Things were fairly consistent this past week, not red hot fishing, but certainly better than the fishing around the full moon in late January. For the most part there were fish to be had in Vancouver Harbour, Howe Sound, and the Gulf Islands.
Those who put their time in were rewarded with a fish or two. The fish have generally been in the 8-12 pound range although we have seen a few in the mid to high teens. There really hasn’t been a stand out spot this year so far and this season is starting to look like it will be more of a “normal” season compared to last year which was one of the best in a long time. Our best advice for this time of year is to not wait for a hot report, but just to get out there and cover water and fish your slack tides.
As noted in previous winter chinook reports, these fish move around a lot, so everyday is truly a new day on the water and you can’t put too much emphasis on past reports. This is especially true if they are more than 48 hours old.
As we are about mid way into the winter season, the fish are spread out and any given day you could have good fishing at any of the spots we have mentioned in the past few months. The keys are to cover lots of water by trolling fast, keep your gear just off the bottom, and use glow flashers, spoons, and hootchies as you are generally fishing pretty deep. We prefer to fish artificials this time of year, like spoons and hootchies, because they are durable and work well on a fast troll. Bait is effective but is less durable on a fast troll and a small glow teaser head does not put off as much glow as a glow spoon or hootchy.
The usual flashers and spoons and hootchies have been producing well. For flashers you should be using Green Onion Glow, Purple Onion Glow, Chartreuse Glow and Green Glow. For spoons you should be using Irish Cream, Homeland Security, Kitchen Sink, Gut Bomb, Clupea, and Sucker Punch. Try these spoons in the smaller sizes like 3.5, 3.0 and 2.5. Productive hootchies are pure glow, or white glow.
If you would like to book a charter please give Jason Tonelli a call at 778-788-8582 or call Pacific Angler at 604-872-2204.
See you in the shop or on the water,