Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
If you are wondering about sockeye, you can read my report in the Fraser River Sockeye Openings & Opinions piece, but in this report, I am going to focus on chinook and coho.
Opening day and the 72 hours after it were fantastic for chinook at the Bell Buoy, Iona Jetty, T-10, and South Arm. There were a lot of fish around and the catches were great. In last week’s report I covered in detail hot depths and tactics and those held true this past week. In short, if you were fishing flashers, teaser heads, and herring or anchovy in the top 70 feet of the water column you would have done well.
The orcas did come through on Sunday and Monday and that did slow things down temporarily. Fishing did pick up again early in the week and the fish were safe on Wed with the 30 plus knot winds. Fishing yesterday and this morning has been good again and should continue to be solid in the coming days.
In terms of the mix, the whites are in full force now and their numbers will increase into next week. The same can be said for hatchery coho. More will show over the next 2 weeks, mostly Vedder fish. The 14-day forecast shows very little rain, so unless the orcas really come in hard the next few weeks, I think fishing will be good.
The Cap has also had a few fish, among other spots close to home. Most of us have been fishing the mouth of the Fraser but on shorter trips we have had some good fishing for chinook and coho off Point Atkinson, the Cap Mouth and the Bell Buoy. Eddie had a great day at the Bell yesterday and was the only boat there. Seems this once packed spot has been somewhat forgotten about this time of year. It is close to the SRKW management zone, but if you fish from the Bell to the Mile Markers you are good. There are some Fraser bound fish here but you also get some fish headed to the Cap. So, if it is too windy to venture out of the harbour, give this spot a try.
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli