Swiftsure

OldCrow

New Member
Hi all, I am heading out to Swiftsure mid July. Haven't been for 10 years and my memory is a little rusty on a few things! Hoping to get some advice on:

1. Leader length - my recollection is longer leaders (for Chinook trolling with spoons, anchovies) worked better like 5-6 feet. Any advice on leader length for salmon trolling?

2. We used to have great success with 6 inch Tomic plugs. Out-fished bait. Is that still the case? Or would you set up some lines with anchovies?

3. Locations - we used to fish halibut at the NE corner and also the SW corner. Trolling for salmon was good from the SW corner heading NW parallel to the closure. I have seen some chatter about "salmon bumps". Is that what this location is referred to.

Many thanks!!
OldCrow
 
5-6' should be fine for leaders.

If the fish are there you can probably just run spoons, unless fishing anchovies down deep at 4 or 5 knots with the current and swell is your thing.

Those spots are still the spots, be safe out there!
 
5-6' should be fine for leaders.

If the fish are there you can probably just run spoons, unless fishing anchovies down deep at 4 or 5 knots with the current and swell is your thing.

Those spots are still the spots, be safe out there!
Where were you towing your boat too, you do know hally is closed :D
 
Tomic plugs still work well there and the spots haven't changed any. Bigger plugs towed deeper tend to select for slightly larger fish but the majority of chinook on Swiftsure are in the 8-12lb range. Some bigger ones can be found. I see fishing there as a bit of a trade off - reliable chinook but generally smaller than what you can find closer to shore.
 
Bouy Juliet first light on an ebb current. Setup as far east as you can/dare, troll west with the ebb. Just about anything works, but the last few years we were using smaller lures and flashers. Myself I used either the turd, irish cream spoon, and there is a hoochie in 602 glow colours that could do no wrong.
 
Cool, thanks for the responses. Last Chance, when you say smaller lures do you mean 4 inch spoons (rather than 5 or 6)?

In terms of tide/current predictions for Swiftsure, is Port Renfrew the closest station? What is the time conversion?

Thanks
 
Wow sounds like fun to travel 30 miles one way to catch 6-8 lb feeder springs, i think i'll pass and leave it to the highliners :D
 
Wow sounds like fun to travel 30 miles one way to catch 6-8 lb feeder springs, i think i'll pass and leave it to the highliners :D
It's perfect though for lazy guides with inexperienced clients - guaranteed fish and back at the dock early. :)
 
Last few Augusts the bank sucked. A few good days on the shore 2017, or running the Pachena Bay...
I wouldn't know about the last few Augusts as by mid August for the past few years, I move south to fish at the mouth of the Columbia river. Much bigger average to the fish size down there, especially in August. Earlier in the year (June, July, first week of August), my experience is that Swiftsure is still reliable for smallish chinook. Bigger fish are closer to shore near the kelp or farther out on the deeper flats where one is more likely to intercept the Columbia river bound fish.
 
Back
Top