Vancouver Winter Salmon Fishing Report
The weather looks good for some winter chinook fishing this weekend with not a lot of wind in the forecast. The rain won’t be too bad either, especially on Sunday.
The fishing has been good overall with a few fish in Vancouver Harbour and up into Howe Sound. We haven’t ventured over to the Gulf Islands yet this winter season, but with some “winds light” in the forecast we might take a look if the opportunity presents itself.
Prawning has been decent, which is to be expected this time of year. We managed some crab on our last trip as we checked out the Harbour for winter feeder chinook and decided to drop the crab pots while fishing around the freighters.
As usual in the winter, keep your gear close to the bottom. With the clear water the bait feels most secure close to the bottom, so that is where the chinook are, and that is where your offerings should be too. What does “close to the bottom mean” while fishing for winter chinook? It means keeping your gear within 5-10 of the bottom as much as possible. To do this, keep an eye on your sonar and lower or raise your downrigger as needed. It’s a lot of work, but if you do this you will catch a lot more fish.
In this picture you can see a large bait ball of herring, glued to the bottom and a few chinook salmon working the edges of it.