It snowed hard all night and when I went down to the boat this morning it was covered in a foot of snow and it was still coming down. I was wondering if I had made the wrong call, fishing fever can cloud your judgement, but there was no turning back now. As the sun came up, the snow stopped coming down, the skies brightened up, and the boat was cleaned up and ready to go. I felt it was going to be a good day, at least it would look amazing with all the fresh snow, so we headed out at 7:30 am with a crew of 4 guests.
First light and a snowy Stanley Park and Lions Gate Bridge in the back ground.
We made a few passes in the 100 foot zone and moved offshore and hit a double header! One of the fish was slightly undersized so we carefully released it and the other was a nice fish in mid teens that we kept. What a great start to the day! The fish we kept took an anchovy in a glow teaser head and the smaller fish took a 4.0 Green& Glow spoon. The leaders were 6 feet long, 25lb test, and the flashers were chartreuse hot spots with silver tape on both sides.
As the day progressed we continued to find fish in 100 to 150 feet of water anywhere from the mouth of the Capilano River down to the QB marker. The fish were hitting 3.5″ to 4.0″ spoons and the Green & Glow combo was hard to beat, as was the anchovy. The final tally was 6 good sized chinook on the line: we kept 2, we lost 2 nice fish to the seals, and we had 2 good fish that were taking line that just fell off. Being the only boat on the water today, the seal(s) were all over us. This was a bit frustrating, especially for our guest Adam “The Seal Hunter” who had both of his fish taken by seals today! As frustrating as it was, the boys were good sports about it and it was good for a few laughs at the end of the day.
The highlights for the day were a double header at the start of the day and a double header at the end of the day. Overall, 6 good springs on the line for a day of winter spring fishing is solid. Not to mention a number of shakers, but we don’t count those fish on the score sheet, nor do we target the areas they hang out in. We prefer to keep those fish off the tally and avoid them all together, preferring to see them next year!
Steve with a nice fish and Carlos with his first salmon!
When we got back to the dock and I cleaned the fish I noticed that both fish had herring in their stomach. The herring were around 5 inches long and fresh. I have done well on Cop Car (black & white) or Night Rider (black & glow) spoons in the 4.0 or 5.0 sizes when the fish are on herring, so next time out I will be giving that a try.
As always, if you would like to get out on the water for some winter spring action, give us a call at the shop.
FISHING HAS BEEN GOOD WITH 9 SPRINGS HOOKED IN THE LAST TWO DAYS!
Pacific Angler 604-872-2204
Tight Lines,
Captain Jason Tonelli