I was back out on the water on 10 hour charters on Monday and Tuesday at Gabriola and Eddie was on a 5 hour charter on Wednesday in local waters. The fishing at Gabriola continues to be good for chinook salmon in the 10-25lb range.
Gus with the first fish of the day on Tuesday
At Gabriola on Monday we hooked 5 and landed 3 and Tuesday we hooked 7 and landed 5. Locally the fishing has been fairly slow off the Bell Buoy, QA, S end of Bowen and West Van. A few chinook are getting caught, but it is pretty spotty. So… If you are thinking of heading out or booking a charter I strongly recommend going to Gabriola for now. About mid June last year we stared to get some good fishing for coho off W. Van, but we will have to see how things shape up this year. There have already been good numbers of coho pushing into the Cap with all the rain and good river levels. Hopefully Summer will decide to show up here mid June, the river will drop, and some fish will start stacking up off the mouth. Meanwhile the fishing is good at Gabriola for hard fighting chinook so we will be concentrating our efforts in this area.
- Guide Jason, guests Jim and Chris on their 3rd Annual Thrasher Rock Trip
- Monday provided sun, flat calm seas, and 3 nice chinook
It was pretty slow during the day on Tuesday, but it really turned on late in the day, including a tripple header which we went 2 for 3 on!
Gus and Sebastian with a double.
Jason coaching Sebastian aka "Boo" on fighting his first salmon ever!
The catch for the day, 5 nice chinook.
Most of the fish had herring in their stomach around 3-4 inches. We caught our fish on 3-4 inch spoons such as the Green/ Glow, and Black/Glow (aka Night Rider) and hootchies that were green with glow or blue with glow, like the popular Yamashita Spatter Back Series in colors OG142R, OG151R, OG144R. Productive depths were 120-165 using a 15lb cannonball and we were in 180- 400 feet of water off of Gabriola. Other anglers are also catching fish on herring, anchovies, 4″ Tomic Plugs, Sea Fours, and Baitrix. The fishing was pretty slow when the tide was pushing hard, so pay attention to your tide charts and plan your day around the slack tides.
We have good stock at the shop on the best hootchies, spoons, Sea Fours, Baitrixs, and herring and anchovies for Gabriola. If you need some advice getting set up or need to pick up a few items, please drop by or give us a call.
Andrew is guiding on Saturday and I am back out on Sunday and Monday so we will see you out there.
Cheers,
Jason Tonelli