Winter Chinook Fishing Report
The Vancouver winter salmon fishing season is well underway as we wrap up the first week of December. We have had quite a few trips already this season and we are retaining legal chinook salmon (62cm or great, wild or hatchery) on most of our trips.
As usual for this time of year, the brighter chartreuse glow finishes have been very productive. With the dirtier water from rainfall and the darker and cloudy days, the chartreuse and green colour flashers, spoons, and hootchies always do well. Remember to have some glow on all of those, this helps them stand out even more on the dark days and when fishing deep.
The Yamashita OG140R puts another one deck!
There are lots of fish around in Vancouver Harbour, the Fraser Mouth, Lower Howe Sound, and over at Gabriola. Locally there have been some problem seals at the Bell Buoy and Tunstal, and they have taken their share of legal fish from us. If you are the only boat in a spot, or if a seal decides to lock on to you and follow you, pull your gear and move because as soon as you hook a good size fish they are going to take it.
As I have mentioned in previous reports, there are a lot of undersize fish around. This bodes well for later in the season and for summer and fall 2026 chinook fishing. Keep these smaller fish out of the net and out of the boat. Use your gaff to release them quickly at the side of the boat and this will minimize harm to the fish and increase the catch and release survival rate.
Here is a great video on some release methods including some info on why it is best to “torpedo release” a fish you do need to bring in the boat to remove the hook.
The Scientifically Proven Best Way To Release Fish
Good luck out there and I hope the rain backs off over the holiday season and we have some great Vancouver chinook fishing like last December.
Jason Tonelli