Local Saltwater
We are nearing the end of Sockeye fest 2014 at the end off the month and a lot of our guests are well stocked up with fish. We’ve now been fishing one of my favorite fisheries, which is for the big chinook! They can be found as far as the South Arm of the Fraser River or as close to just west of the Lions Gate Bridge. We have been spending most of our time at the Cap Mouth and the fishing has been pretty good. Each day is different as waves of chinook show up and get caught each day on the flood tide. Typically with these fish it’s a waiting game for the bite. You look around and nobody is catching fish and then it’s like someone flips a switch and rods start bouncing as fresh fish show up or the ones that have been there for awhile finally start to turn on.
- A couple of beautiful chinook caught off West Vancouver!
The fish we have been hooking into have been from the low teens to the high twenties, with a few nearing the 30lb mark. Typically anchovies and 4″-7″ herring in an assortment of glow teaser heads towed with or without a flasher will hook fish. In most areas like West Vancouver, Point Atkinson, Bell Buoy, T10, and the South Arm of the Fraser the fish can be found in 100 to 200 feet of water and we usually fish from 30 to 75 on the downriggers. At the mouth of the Capilano the fish are mainly hooked close to or just off the bottom. There are still a few cohos being taken and one our guides Dimitri got the first chum salmon I have heard of this year.
Getting back to the anchovy teaser heads, we have been doing well on the Frog, Green or Chartreuse Spackle back, Green Glow, Blue Glow, and Bloody Nose. For flashers we have been using the Green Onion, Purple Onion, Chartreuse Glow, and Green Glow. Some days taking the flasher off and running the bait on its own will work and provide very exciting fights without the added drag of the flasher on the line. If you try different combinations the fish will tell you which ones they like that day. As I was writing this report we had our first heavy rain in quite a while. This is good news for the river fishermen but not for the saltwater angler. The rain brings the level up in the rivers and allows some of the fish to head upstream. We do lose some of the fish initially that have been around for a while, but it also tends to draw more fresh fish closer towards the river mouth.
- A big day for our guests off West Vancouver.
It looks like the rain is going to hold off for most of next week and we always see a good push of fish in late September and early October so I am sure there will be some good catches in the next 2 weeks off W. Van. In October we also do some trips down to the South Arm of the Fraser to intercept all the thousands of coho that are heading up the Fraser. So all in all there is at least another 3 weeks of great saltwater fishing to be had.
Tight lines,
Eddie
The P.A. Saltwater Guide Team: Jason, Eddie, Dimitri
Give us a call on our charter phone at 778-788-8582 to book a charter or come by the shop for all the right gear and some friendly advice. The shop number is 604-872-2204.
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, Max, Andre, Sam, Eddie, Dimitri, Kathryn