Stand on the Campbell River waterfront and the view is of moving water. Discovery Passage runs between Vancouver Island and Quadra Island, and the city’s official landmarks are strung along that shore — a fishing pier, a seawalk, and a glacial erratic known as Big Rock.
The City of Campbell River describes the Discovery Fishing Pier, at 655 Island Highway, as Canada’s first saltwater fishing pier. It sits next to the Government Wharf, extends 150 feet from the shore and spans 600 feet. The same official landmarks page places Big Rock, a 10-metre-tall glacial erratic just south of the 50th parallel, along the Sea Walk in Campbell River.
A working waterfront
This is also the city’s fishing story. BC Parks, on the Elk Falls park page, still refers to Campbell River as the “Salmon Capital of the World,” and the city’s own landmarks page traces that reputation through Painter’s Lodge and the Tyee Club of British Columbia, which began in 1924 among anglers who returned each year in pursuit of a chinook salmon of 30 pounds or larger.
Historic Pier Street, the City says, extends from the Museum at Campbell River to the tip of Robert V. Ostler Park, on the site of the community’s first commercial wharf, where Union Steamships once stopped to load and unload freight and passengers.
Looking out on the passage
The water itself is the point of the walk. On a clear day the passage and the mountains of Quadra Island fill the view; in rougher weather the same stretch of shore is a place to watch the current and the working boats. The official pages do not publish hours for a casual waterfront stroll, because the shore is simply there. If you plan to fish from the pier, bring your own gear or ask on site, and make sure you have any licence that is required.
For a longer day, Elk Falls Provincial Park is a short drive west on Highway 28, and the main access to Buttle Lake in Strathcona Park is farther along the same road.
Good to know
- The Discovery Fishing Pier is at 655 Island Highway, next to the Government Wharf.
- The City describes the pier as Canada’s first saltwater fishing pier, extending 150 feet from shore and spanning 600 feet.
- Big Rock, a 10-metre glacial erratic, sits along the Sea Walk, just south of the 50th parallel.
- Check current fishing rules and licences before you wet a line.
Photo: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
