Jason Tonelli Report:
The fishing this week in the harbour was a little slower than last week. We had a few charters out and it was definitely on the slow side this week. We did have a few different weather fronts come in, a high pressure NW and then a low pressure SE, so things were a little unsettled. Does this actually affect fishing? Well it is tough to say, but I always like to see table weather patterns as opposed to drastic changes. If you have read our reports about winter chinook fishing in the past, you will know that these fish move around a lot. As a result, you just have to go fishing and put some time in on the water. You can have an excellent day and the next day the fish are gone. When you do head out, try Green Onion or Purlple Onion flashers, a 6 foot leader, and smaller spoons like the Coho Killer or 3.0 Kingfisher in colours like Irish Cream, Cookies’n Cream, and good old Glow/Green. Keep your gear close to the bottom (where the bait is), cover water, and enjoy that coffee and Bailey’s.
I was out on on my day off the other day and managed to bring home a few nice fillets. Check out the color of this fish, some of the best eating salmon there is, the reward to winter chinook efforts.
Bryce was out on the weekend fishing with Todd Sweet and agree’s that a bottle of baileys and a thermos of coffee are a “must have” for winter chinook fishing. While Bryce and Todd hooked 4 chinook and landed 3, all were undersized. However as is the case in fishing off W. Vancouver for winter chinook, the day was saved by a nice haul of crabs and BC spot prawns!
Call Bryce at 778-788-8582 to book your winter chinook, prawning and crabbing charter today!! January is shaping up to be a great time to get out on the water and hook up!
Eddie Matthei Report:
Last Saturday I was crossing Lions Gate bridge on my way to the boats to do some prep work to the Dawg for an upcoming charter. As I crossed I looked down at the water which was slack and calm. I was thinking to myself that I would have liked being down there and then I spotted a boat washing his net! After prepping, Jason and I filled the boat with fuel and went for a short run to investigate the mouth of the Capilano river. One of our other guides Todd was there fun fishing with Bryce our booking manager and his new lady friend, Patty on their day off. As we approached his boat we saw one of the rods twitching and sure enough they hooked a fish just as we arrived.
Unfortunately the fish was not big enough but Todd mentioned to me that just before he arrived the boat I had seen from the bridge had boxed a legal chinook. A couple of days later I went out on the charter. We dropped the crab traps and headed for the QB marker to drop the lines and troll in with the tide. It didn’t take long before we got a strike which turned to a double of undersized chinook.
It was a nice overcast morning and we watched porpoises around the boat. Shortly after we caught and released another fish and I was thinking it was going to be a good day. The 3.5″ Green glo spoon with a chartreuse flasher off the bottom in 110′ and a 3’5″ Irish Cream spoon 20′ up with no flasher worked. We approached the Cap as the water began to slacken and I met up with a buddy on another charter boat. We exchanged intel and neither of us had had and action for a while. He also informed me he had boxed a good fish the day before near the QB marker. We covered ground (water) and I even tried some of my favourite 4″ spoons but they just weren’t biting. Just before we headed to the traps the sky cleared up and the predicted northwest wind began to blow.We headed for home and ended up with 3 crab of which 2 were huge and at least had some action.
Tight lines,
Eddie
On behalf of the Pacific Angler staff we wish you the best in your fishing endeavors and we hope to see you either at the shop or on the water. To check out the latest Pacific Angler news view the Pacific Angler Facebook page.
Jason, Matt, Andre, Max, Eddie, Jordan and Bryce