Vancouver Saltwater Coho & Chinook Salmon Fishing Report
It’s June 1st this weekend and that means coho will be open in area 29-3 as well as most parts of 28 for 2 hatchery coho a day, size limit of 30cm or greater. This means we can fish the productive waters off South Bowen for coho and out on the Hump as well.
When fishing for coho, concentrate on the top 60 feet of the water column and don’t be surprised if you hit fish right on the surface when letting out the gear. It is still early in the season for coho, but we have already been into some wild and hatchery coho while DNA sampling for chinook salmon in local waters. We expect the fishing to be decent right off the hop here and to only get better as the season progresses.
For a detailed video on some of my top coho flashers, spoons, and hootchies, check out this video:
Remember that chinook are closed to fishing in our local waters, meaning that you should not be fishing for or targeting chinook. There are a lot of them around, in fact probably record numbers and it should be open for retention in my expert opinion, but that is a whole other story! The fact remains they are closed to fishing, so when you get a chinook while coho fishing, and you definitely will, simply release it at the side of the boat and continue on with your coho tactics.
A reminder that bottom fishing for lingcod and rockfish is also open over in the Gulf Islands. We are doing trips there for these species and will now add coho to the list and some C&R chinook fishing as it is open for C&R chinook fishing in area 17. Overall, an excellent day can be had in this area with bottom fish, coho, and chinook making for a lot of action!
A nice chinook just before release over in Area 17 earlier this week
Crabbing has been excellent as well and we are dropping crab traps on all our charters right now. To book a trip, give us a call at 778-788-8582.
If you have your own boat and want to get setup with all the top coho gear, come by the shop for some expert advice and the top coho producers.
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli