If you read our report last week you would have noticed I predicted that there would be some good size fish caught in the harbor this week. From past years our journal showed it usually picks up in the harbor mid January and that is exactly what happened. There were some nice fish in the mid teens caught in the harbour for those who braved the wind and the rain, although for the most part conditions were pretty good. As I write this Eddie is out on a charter searching the West Van shoreline on the flood tide. As usual, the productive spots were the West Van shoreline from the Pink Apartment to Cap Mouth on the flood and over in the freighters on the ebb. There were also some fish caught around the QB Marker as well.
For those that ventured further up Howe Sound and over to the Gulf Islands, the fishing was equally productive with some fish in the low teens all the way up to the high twenties being taken. Yes, high twenties! These are fish weighed on a scale, so no fisherman stories this go around. Is this normal for this time of year? Heck no, but we personally know of 3 fish over 20 pounds in the last week and a half, so it looks like there are some nice size and nicely conditioned fish out there this winter. These fish weren’t long, but they were sure chunky, and that means they are finding lots of feed. That bodes well for the rest of the winter season.
In general these chinook are pretty close to the bottom because that is where the herring are. Keep an eye on your chart plotter and your sounder and make sure you are consistently close to bottom. Have lots of fresh cable or braid on your rigger as you might have as much as 180-250 feet out to keep your gear down in some of the deeper spots. Another good trick is to put the 15 LB cannonballs away and break out the 18 LB cannonballs. This really helps keep your gear down with all that drag. We have some at the shop for the hardcore guys that want some and this is what we are using on our guide boats this time of year.
These 2 Oki Glow flashers are staples for the local chinook fishery.
When fishing that deep, think glow. Glow cannonballs, glow flashers and glow spoons. Two of our favorite flashers this time of year are a green or chartreuse blade flasher with glow tape and a green onion glow. Pesca glow spoons are also extremely effective at these deeper depths, like the Gut Bomb, It’s Not, Uncle Bob, Yort, and Clupea.
If you would like to book a charter please give Jason Tonelli a call at 778-788-8582 or call Pacific Angler at 604-872-2204.
If you want to see a full Vancouver Fishing Report covering freshwater and saltwater check out the Pacific Angler fishing report for all your river, lake and saltwater fishing information.
See you in the shop or on the water,