Nice 25lb Slab
The salmon fishing continues to be “good to excellent” at Gabriola Island up to Nanaimo. The fish are all over the place and by that I mean they are inshore in 150-300 feet of water and offshore in 500-1200 feet of water. These actively feeding fish are not hard to catch, just a little hard to find. As an example; the other day we were offshore and not getting any fish but heard of fish being caught via the radio chatter. Just as we were wondering what was wrong with our boat, BAM! A triple header on nice chinook! One broke off and the other two made it into the fish box.Best depths on the riggers have been from 90 to 180, with 140 to 180 being a little better if you are out in 800-1200 feet of water and the water is clear. If the water has some colour, 90-120 has been good. Glow flashers with a 32 inch leader and any hoothchy with some glow, green, chartreuse, or blue colours, have been working well. For spoons use a 6 foot leader behind the flasher and try Homeland Security, Kitchen Sink, or Irish Cream. The fish we cleaned have had herring in their stomach from 3 inches to 4 inches. So then 3.5 and 4.0 spoons have been working well.
With the big tides the best bite has been around the slack tides. The full moon was on the 25th so the tides will start to mellow out a bit now. We also had great success using 20lb cannonballs to keep the gear down during the heavy current, or dropping down to just one rod per rigger so there is less drag.
Nice Fish Dennis!!
Don’t forget about the Hump off S Bowen as well. Our friend “Rico” was out there this weekend and hooked 3 nice chinook in two and a half hours while out for a nice troll with the family. He was the only boat there as everyone else was over on the other side. Rico was testing some of his new spoons, “Ricker Super Glows” and so far they have been very productive. Rico! Where are my prototypes! Stay tuned for more info on theses custom painted spoons over the coming weeks!There were a lot of wild and hatchery coho caught over on the other side as well. This bodes well for the coming Cap season.
See you on the water or in the shop!