Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
Locally things have picked up this past week. There has been some decent fishing for coho from Point Atkinson all the way down to the Cap Mouth. It hasn’t been red hot, but most mornings we are getting our shots at hatchery coho and a few pinks are also showing up.
A little further afield, off South Bowen up to Gower, the fishing for pinks has been very productive. Best depths have been 50-80 on the downriggers. There are also some coho getting caught, a mix of wild and hatchery fish. A reminder you can only keep hatchery coho with no adipose fin and there is still no fishing for chinook.
If you want to focus on chinook, you can try W of Gower Point as it is open in this area for 1 chinook a day between 62-80 cm (hatchery or wild). There have been a few caught from Gower and then trolling W along the shoreline in 100-200 feet of water, anywhere from 50-150 on the riggers. There are also some pinks and coho in the area.
We have been doing well for chinook over at Gabriola and Entrance when conditions have allowed us to cross. This time of year, the fish are generally deep, usually pretty close to the bottom as that is where the bait is. The fish we have cleaned have had 5-7 inch herring in their stomachs, so larger presentations have been productive like the larger cuttle fish hootchies, larger spoons and 5 inch plugs.
A great day out on the water with the family!
Crabbing has slowed down quite a bit from the commercial pressure in the harbour.
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli