🎣 Fishing Conditions
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Vancouver Harbour fishing & marine conditions
The Vancouver tide station sits in Burrard Inlet inside the First Narrows, and its predictions are the standard reference for the Lower Mainland coast. The inlet is deep and sheltered, but the station lies inside a major constriction, so heights here and currents at the narrows behave quite differently.
What runs here, and when
Burrard Inlet holds resident winter chinook through the colder months and sees migratory chinook and coho pass in summer and autumn. Crab and prawn are taken in the inlet, subject to seasonal openings and to shellfish closures that apply in some areas on health grounds.
Local hazards
The First Narrows carries the full tidal exchange of the inlet through a narrow gap under the bridge, producing strong currents and pronounced rips on large ebbs. It is also a controlled traffic area with constant deep-sea and tug traffic. Float planes operate from the inner harbour surface.
Tides, current and sea state
Vancouver is a widely used reference station and its heights apply reasonably across the Lower Mainland. Current in the First Narrows is a separate calculation: slack water there does not coincide with high or low water at the station, and the difference matters when timing a transit. Wind against a big ebb at the narrows produces steep water quickly.
Live data on this page
Conditions above are for 49.287°N, 123.110°W. Wind, wave and pressure data come from Open-Meteo and refresh every three hours; tide predictions come from the Canadian Hydrographic Service station 07735. The fishing score combines wind, wave height, barometric trend, moon phase, tide movement and time of day.
Marine forecast & warnings
Vancouver Harbour lies in Environment and Climate Change Canada's Strait of Georgia marine forecast zone.
No marine warnings are in effect for this zone.
ECCC reissues the forecast through the day and can post a warning at any hour, so the Marine Forecast panel above carries the current wind, visibility and multi-day outlook word for word. It describes the open water of the zone, not a particular bay inside it, and is no substitute for the VHF or weatheradio broadcast.
Tidal currents
Fishing Vancouver Harbour is timed by the current, not the tide height. The passes that govern it are First Narrows and Second Narrows.
First Narrows floods to the southeast and ebbs to the northwest, running to 5.3 knots. Slack on November 1: 05:36, 13:31, 19:46, 22:33.
Second Narrows floods to the east and ebbs to the west, running to 5.6 knots. Slack on November 1: 05:41, 13:03, 19:24, 22:46.
Predictions for the pass itself, not the water around it. Slack shifts about 50 minutes later each day, so these times are wrong for any other date. The Tidal Currents panel above gives every turn with its maximum-flow speed; CHS is the source.
Regulations
Vancouver Harbour lies in DFO Pacific Area 28. Openings, closures and limits change in-season and differ between subareas, so check the DFO Area 28 recreational fishing page before you go. Nothing on this page is a substitute for the current regulations, official charts, or the marine forecast.
As of November 1, 2026, seven closure areas are in effect in DFO Pacific Area 28, among them Night closure area, Point Atkinson and Porteau Cove. Salmon limits for the area: chinook 2 per day; chum 4 per day; coho 2 per day in 28-1 to 28-10, non retention in 28-11 to 28-14; pink 4 per day; sockeye non retention.
Read from the DFO Area 28 page, last updated 2026-10-20. See the full Area 28 regulations for every closure and limits table, or the Fishery Notices for changes newer than that date.