Eddie was out today and smacked them pretty good!  He was on a 5 hour charter and put 3 coho and 2 springs into the box.  They lost some coho and lost a nice spring that was taking some good line on a double header with a coho.  He was fishing off W. Van for coho using the typical coho gear, white hootchies, glow/green spoon, and wonderbread spoon.  Not to mention he was fishing fast and shallow as usual for these fish.  The fact they hooked 3 springs using these tactics shows you there are decent numbers of chinook getting pushed into the harbor on the flood.  There were also some chinook hooked off the QB, the freighters, and the Bell Buoy, so they seem to be fairly spread out.  All in all there was some good action off W.Van for coho and a few springs and some decent action over at the Bell Buoy for springs.  The bite seems to be the best in the morning with the action tapering off around noon.

There were some boats fishing T-10 and Sand Heads and there were some nice chinook from 14-25lbs hooked in these areas using flashers and anchovies.  A friend of ours hit a fish there but retreated after the tide became too much to deal with.  He ended his day fairly late in the harbor, hoping for some fish to get pushed in on the flood tide.  He managed two more springs and a few coho in the last few hours of the day so it might be worth heading out in the evening on the flood tide if you have time.

There were some more chinook caught off the Bell Buoy this morning on the flood tide so this is a nice change of pace as we have been hitting the coho at W. Van pretty hard for more than a month now.  The test sets in the lower Fraser remain strong so looking for these fish off the Bell Buoy on the flood tide is a good bet.  Most of the fish today were hit in the 50-80 foot range on the downriggers using a flasher/anchovy rig.  There were also some coho caught off W. Van.  The Fraser Mouth opens up tomorrow so we will soon have the option of fishing the T-10 marker and Sand Heads for the Fraser chinook.

There was still some decent action of W. Van this morning for coho but it looks like some of the Fraser River chinook that have been heading up the S. Arm got pushed around Pt. Grey this morning on the flood tide.  Multiple boats hooked fish up to the mid 20lb range and from the looks of the fish they are all Fraser River chinook, aka Fraser River reds.  We have been watching and waiting as we can see lots of these fish in the test sets in the lower Fraser but not many have been getting caught off  Pt. Grey in the typical spots like the Bell Buoy, or QA marker.  Hopefully this trend of fish getting pushed into the  harbor continues, the next few tide changes will be telling.  To target these fish, try the flood tide.  For gear, we prefer a flasher with a 6 foot leader to an anchovy in a Rhys Davis anchovy teaser head.  We usually run glow teaser heads.  Some fish also get caught on 4.0 Coyote Spoons in Glow/Green or Cop Car.  We have lots of high quality, vacuum packed anchovies at Pacific Angler in a variety of sizes and herring as well.  To get rigged up for these fish come down to the shop and we will get you all set up.

Yesterday we had to cancel our charters due to wind but things backed off today and the fish showed up!  Eddie was out on an 8 hour and worked the W. Van shoreline hard for coho.  The end tally for the day was 15 coho hooked and 5 nice hatchery coho in the box with an average size of 6lbs.  A great day with lots of action.  The top producers today were white hootchies, white UV hootchies, and UV hootchies with a pink or purple stripe.  Eddie has also being doing very well on a Luhr Jensen Coyote spoon size 3.5 or 4.0 in the color called Wonderbread, which is white with pink, yellow, and blue spots.  Most of the coho we cleaned were stuffed full of crab larvae.

Today was a crazy one!  There was a gale force wind warning in effect and it showed up!  30-40 knot NW winds ravaged the harbor as they collided into a strong ebb tide.  The result was 6-8 footers and boats weren’t able to make it past the Lions Gate Bridge.  As a result we had to cancel our charters for the day.  Truly a rare day.  Hopefully the wind backs off and perhaps the tides and wind will push some fish into the harbor.

Things were a little slower today out off W. Van.  The coho were there to be had but the bite was short lived in most of the hot spots.  Those who were in the right place at the right time managed to hook up on some cohos on the short periods of activity.  We lost a few decent coho today and released a wild one.  At the end of the day we managed to put one in the box, a 9lb hatchery coho.  A nice size fish for this time of year.  The main producers today were white or UV white hootchies.

Andrew was out today on a 5 hour charter and opted for some W. Van coho action.  That was a good choice with multiple hook ups this morning and steady action throughout the tide.  There were some nice hatchery coho boated up to 9lbs.  White hootchies, pink Apexes, and the Coyote spoon in 3.5 or 4.0 in glow green or Wonderbread, were producing fish.

Jason went out after working at Pacific Angler all day for a shot at some fish on the evening high slack tide.  It turned out to be a good bet!  Jason and his crew mate Derek had their hands full with lots of action.  The tally for the evening was 8 coho hooked (all were released), a released sockeye (the first of the year!) two 10lb springs (released) and a 20 lb spring!  All in all a great evening fish.  The highlight no doubt was the 20lb spring, followed by a triple header on small coho, and a not too distant third was the amazing weather and the Bud Limes!  All the fish were shallow, 50 feet or higher on the down riggers.  The boys were fishing anchovies on two rods and the other two rods had either a 4.0 glow green coyote or 2-3/4 Gypsy spoon in Flaming Hans (glow/green with a pink stripe).

Derek with a nice Fraser River chinook

Summer= Good Friends, Good Fishing, Good Times!

The coho fishing off W. Van was good again today.  There seems to be a new batch of fish in today, some bigger fish!  We are seeing some nice coho in the 5-8 lb range and the good majority of them are hatchery fish.  The usual producers are still in effect, white hootchies and glow/green spoons.

Things were a little tougher today for the Salty Dawg. We were plying the waters off W. Van but the fish didn’t seem to be cooperating today, at least for us.  There are still some coho around and a few boats did okay but it was definitely slower than the last couple of days.  Tomorrow is another day and hopefully more and more coho keep moving into the area.  A few anglers are targeting springs up Howe Sound and having sporadic success.  Again, not much to report off the Belly Buoy or QA markers, despite lots of fish again today in the Fraser River test sets.    Pretty safe to say that these fish are heading up the south arm so it looks like we are going to have to wait until the 16th until to get a shot at them.