Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
We are in the last few weeks of chinook retention in Vancouver waters. It’s a great time of year to get out on the water, with the warmer weather and longer days as well as solid crabbing and prawning. Let’s take a look at what is going on for chinook options.
I had some solid crab and prawn sets yesterday!
Over on Gabriola, the Trench has slowed down a bit after being excellent for about 3 months. There are still some fish to be had there, but the numbers seem to be backing off a bit. There are some good numbers of fish at Thrasher and the Grande has been producing some nice fish too. So, if the winds aren’t too bad in the coming weeks, heading over to Gabriola is a solid option if you can stomach the fuel bill.
Locally there is a lot going on. Yesterday there were fish taken at the Bell Buoy, the Waterfall and at Grace. Gower Point has also been producing a few fish. I spent a few hours trolling off Roger Curtis and South Bowen but it didn’t produce anything for me. However, I do know of some fish that were landed in this area earlier in the week. Later in the day I ended up trying some of the Howe Sound spots and hooked quite few unders and lost 2 larger fish that were likely keepers.
Beautiful colours on the tail of this winter chinook from earlier in the week!
Just to add some more spots for you to fish, mid-week I was out in the middle of the harbour in 150 feet around the freighters while I was working on some autopilot settings on one of our boats. There were some big bait balls out there with definite chinook arcs on them. So, there are still quite a few fish in the harbour, which isn’t surprising considering the amount of bait in the area. I’m sure if you put your time in off West Van down to the Cap on the flood you would see some chinook in that zone too.
A reminder that this time of year we start to get some fish suspended off bottom and I was marking suspended fish in the Howe Sound spots on Thursday as well as the harbour mid week. Try bringing one of your rods up a bit if you are seeing suspended fish. The tricky thing is there are still plenty of fish right on bottom and most of our bites yesterday were on the deeper rod. That being said, I do know of some anglers who kept 3 yesterday and they were all suspended fish. Classic mid-March fishing!
As far as gear is concerned, this time of year you can’t go wrong with your chartreuse and green glow flashers and the same colours for your spoons or hootchies. The algae bloom is happening and the water is getting darker, so time to use the bright gear.
I mentioned earlier that the crabbing has been great and the prawning has been decent, so bring your traps.
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli