Local Saltwater
It looks like we are going to be changing from these very persistent NW winds and sunny weather to some SE winds and rainy weather. Hopefully there is just enough rain to help with any forest fires, but not enough rain to bring the Capilano River up too much! The long dry spell has helped the coho fishing off W. Van by making the Capilano very, very low.
There has been some decent catches, especially by those getting up at first light, for coho along the shores of W. Van. The top producers have been white or white UV hootchies on a 25-28 leader behind a Purple Onion or Green Onion flasher. We have also been hitting fish on small spoons like the Pesca 3.0 in Skittles (white UV with multi-colored dots on it).
There has been the odd Fraser chinook caught off W. Van by anglers searching for coho, but if you want chinook, start looking towards the Fraser mouth.
Speaking of chinook, the numbers are looking pretty good on the Albion Chinook Gill Net Test Sets. We haven’t heard any reports as it just opened on Wednesday and the winds kept most people away, but without a doubt, it is the place to go for chinook. We do well fishing from 30-80 feet on the downriggers with chartreuse or green glow flashers, 6 foot leaders, and anchovies and herring in glow, or glow green, teaser heads.
We have been spending most of our time off W. Van on 5 hour charters for coho but we are looking forward to chasing down some bigger chinook on 8 hour or 10 hour trips.
We have been up Howe Sound on a few days and there have been some chinook taken from Hole in the Wall up to Sunset on anchovies and herring from 60 to 150 feet down, with most of the fish coming from 70 to 90. This fishery can be hit or miss, but it is a nice place to hide from the wind and you can’t beat the scenery.
A nice evening troll off Hole in the Wall is a great way to escape the heat.
We are expecting some sockeye data next week, so we will let you know as soon as we find anything out. In the meantime expect the coho fishery off W. Van to get better by the day (unless the river comes way up) and the chinook fishing will build all month as well. If you are thinking of chasing down chinook with us in the next few weeks, or sockeye and chinook in August, please give us a call right away. We are getting a lot of calls and if you want to head out in August, you will definitely need to book now.
See you on the water or in the shop,
Jason Tonelli