Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
Well finally we have some sun in the forecast and this white stuff will hopefully go away. The winds might even back off enough today for me to get up Howe Sound. It’s 5 AM here in the Tonelli household and I am reviewing the forecast, typing up the report, then headed down to the dock for the first of 3 days of guiding. It looks like I am going to deal with some rain today, but that is not big deal compared to the freezing temperatures we have had out on the water this past week. Its already plus 3 this morning, I will take it!
The fishing this past week was confined to Vancouver Harbour as we had large outflow winds in Howe Sound and too much wind to make it over to the Gulf Islands. Low and behold, there are decent numbers of fish around in the Harbour and the amount of bait is really starting to build up. This bodes well for the March fishery which has been excellent these past 3 years in the Harbour as the herring stack up pre-spawn.
Look at all that bait off the Bell Buoy and the arc to the left feeding on it!
When I was out on Monday we were into a lot of small fish and the larger legal sized fish eluded us, but on other trips our boats were into some nice sized fish. The Cap Mouth has been good on the flood, as has the Bell Buoy and Mile Markers, and The Freighters have been producing on the ebb. So regardless of tides, you have some good options.
Productive spoons have been the usual suspects like the Skinny G in BC, Outfitter, Herring Aide or the Kingfisher in Irish Cream and Herring Aide, or the G- Force in BC, Outfitter, and Trailhead. The bait has been small, so the smaller size spoons like 3.0 and 3.5 have been working well. We have been fishing some bait and it has been productive, as you would expect. In the clear water the UV purple and UV green teaser heads are working, with a glow eye added on. Productive flashers have been Herring Aide, and any glow green or glow chartreuse flasher on the darker days or a black blade on the sunny days (coming up this weekend). Some of our favourites are BC, STS, Lemon Lime, Chartreuse Phantom, PA Custom in green or chartreuse. For darker colours the Herring Aide, CB55, PA Custom Black (Black Mamba) and Purple Phantom are all great choices.
We haven’t been prawning this past week, as there has been way too much wind to safely set or retrieve the gear. However, crabbing has finally picked up and our boats dropped traps the other day and did quite well.
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli