Fishing Vancouver Island North With Coastwide Sports Fishing

Gibson Doney and Crista with the fish of the day.

There are several top-notch charters running out of Port Hardy, and in July of 2024 I had the pleasure of fishing with Coastwide Sport Fishing. I first met owner Gibson Doney at the Harbour Chandler in Nanaimo a few years back, and I was surprised but pleased to hear that he bought Coastwide from Chad Calder, who had run the service for almost two decades. It’s not very often that you see a guiding operation of this calibre change hands, especially to someone who was 26 at the time. But with a history of guiding since he was 18 years old, working on tugboats, and a terrific industry reputation, Gibson clearly was up to the task.

Here’s a guy who started guiding on the Boston Whalers out of Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River, then learned the ropes of running a charter business in Tofino, turning around a slow business with his friend (and our Tofino area reporter) Rob Frawley. Together, they almost doubled their business before Gibson moved on to guiding with Coastwide in Port Hardy, then purchasing the company in 2021.

Gibson now commodores four boats and charters about 300 days a year among them (approximately 75 days/ boat) over a 3-month span. The makeup of guests is about 60% from the US (mostly Montana, Utah, and a lot from Washington and Oregon) and 40% “Canadian (commonly from Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, and Alberta), and most of it is repeat business. Coastwide can handle up to 16 people and even more if given enough notice, but the typical group is usually six, with two or three people per boat. They handle corporate and family/friend outings with equal ease.

Curious to see how he was doing, I reached out to him early this year. After he shared some pictures with me, I was sold on the idea of a trip up island. It’s a scenic 4-hour drive from Nanaimo with a pit stop at Campbell River—easy peasy. Gibson was kind enough to set aside 2 days of fishing for me at the tail end of July.”

Fishing with Coastwide Sportfishing

It’s not very often that you see a guiding operation of this calibre change hands, especially to someone who was 26 at the time. But with a history of guiding since he was 18 years old, working on tugboats, and a terrific industry reputation, Gibson clearly was up to the task.

I’ve been on a good number of charters, and if forced to assign Coastwide a rating, I it’s 5 out of 5. To sum up the experience in a couple of words, I’d say it was “dialled in.” It wasn’t just the excellent fishing; it was the ease of the trip. We all should remember that some days fishing is hot and some days it’s not. However, some things are always 100% in a charter’s control, like comfort, convenience, cleanliness, and organization. Coastwide has it all.

Gibson hooked me up with a room at the Glen Lyon, which was literally steps from where he docks his boats, so there is zero stress about driving to and from the dock or finding parking. I was kicking myself for not bringing a fly or spinning rod when I arrived—there were pinks jumping everywhere out front of my balcony. He even provides meal vouchers valid at a good number of restaurants including the hotel’s pub. What was this dark magic? And wait, don’t bring a lunch? Not unless you want to pass over some of the best locally made, fresh bread sandwiches.

I also love that they have a dock shack where I could lock up my favourite rod overnight, which also houses an ice machine, tools, bevvies, and snacks. At the end of the day, the fish were cleaned and hauled away for processing to Hardy Buoys for pick up on my way out of town. Everything about this trip was easy, professional, and super relaxing—that is, until you have a fish on…

In what seems to be a never-ending amount of structure to choose from, there is an abundance of rockfish and big lingcod. In addition to that, there are plenty of local halibut spots, making a multi-species day trip very, very possible. Over the course of 2 days, we did it all, including casting from the boat for coho.

As for salmon, “Our fishery has been getting better over the last few years,” Gibson says. “The Chinook fishery has been awesome the last couple years and only seems to be getting better. The origins of our Chinook are anywhere from Quinsum River and Campbell River to Roberson Creek, or early summer we see the odd central coast fish on the mainland side. We see a lot of American fish here as well.”

Depending on the time of year, however, running time for salmon locations has to be factored in. This isn’t due to routes; this is 100% because of regulations. Spring and summer fishing in the Port Hardy area offers many salmon opportunities, but in recent years you have to run about an hour to Area 11 until July 15. According to Gibson, “With the abundance of hatchery Chinook in June and early July, the only impact that non-retention in Area 12 has had, really is on the community and local economy.” Case in point: I was talking to a couple of unhappy guys at the pub who towed their boat all the way from Montana.

They, like many of the locals, have a smaller boat that wasn’t built for long runs. “Will you return?” I asked. “We’ve been coming here for 20 years, we absolutely love it and want to continue, but it won’t make sense for us to tow our boat next year if these nonsensical, confusing regulations continue.”

If you’d like to reach out to Gibson and the crew, visit his website at coastwidesportsfishing.com, just don’t book my dates for next season.

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This article appeared in Island Fisherman magazine. Never miss another issue—subscribe today!