Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
The mega rains in the forecast earlier this week didn’t show up as advertised. However, it was enough of a bump in water levels to send some of the fish up the Fraser as our river fishing reports on the Vedder/Chilliwack have been quite good. Lots of big coho and plenty of chinook pushed in. They also let a bit of water out of the Cap dam on Thursday evening, so this also caused some fish to head up that river.
There are still some fish around though. We had boats out at the Cap today and they were getting into some chinook and there are a few coho around too. Nothing red hot, but all the boats hooked some fish on the flood tide. The Cap hasn’t had the big push of fish we usually see this time of year. Usually there is a distinct push of fish in the third and fourth week of September but it hasn’t played out that way this season. It could be the Cap chinook run just isn’t that great this year or the fish are a bit late. It’s not unusual to see a push of fish in the first week of October and with the relatively dry forecast, any chinook showing up will likely stage off the Cap Mouth until we get a hard rain and they let some water out of the dam.
Guide Eddie and repeat guest Derek showing how it’s done locally with a stunner chinook and hatchery coho off West Van this week! Congrats guys!
Down at the South Arm there are still come chinook around and coho as well. There are quite a few later coho rivers, so coho fishing can continue to be good off the South Arm well into October. Very few anglers take advantage of this fishery as they have had their fill of chinook and coho in September. If that’s not the case with you, and you want an uncrowded fishery, give the South Arm a try in October for coho. The fish are usually shallow, in the top 50 feet of the water column and respond well to flasher and hootchy combos fished fast.
That’s all for now, a few weeks left in the fall salmon season if the rains hold off… then onto winter chinook!
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli