Home / Fishing Reports / Vancouver Salmon Fishing Report: October 4, 2019

Vancouver Salmon Fishing Report: October 4, 2019

Salmon_Fishing_Trips

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report

As mentioned in last week’s report, if we get a second push of fish heading into a drier week, we should see good fishing at the Cap.  That is exactly what happened this week.  There was a distinct push of fish on Sunday and Monday and we didn’t get any rain so the river stayed low.  The end result was some great fishing for chinook and a few hatchery coho as a bonus.  There were some big fish too.  We landed a number of fish in the low to mid twenties, lost a few big ones, and saw some big ones landed, including a Tyee.  It was good to see this first week of October push of fish, some years it doesn’t happen, but not surprised it did this year since the summer and fall chinook returns have been so strong.  There will be a few more fish showing up this week, but for the most part, the run is here.  There is a bit of rain forecast on Sunday, but not likely enough to bring the Cap way up and trigger a mass migration of fish into the river.  Therefore I would expect fishing this weekend and into next week to be pretty good off the Cap mouth.  Eventually we will get some rain and those big chinook will zip up the river, but until then they are fair game for us saltwater anglers.  Fishing will also taper off next week as fish get harvested each day, so everyday that passes there are potentially fewer and fewer fish, somewhat mitigated by some new arrivals of course.

Salmon_Fishing_Trips

It was a great week at the Cap with a nice wave of fresh chinook rolling in this week.

 

If the Cap doesn’t appeal to you, you can burn some fuel and head to the South Arm.  Chinook reports have been slow, not surprising, as we are into the first week of October.  My focus in this area would be coho and look at chinook catches as bonus.

Since some of you have hung up the rods for a while, lets talk about boats.  If your boat is going to sit in your slip, a little fall maintenance can go a long ways.  First things first, check your bilge pumps and make sure your batteries have lots of juice.  Make sure the bilge pumps are operational and that your float switches are working.  The big rains are coming, you know, those 50-60 mm days that show up every November.  We always see pictures and hear stories of boats that sink.  If your bilge pumps don’t work or the float switches fail, the boat will fill up with water and end up at the bottom of the marina.  Don’t be that guy.  Go down to your boat at least once a month, clean it up so you don’t get too much algae growth and that annoying pink stain on your upholstery that can come with it, check your bilge pumps and float switches, clean the inside of the boat with some disinfectant to stop mildew from forming, and if you don’t have shore power, put the trickle charger on for a day to keep those batteries strong.  These steps will go a long ways to keeping your boat in good shape for the spring time season.

See you in the shop, on the dock, or on the water,

Jason Tonelli