Well the great season of winter chinook fishing we had is rolling right into a great early “spring” chinook season. This is the time of year we start to explore for these spring chinoook off S. Bowen, and so far fishing has been nothing short of fantastic. We were out this past weekend and all week and have had some consistent action on all trips. Just like the winter chinook season, we are seeing a lot more fish than usual and the average size is way up. Most of the fish are in 12 to 18 pound range but this week we have seen some 21, 23, 26 and even a 30 pound tyee! This monster was caught by guest Chris and guide Jason on this weekends Saltwater Salmon Fishing Course. Along with this hog, many other fish were hooked this weekend and Eddie and Jason both had very successful trips.
Some nice chinook from a trip with Jason this weekend!
There have been reports of fish up Howe Sound and that is a great option if it is windy, but the best action we had this weekend has been off S. Bowen on the “The Hump”. The fish have been from 70-130 on the downrigger but the hot depths have been in the 90-110 zone. The Green Onion Glow and Chartreuse Glow flasher have been hot when paired with a 6 foot leader to any of the Pesca glow spoons with some green or black on them and the Kingfisher Homeland Security and Irish Cream. We have also been doing well on anchovies and herring in a glow or glow green teaser head.
Eddies’ guests with a nice haul of chinook and crab!
This is the time of year when a lot of anglers are getting out for the first time. A good tip is to make sure all your gear is in good order after a long wet winter. The amount of corrosion that can occur after a few wet winter months is amazing. Today we have both boats booked off to replenish the tackle boxes and fix all the little things that seem to go wrong during the winter. We have a funny one on Saturday as Jason was landing a chinook for clients and the net literally fell apart while netting the fish! Gord, one of our guests, happened to be taking pictures and actually was able to get a picture of the net falling a apart with a chinook in it! Luckily we were able to land the fish with no net, so we all had a good laugh! Thanks to our good friend and customer Malcolm for lending us a net for the rest of the trip as it was definitely needed as the bite was on!
Although our net seemed fine all winter long while chasing winter chinook, it blew up on this one and made for an interesting landing job!
With all these big fish around, make sure you bring your reels to Pacific Angler and get some fresh line. There are truly some world class fish around at the moment. Now is a great time to book a charter or sign up for our class that will teach you how to catch salmon in our local waters. Give us a call at 778-788-8582 to book a trip or a course so you can get into some huge chinook like this one below!
Here is a close up picture of the 30 LB chinook caught this weekend on Salty Dawg by guide Jason Tonelli and guest Chris.