Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Reports Well it finally does feel like winter chinook season now.  Halloween has come and gone, the docks are frosting up at night, and you can see your breath in the morning as you head out in the darkness of 7:30 am.  As per usual, the fish are moving around a lot, here one day, gone the next, as they search our local waters for herring and anchovy.   There have been a few fish up in Howe Sound, we haven’t heard much from Vancouver Harbour, and there have been a few fish over in the Gulf Islands.  Prawning has been decent as well, and remember to release all egg bound females. As per usual, keep your gear relatively close to…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report As mentioned in past reports, this time of year your options are to explore for some early feeder chinook or head down to the South Arm in search of some coho and late chinook.  We had a few trips this past week and based on the wind and the weather, it was an easy choice to keep it a little closer to home.  The fish cooperated and we found a few “winters” and as usual they had some smaller bait in their bellies. If you have a little more time to fish or the weather is looking good, the South Arm is still worth a visit.  If you look at the Albion chinook test sets and chum test sets, there…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Well I hope you checked those bilge pumps and float switches like I mentioned in last week’s report!  Sure enough the fall monsoons are here.  With well over a 100 mm of rain falling this past week, the rivers are up and the last of the migratory salmon are making their way into the local streams.  If you want one last kick at the can, I have caught chum and coho in late October down at the South Arm, but for the most part your efforts are likely better spent in the river if you want to chase chinook or coho.  Speaking of chum, it looks like we are in for the worst chum return since they started tracking the…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report We had some trips at the Cap Mouth this week and fishing was pretty consistent.  Sometimes the seals got the better of us, but we did manage to land some nice chinook despite their best efforts. If you are looking for a quick fish, close to home, there are still some chinook at the Cap.  We have caught fish as late as the last week of October, but I think it is fair to say the best days have been had.  That being said, it is close to home and a nice way to spend a crisp October day and with the lack of rain, the chinook are still there. If you want to travel down to the South Arm,…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report As mentioned in last week’s report, if we get a second push of fish heading into a drier week, we should see good fishing at the Cap.  That is exactly what happened this week.  There was a distinct push of fish on Sunday and Monday and we didn’t get any rain so the river stayed low.  The end result was some great fishing for chinook and a few hatchery coho as a bonus.  There were some big fish too.  We landed a number of fish in the low to mid twenties, lost a few big ones, and saw some big ones landed, including a Tyee.  It was good to see this first week of October push of fish, some years…

Well finally it looks like the rain is gone until late next week and with the sun comes the NW winds.  If the winds aren’t as strong as forecast, you might want to take a look down at the South Arm.  There are still some of the larger white springs pushing through, and right about now we will see some good numbers of coho starting to show up.  You can keep 2 hatchery coho a day and the odds are pretty good you will find some clipped fish.   There are large hatchery coho programs on the Vedder/Chilliwack River and Chehalis River.  Most of these fish seem to stage off the South Arm in the next couple of weeks before they head up the Fraser and…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Well its official, its Cap Season.  The Capilano chinook are stacking up off the mouth of the Capilano and fishing has been pretty consistent this past week.  The on and off rain caused a lot of fish to stack up off the river mouth and some fish did go up the river, but there are more to come.  We usually see the bulk of the fish show up over the next few weeks.  As many of you know, these fish respond well to a flasher and bait setup fished closed to the bottom. Can’t beat fishing this close to home! There are a few messages I am going to pass on to the angling community.  The first one is steer…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Well it’s hard to believe its mid September already!  The weather is sure letting us know isn’t it?  50 mm is forecast for Saturday and some SE winds as well.  Hopefully we will get some nicer days later in the month. So what does all this rain mean for the fishing?  Well if you want to fish the Capilano River or Vedder/Chilliwack River, it is a good thing, but not so much if you want to fish the ocean.  This low-pressure system and the rain will definitely get some fish moving up the rivers.  For the Cap that means any coho or chinook hanging around the mouth will likely take advantage of the rise in water levels to head up…

This past week we had decent chinook fishing but it has definitely slowed down a bit from the big number days of August.  This is right on schedule as the bulk of the red chinook have pushed up the river and we are starting to see more white chinook.   While there are less fish around, the chance at bigger fish makes up for it.  These white chinook are destined for the Chilliwack and Harrison rivers and they are easily the biggest fish of the year.  Getting fish in the mid twenties is common and there are always a few Tyee caught (chinook over 30 pounds). Productive gear hasn’t changed much.  We have been fishing green sized herring and 5.5 anchovies in Bullet Roll teaser heads…

Vancouver Saltwater Fishing Report Well the “reds” just kept on coming this week.  After a few slow days it really turned on again around the North Arm and the T-10 early this week.  Good thing too, as the NW winds kept us off the South Arm, but prior to the winds the fishing was very good down there as well.  The Bell Buoy also kicked out some nice chinook this week when it was even too rough to venture out to the North Arm. Although this past week most of our chinook were red, we definitely will start to see some more white chinook show up this week.  In fact, the orcas, presumably Southern Residents, were off the South Arm on Wednesday night.  As of…