Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
A big thank you to all of you who wrote letters last week and over the weekend regarding the SFAB Chinook Proposals. This is exactly the kind of pressure we need to put on DFO to get chinook opportunities on the South Coast.
If you didn’t have time to write a letter last week, please, take the time to do it now. They are still accepting letters and it’s all about volume. If you missed the Special Chinook Report from last week give it a read. Everything you need to write a quick letter is in there, and so is the science on why we should be open right now, especially for hatchery fish. If it wasn’t for Covid-19 we would be doing some protests, so in this case the pen is mightier than the sword, so please write your letter, it is making an impact.
Well fishing this week continued to be good. There were fish off South Bowen, out on the Hump, and there are lots of fish over in the Gulf Islands as well. As usual there are quite a few hatchery fish. Best depths have varied, really depending on the colour of the water. Over in the Gulf Islands the water remains quite clear and productive depths were 150-200 on the downriggers when I was over there on the weekend. There were a lot of hatchery fish in the 6-10-pound range and I lost track on the number of hook ups. Around Bowen it seems the fish are a bit shallower, likely because the water isn’t quite as clear. From the input I received from friends who were fishing this past week and from the pictures and videos I saw online, the bigger fish are on our side of the Straight. There were some nice fish into mid-teens this past week and a few into the high teens.
PA regular Greg with a nice hatchery chinook hooked off South Bowen on Wednesday.
In the clear water I was doing well on purple UV flashers and black flashers, in particular the CB55, Madi, Purple Onion Glow, Purple Hot Dot. Gibbs G-Force and Kingfisher spoons in Herring Aide were working well in traditional with glow as well as Silver Knight versions. Those who were fishing off Bowen were doing well on brighter chartreuse gear. For flashers try Lemon Lime in chartreuse or green blade, Salty Dawg, and chartreuse Herring Aid. Anchovies or smaller herring in chartreuse and green glow teasers are working well, as are spoons in similar colours like Irish Cream and Trailhead.
Crabbing has been good, which is pretty normal for this time of year and prawning is tapering off, which is also normal for this time of year. It will be interesting to see how the commercial prawn fleet reacts to Covid-19 and a severely reduced market (closed restaurants and few exports).
If you need any gear, the shop is open, and by that, I mean you can call in and we will pick your order for you and ship it to you or you can pick it up at the shop.
Tight lines,
Jason Tonelli