Jason Tonelli: The place to be is still over at Nanaimo down to Thrasher Rock. When the winds have allowed, we have been running over to these areas and have had great success for chinook, coho, and lingcod. There is a mix of chinook inshore and offshore as well as some large schools of coho offshore of Nanaimo. This has created some exciting fishing and there has even been a few halibut caught by anglers fishing closer to the bottom while trolling the inshore waters for chinook off Gabriola.
- Trasher Rock Chinook!
The best depths offshore have been 90-180 using glow flashers and green onion flashers and a 6 foot leader to spoons like the Green Glo, Irish Cream, Kitchen Sink, and Homeland Security. Hootchies with some glow and green shades have also been working well with a 32 to 40 inch leader.
Inshore try fishing these same lures but concentrate on water that is 120-200 feet deep and keep your gear generally close to the bottom. Productive depths have been 140-180, or a little bit shallower if you are up in 120 feet of water.
There have also been some nice fish taken on the Shimano Wawing. Originally designed as a vertical jig that gives an erratic motion when retrieved rapidly through the water column, this lure has found a new home when trolled med/fast to fast behind a flasher with a 6 foot leader. Fellow guide David Korsch has been using these with some good success so we gave them a try as well and the fish seem to like them and so do we! They are now a regularly stocked item at Pacific Angler and have a permanent place in the tackle boxes of the Salty Dawg and Chain’ Tales. These lures dance back and forth with a life like action that the chinook seem to find irresistible. I have noticed the key is to troll a little on the faster side and try using a non-slip loop knot to give the lure more action. This knot combined with a fast troll really produces a deadly life-like erratic action that triggers a lot of strikes!
Very soon we hope to see some coho stacking up off W. Van so we can start doing some 5 hour charters. The Capilano has already seen a lot of coho show up in the river so all signs are pointing to a good return this year. In fact they have 1,100 fish in the hatchery already and it is just barely mid June. Usually we see this fishery pick up in the third and fourth week of June. We have been out on a few trips looking for these coho but so far it has been fairly quiet. The fish don’t seem to be stacking up too much yet, rather they are heading straight into the river and making it hard for the ocean anglers to have any chance at success. This will change soon as the river gets lower and lower and more fish show up. If you are going to head out for coho this weekend, keep your gear shallow (in the top 40 feet of the water column) and try white or UV white hootchies with a 28-32 inch leader behind a Green Onion flasher and troll fast!
Eddie Matthei: Well it’s been another week filled with adventures! We’ve had a real mix of windy almost unfishable weather and flat calm sunny days. For the most part fishing has been good except on those days that were difficult to troll due to a combination of waves and strong tidal currents. However it did give me the opportunity do a little bottom fishing and to check on the local fishing on the days I couldn’t run across the Georgia Strait.
- Nice Ling Cod!
Bottom fishing for lingcods and rockfish (snapper) is very good and it’s seems the prospects for halibut are definitely improving. Over the week I now have a half dozen reports of halibut caught while trolling for salmon! A good friend Oliver on “Hooked Up” landed a 40lb Halibut yesterday while trolling a small spoon close to the bottom. Various spots like Thrasher Rock, The Grande, and up to Entrance Island are all producing fish.
There are also more fish going past the 20lb mark and even a few in the 30lb plus range. The Spackle Back hoochies in regular and Double Glo as well as an assortment of spoons in the 3″ to 4″ range are working. The spoons that are working for me are the Homeland Security, Irish Cream, Green Glo, and especially the Kitchen Sink. My experimental Ricker Double Glo which I haven’t lost yet is still working as well.
- Happy Group of fishermen!!
There is a big Fishing Derby at Silva Bay this weekend and it should be a lot of fun as they always are. They winning fish is out there!
On the local scene I fished the freighters and Bell Buoy but it was slow for me that day. I also fished the Capilano to Point Atkinson and although I didn’t get a coho I saw lots of bait and I had 1 hit. The next day another fellow guide reported 2 hits that also resembled coho hits. There’s already coho in the river so they’re definitely here! I also got a report of a spring taken off Fisheries.
- Get that pot boiling!
On one of those windy days I went to investigate Hole in the Wall after a report of a 15lb’r taken there. I found bait near Bill Point and had one of my anchovies stolen after a good rod shake! Another fellow guide came to join me and and had a double header in the same area. They lost one but managed to box a legal fish.
Tight Lines,
Eddie
On behalf of the Pacific Angler staff we wish you the best in your fishing endeavors and we hope to see you either at the shop or on the water. To check out the latest Pacific Angler news view the Pacific Angler Facebook page.
Jason, Matt, Dimitri, Andre, Eddie and Bryce