seals beside me so that may have slowed down the fishing in that area.
Once I came around the Hudson’s I headed straight to the Five Finger Islands and did some jigging near the island, to no avail so I returned to trolling around the island and eventually heading back to the front area of Pipers Lagoon area.
See the map image below for my route. The green arrows is the route I took that day, I don’t have a step counter for this one but it was a lot!
Weather and Tide Conditions
The wind was perfect this evening as it was near calm on the ocean. I fished late afternoon to sunset, so go to fish a low slack tide around 4:49pm. It was crazy hot with very few clouds in the sky and I was sweating! Because the wind was so good, I decided to go on a bit of a peddling adventure and explore some new water.
The Fishing Details
Well to be honest this was one of the slower days I had all summer. I only got into one fish for this entire trip which was a Chinook that was within the slot limit (bottom of it) so I bonked it (thankfully). This trip was not about brining a bunch of fish to the boat but was about covering water and learning. I wanted to focus and better learn the structure of the Hudson’s Islands and Fiver Fingers Islands, so I did a lot of exploratory trolling and jigging in this area, and kept moving pretty quickly so didn’t focus on a single piece of water like I typically do.
See the fish catch in the video below.
It’s an Ongoing Learning Process
I guess a lot of this sounds like a lot of excuses on why I didn’t get a lot of fish, so take it as you may. However, the trip for me was a total success as I learned A TON, and it really helped me better understand the area, which I’m sure will pay back in spades for future trips. And that’s what fishing is all about, it’s a continual learning process. Every time I’m out fishing anywhere, I’m always looking for a takeaway at the end of the day. If you don’t understand this as an angler you’ll never be a great fisherman.
Chinook Salmon caught
This was the video and photo footage from the fishing trip on July 17th, 2025. A beautiful evening on the Georgia Strait, not a lot of fish but tough to beat nonetheless. Thanks for checking out my site! Blessings Jesse