2017 Sidney Reports

Fished Wain rock 10 - 12. About 20 minutes in....Not paying attention and thinking to myself wtf am I doing out here in the chop and cold. I look back and the line's off the clip!! Awe it's off.........No it's there! A crazy fight....The fish ran right at me then quickly turned and burned like 5 times. I was very lucky netting it as it went for one last burn in the wrong direction right into the net. 15lb wild on an AP herring spoon 43' in 70'View attachment 31390

That's great and its unclipped so might not be American. I wonder if that is one is from the small spring run heading to Cowichan River that should be entering soon. Good catch. I am not surprised I was in the narrows just over a week and ago and it was loaded with herring.
 
Nice looking fish mark. I'm looking to head out that way on Saturday if the weather isn't too bad.

Does anybody have any tips for fishing Wain rock? It's a new area of fishing for me.
 
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Does anybody have any tips for fishing Wain rock? It's a new area of fishing for me.

I dont fish that side very often, but a few tacks u could try:
-arbutus island to moses point at whatever your preferred depth is (usually in 100-160ft of water for me)
-west of wain rock off the drop off (too far west and youll be in the prawn trap minefield)
-shallower tacks between wain rock and moses point
-in the bay around deep cove

That should get you started.
 
Fished Sidney Channel from 7-12 this morning with three undersized to the boat. AP spoon bouncing bottom. Then went on anchor for Halibut as the weather calmed down. Had the toughest fight with dead weight we brought off the bottom! It took both of us taking turns to pull up what we thought was a lost anchor or a commercial crab trap, It was a 40lb rock with massive barnacles and crabs attached! All catch and release today I'm afraid. Nice one Mark! Didn't see any other sporty's out there the whole time. Hour and fifteen minutes from Sidney to Uptown area down the Pat Bay afterwards due to a couple of accidents.
 
Fished Coal and Sidney Channel today, but no luck! Beautiful day once it warmed up and lots of boats taking advantage of it, but only saw one undersized being played. Looked like a flotilla over by Fairfax, maybe that was the hot spot, then again ........? Anyway what a bonus day!!
 
Well it was amateur hour on my boat this morning at fairfax...

After a quick tack at Coal (no hits, hard ebb), I relocated to Fairfax and within 2 mins the dummy-side rod pops off. I crank like mad and a few seconds later the fish explodes out of the water, he jumps 4 or 5 times at least, like 100 feet behind the boat. After some good runs and another jump I get him to the boat and realize my net is still packed away, so I figure Ill just grab the leader and yank it over the rail. Bad idea, I get the fishes head over the gunnal but the fish doesnt like what he sees and he gives 1 last wiggle and spits the hook! Probably 15-18lbs, by far the biggest fish id hook into all day. Released a half dozen 3-5 lbers in the few hours after that.

I normally set my net up at the dock when I launch but for whatever reason I didnt this morning, and it definitely cost me that fish. I also could have gaffed it instead but the hook was buried in the corner of his mouth so I thought I could just flip him in. Oh well, lesson learned! Beautiful calm day out there though.
 
Decided to give the ol Halibut a try today. With some salmon bellies stored up over last year, I found a hole near hambley point and dropped the rods down. No anchor, just drifting. Thankfully we got the tide change and one of the rods started bouncing then a very strong bend. Fish on! It gave a couple good tugs, a run, then off. Who knows what it was, but it felt big and flat. Not bad for a first try.

Then we trolled back along Mandarte to Sidney Spit and had four hits, two to the boat and I lost the two biggest (I went 0/2 and the gf went 2/2), all undersized. Hot lure was chartreuse splatterback squirt and Madi flasher.

I got a sunburn too. Pretty good February day ;)
 
Decided to give the ol Halibut a try today. With some salmon bellies stored up over last year, I found a hole near hambley point and dropped the rods down. No anchor, just drifting. Thankfully we got the tide change and one of the rods started bouncing then a very strong bend. Fish on! It gave a couple good tugs, a run, then off. Who knows what it was, but it felt big and flat. Not bad for a first try.

Then we trolled back along Mandarte to Sidney Spit and had four hits, two to the boat and I lost the two biggest (I went 0/2 and the gf went 2/2), all undersized. Hot lure was chartreuse splatterback squirt and Madi flasher.

I got a sunburn too. Pretty good February day ;)
Wheres Hambley Point?
 
South East side of Sidney Island.
Wheres Hambley Point?
South East corner of Sidney Island. It's a pretty consistent salmon spot in my experience, but be wary of a long reef extending off the point. It munches cannonballs. And the tide runs pretty quick through there too.
 
South East side of Sidney Island.

South East corner of Sidney Island. It's a pretty consistent salmon spot in my experience, but be wary of a long reef extending off the point. It munches cannonballs. And the tide runs pretty quick through there too.
Thanks! We had our best luck on the NW corner of Darcy(outside the rca) last year. Pulled up 3 from 40-55#, drifting, and in only 80' of water. Pretty close to your spot. We've kept trying the same area to no avail.
 
Thanks! We had our best luck on the NW corner of Darcy(outside the rca) last year. Pulled up 3 from 40-55#, drifting, and in only 80' of water. Pretty close to your spot. We've kept trying the same area to no avail.

40-55 POUNDS?!?!
 
Thanks! We had our best luck on the NW corner of Darcy(outside the rca) last year. Pulled up 3 from 40-55#, drifting, and in only 80' of water. Pretty close to your spot. We've kept trying the same area to no avail.
Thanks for the advice. Our biggest was 52# off Island View Beach. It was a fluke though, in only 60ft of water. Thought it was a feisty crab trap! :D
 
If they were salmon I'd be posting pics for sure!
My mind immediately went to "Pics or it didn't happen." I caught that 132cm Butt in my profile picture a little further northwest, in about 200'. Didn't fight any more than the 25lb fish we got the trip before. this would have been somewhere around 70lbs according to the L/W chart.
 
Made use of the 2 small tide changes this morning and trolled from Coal Island to Hamley Point. Bonked a 7lb hatchery fish in Miners Channel on an ap sandlance, then towards the end of my tack both rods went off... I ended up playing both fish to the boat, one rod still in the rodholder, at which point i netted the fatter one and released the smaller one since I now had my limit! 16lb marble hatchery on a naked g-force spoon.

20170220_122751.jpg
 
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