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…

Vancouver Saltwater Fishing Report Well it has been another great week of fishing here in Vancouver. By fishing, I mean catching, and specifically chinook salmon. Even on our shorter 5 or 6-hour trips we have had some amazing chinook fishing. Usually on a shorter trip we would focus on coho and pinks off West Van, but the chinook fishing has been so consistent these past few weeks we have been focusing primarily on chinook. In terms of location, take your pick. It really comes down to boat size, weather conditions, and how much time you have. There has been great fishing at the Bell Buoy, North Arm, Iona Jetty, T-10, and of course the South Arm, aka Sand Heads. Looking at the Albion Chinook Test…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Well, it’s that time of year.   The coho are showing, the pinks are showing up, some Fraser chinook are showing up, but the large schools of aggressive feeding chinook we enjoyed all of April, May, June are thinning out.  This last week of July is what I like to call “transition week” for the reasons just pointed out.  The good news is the coho and pink fishing should only get better this coming week.  The chinook fishing will also pick up as more and more Fraser fish start to show up and linger off the North Arm and get pushed into the harbour on flood tides.  You need them to get pushed into Area 28 so you can keep one,…

Well sorry for the late report today.  I didn’t want to send out the report until I knew what the regulation changes were going to be come July 15th.  I had it on good authority that DFO was not going to honour their opening on the 15th to 1 chinook per day and to expect an announcement on Friday afternoon.  We didn’t know if it was going to be a continuation of the no chinook retention regulations, a hatchery only regulation, or a size restriction.  The email finally came out at 4:30 and the regulation is a size restriction.  In all the areas that were slated to open up on July 15th, they will indeed do so, but the chinook must be larger than 62cm…

We are counting the down the days to chinook being opened in Area 17 and 28 on July 15th, and then again for Area 29 on August 1st.  In the meantime, it has been pretty amazing fishing for the most part.  There were a few trips this past week where the coho did a disappearing act, but they seem to be back in the usual spots off South Bowen, Point Atkinson, and the West Van shoreline.  The number of chinook around is also staggering.  The local mixed stocks of feeder chinook, or residents, seem to still be here and we are seeing a few larger chinook likely headed to the Squamish or Cheakamus.  In short, fishing is very good. For coho, the key has been…

This week we are going to focus on coho.  If you have been reading past reports, you know we have had an epic chinook season so far and we were talking about the coho showing up about this week, and sure enough they did.  Test sets for juvenile coho in the Southern Strait of Georgia this winter were at or near record levels and the coho seem to be spending their time in our local waters instead of going off the West Coast.  This means we should have an excellent coho season this summer, and if the schools of coho we saw this past week are any indication of what is to come, things are looking good.   Remember that last year the Cap had one…

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Let’s start with a look at the past 7 days and then take a look at opportunities for this weekend.   Fishing last weekend and early in the week was good, despite some big tides from the full moon.  There were decent catches of chinook from South Bowen up to Gower Point and Lower Howe Sound.  Offshore off South Bowen and out on the Hump, there were some good numbers of coho being caught as well.  A quick reminder all chinook are catch and release at this time and you can retain 2 hatchery coho a day.  Unfortunately, mid-week the big NW winds showed up and that put a damper on the fishing and we even had to cancel a few…