Salmon season planner — where & when to fish from shore

Region 2 fresh water + tidal Areas 28 & 29 · September 2026 – March 2027 · built for bank and beach access from Vancouver · reviewed 4 September 2026

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No fishing for salmon upstream of the CPR Bridge at Mission, Apr 1 until further notice.
The tidal Fraser (below the CPR Bridge at Mission, Subareas 29-9 to 29-17) is closed to all salmon year-round.
Mouth of the Fraser Salmon Closure (in 29-3): all five salmon species closed Aug 1 – Sep 30.

Howe Sound & Burrard Inlet Chinook Closure (part of Subarea 28-2, south of the Halkett Point line): chinook closed Apr 1 – Aug 31 — so it is reopened for the planner season and comes back in the spring.
Strait of Georgia Chinook Closure (parts of 29-3 to 29-5 east of the Gower Point – Shah Point line): chinook closed Apr 1 – Aug 31, likewise reopened now.
28-8 (False Creek) and part of 28-10 are closed to harvesting under navigational closures, so no salmon there regardless of season.
The Sep 2026 Area 28 tables no longer list a standing year-round chinook closure for 28-1 and 28-7. Both are boat water rather than shore access, and a fishery notice is the check to make before relying on either.

29-6, 29-7 and 29-9 through 29-17 — zero daily limit for every salmon species. Only 29-1 to 29-5 and 29-8 are open.
Check the Area 29 subarea map before fishing any south-of-Fraser beach.

Mannion Bay (Deep Bay), Bowen Island (28) — closed to all finfish, any gear, Sep 1 to Dec 31.
Tidal Fraser (Area 29) — all finfish closed from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise, year-round. It is also closed to all salmon year-round.
Little Campbell River — from the boundary signs down to the Stayte Road pedestrian bridge, no fishing for salmon Aug 15 to Sep 30, on top of the retention rules below.
Downriggers are prohibited in the Howe Sound glass sponge reef refuges in parts of 28-1 to 28-4 and 29-3.

Tidal waters: federal Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence + Salmon Conservation Stamp.
Fresh water: provincial BC Freshwater licence + Salmon Conservation Stamp.
They are different licences. Ambleside beach and the Capilano canyon need one each.

Barbless hooks required for salmon, tidal and fresh.
New this season: in all of tidal Area 28, Sep 1 – Mar 31, no hook with more than one point — trebles are out in the salt too, not just in the rivers.
Area 28, Sep 1 – Mar 31: no hook with a single point more than 22 mm point-to-shank.
At the Capilano and Seymour river mouths, Aug 1 – Dec 31: no hook with a single point more than 15 mm point-to-shank.
Bait ban year-round: Squamish, Cheakamus, Mamquam, Ashlu.
Bait ban Aug 1 – Oct 31: Capilano.
Single barbless hook: Khartoum and Lois lakes.
Fresh water: salmon fishing in Region 2 is daylight hours only, and no fishing within 100 m of a hatchery counting or rearing facility.
Squamish watershed: the coho limit is 1 per day across the whole non-tidal system combined — not 1 from each of the Squamish, Cheakamus, Mamquam and Ashlu.

Fresh water: 4 salmon/day aggregate, 8 in possession, unless a water says less.
Minimum size fresh water: coho 25 cm, all others 30 cm.
Tidal minimums: chinook 62 cm; coho, chum, pink 30 cm.
Annual limits: 10 chinook from tidal waters coastwide, and 10 chinook over 50 cm from fresh water.
Sockeye: non-retention everywhere in Areas 28 and 29 this season.
Tidal chinook: 2 per day, minimum 62 cm, hatchery and wild combined. The DFO tables list no maximum size this season — the 80 cm upper slot that applied in earlier years is not in the current Area 28/29 tables. Confirm in a fishery notice before you keep a big one.
Tidal coho: 2/day, hatchery-marked only (0 wild). Tidal chum 2/day, pink 4/day.

Record every retained chinook immediately and permanently — on the licence itself or in the FishingBC app — before you carry on fishing.
“Hatchery-marked” means the adipose fin is clipped. If the adipose is intact, it goes back.
2026 is an even year — the big Fraser pink run is odd-year, so don’t plan around pinks.