Vancouver Salmon Fishing Coho Report
It is early June which means we will start to see coho salmon showing up around the local waters. Last season was great and I would expect this year to be the same if not better. It can be tough to find fish early season, however they are extremely aggressive, so once you drive over a school of them you can expect a rod or two to go off.
A nice hatchery coho on a windy afternoon
Fishing will be good around all the sub-areas of area 29 that are open to coho. Fishing off south Bowen, up towards Gibsons and over in area 17 at Thrasher and Entrance will all produce fish. Look for active fish, bait, birds and tidelines. Coho feed quite shallow in the water collum and will get pushed around by the current and, as a result of that, making tidelines an ideal place to fish for them.
Coho can be caught on a variety of different methods out in the ocean. Trolling UV flashers such as one of my favorites the Gibbs Twisted Sista with a White UV Hootchy on a 28 inch leader is usually very effective.m Smaller spoons like the Gibbs Wee G with a 3-5 foot leader to your flasher is also deadly.
Some of my favorite flasher, hoochie and spoon combos
For those of you without downriggers, don’t worry you can still get into a lot of fish! Coho are shallow, often feeding on the surface down to about 65 feet, so running a spoon off a Deep Six or a Rapala Deep Tail Dancer on its own can yield great success.
Some of my favorite trolling lures and setups when fishing without downriggers.
One tip is to troll fast. Coho love a faster troll; I find between 4.5 – 6 kmh is the sweet spot. However, your SOG (speed over ground) is relative to the current, I find the best way to gauge your speed is off the cable angle of your downrigger. A nice 45-degree angle is what you want for coho if you are using a 15 pound cannonball while trolling 25-65 feet on the downrigger, which is where these early season fish are at.
A nice pair of early season hatchery coho
Don’t be surprised if you hook up with some chinook salmon, as there are a lot around. Chinook are closed (no fishing for chinook salmon) at the moment and should not be targeted. If you do hook one, simply release it at the side of the boat. The gaff release is by far the best method for this, keeping the fish in the water and popping the hook out quickly. If you must net the fish, keep the net in the water, carefully remove the hook and let the fish swim out of the net.
Jacob Leboe