Most of this month has seen some decent action but you definitely need to be out there on the right day. It will be slow for a few days and then it seems like some fish move into the area and fishing is good for a day or two. Like most fishing, timing is everything, and this is especially true with the chinook that frequent our area in March. These are aggressively feeding fish, so if they are around in any sort of numbers they usually let you know about it in a hurry! Mid to late last week was one of those slow periods and then a school of fish showed up on Saturday. Fellow guides Jason Assonitis and Craig Mumby had 5 bites on Saturday in short order. They missed one, hooked up 4 fish, of which they landed 2 nice keepers. The other two were lost to seals.
I was out on Sunday at first light to see what the day would bring.
The Salty Dawg at first light in Coal Harbour
The action was a little slower than Saturday but I hooked up 2 solid chinook, unfortunately both got eaten by seals… I wasn’t too happy about that, but as one of our customers pointed out, it’s better to hook up a few good fish and loose them, then to get no bites at all! I must admit it is nice to hook a spring and listen to the Islanders sing.
The Islander MR2 ready and waiting.
Most of the fish have been taken from the mouth of the Capilano River to just past the pink apartment and blue apartment in about 90-120 feet of water. Find bottom with the cannonball and then come up 5 to 15 feet. We have been using spoons and anchovies with a 6 foot leader to a flasher. Some days it pays to take the flasher off, so try running one side without a flasher and see which side gets the most action. For colors of spoons the green/glow and black/white (aka Cop Car) have been good in either a Luhr Jensen Coyote, Gibbs Gypsy, or Silver Horde Kingfisher. For sizes the most productive has been 3.5 to 4.0 inch. On Sunday both my fish came on anchovies right off the bottom. I was using Rhys Davis Anchovy Special Teaser Heads in glow with red (bloody nose) and the other was straight chrome.
Good choices for this time of year.
I also heard of a few fish around Tunstall and Defense, so it sounds like there are some fish up Howe Sound. So all in all the action has been pretty decent the last 3 days so if you have a boat I encourage you to get out there and enjoy the slightly warmer weather. If you don’t have a boat and would like to get out for a charter, please give us a call at 604-872-2204 and ask for Dave Fauquier. Dave has joined our team recently and will be handling all the bookings.
If you need any saltwater gear, come down to the shop and say hi this weekend. I will be in the shop all weekend selling tackle as we celebrate with our 5 Year Anniversary Sale. All saltwater items will be on sale and we have good inventory on the hot hootchies, spoons, flashers, etc.
For more information on the sale visit us at www.pacificangler.ca
Tight Lines,
Jason Tonelli