Local Saltwater

The sockeye season continues in our local waters with tons of schools off the North and South Arm. The other day as I headed out from our dock in Coal Harbour, I spotted what looked like a school of sockeye on the sounder. Sure enough a couple of sockeye jumped out of the water to confirm my suspicion. Jumpers can be seen all along Spanish Banks, but they are much more concentrated around the North Arm. You could run another half hour to the South Arm and spot fish the whole run there.

Just put the gear down where you see them and use your sounder to dial in to the schools. Pink hoochies, aka michael baits are the ticket for sockeye. As for sockeye flashers, dark colours like blue, green and purple seem to be the killers. Take note of where you’re seeing them on the sounder and adjust your depth and you should get fish. Don’t forget to leave as much gear down as you can while you are playing a sockeye, this is how double and  even triple headers happen!

So far the whales haven’t paid a visit this week. On Tuesday I did see a very large sea lion dining on a sockeye just off the North Arm, which is a pretty rare sight, so close to Vancouver. We’ve also enjoyed numerous Dahls porpoises sightings as well.

Porpoises are not the only grey beasts swimming around out there! Plenty of big chinook have been taken from the South Arm to the Mile Markers lately. Try running anchovies or herring in a glow teaser head for chinook. Bait will most often out fish spoons and hoochies when it comes to mature chinook.

Typically September gives us some very nice weather with calm seas and just enough of a cool breeze to make it seem like outdoor air conditioning. The fish are out there waiting to be caught so make sure you get out to enjoy the bounty! Otherwise, you may have to wait another four years for the bounty of sockeye.

 

Tight Lines,

 

Eddie