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It's not a very hard place to fish, start out deep 1000'ish feet and troll your way through the contours until you hit fish, then start tacking north south marking where you hit your fish . If that doesn't work fish the reef, or vice versa. Anyone can catch fish in numbers over there this season
 
Was out yesterday had three buddy on board we limited out at Thrasher and lost a half dozen or so nice fish,Im hooking up really deep 237-247 on the riggers Now I fish deep even when I go to Nootka I fished in 240 so to be on the bottom you have to fish 300 on your rigger.With the angle of the down rigger wire its about 40-50 ft difference than on the sounder.I used to have good success at 90-120 old standards but see a trend that the fish are travelling deeper prob to get away from the predators

Tight lines
Billydoo
 
Was out yesterday had three buddy on board we limited out at Thrasher and lost a half dozen or so nice fish,Im hooking up really deep 237-247 on the riggers Now I fish deep even when I go to Nootka I fished in 240 so to be on the bottom you have to fish 300 on your rigger.With the angle of the down rigger wire its about 40-50 ft difference than on the sounder.I used to have good success at 90-120 old standards but see a trend that the fish are travelling deeper prob to get away from the predators

Tight lines
Billydoo

Wow, I'm going to need to get more line on the downriggers. Are you running hoochies or spoons at that depth? Going to try tonight.
 
Was out yesterday had three buddy on board we limited out at Thrasher and lost a half dozen or so nice fish,Im hooking up really deep 237-247 on the riggers Now I fish deep even when I go to Nootka I fished in 240 so to be on the bottom you have to fish 300 on your rigger.With the angle of the down rigger wire its about 40-50 ft difference than on the sounder.I used to have good success at 90-120 old standards but see a trend that the fish are travelling deeper prob to get away from the predators

Tight lines
Billydoo

Well done! Your arms must be tired from reeling. Clip pops from kelp are a ***** at that depth.

Begs the question, how did you figure out you had to go that deep? 18lb balls?

Most guys are hunting 110-170.

220’ is the deepest I’ve ever run and that’s mostly for winter springs.
 
Hi saltyalice

I'm running spoons and hootchies, bait would work but it probably would be spinning to fast or tear apart at the speeds I travel. I try to tell people to speed up. Speed is your freind !!! Especially with the currents out there.My buddy from sooke will only troll as fast as his 9.9 jammy goes always !!! Everyone laughs as he goes burning by but he catches a lot of big fish at those speeds.
I also take out that plastic piece in the back of my rigger clips and replace it with a one inch piece of 3/8 fuel line so they are super tight !!! Only a bigger fish will rip it out And will not pop off while getting to those depths as time goes on they wear in nicely where I can do the reel down in the rod holder then it will realease and then youll be tight to the fish. This is a benefit when fishing really deep, also the tight clip helps set the hook on the fish when he grabs it. I buy 600 ft spools of wire but only load 400 ft on the rigger. Scotty told me that 400 ft max or you'll warp the spool. Good luck out there be safe. Oh I run 15 and 20 pound balls the round style no fin.been fishing deep for years ...

Tight lines
Billydoo
 
Hi saltyalice

I'm running spoons and hootchies, bait would work but it probably would be spinning to fast or tear apart at the speeds I travel. I try to tell people to speed up. Speed is your freind !!! Especially with the currents out there.My buddy from sooke will only troll as fast as his 9.9 jammy goes always !!! Everyone laughs as he goes burning by but he catches a lot of big fish at those speeds.
I also take out that plastic piece in the back of my rigger clips and replace it with a one inch piece of 3/8 fuel line so they are super tight !!! Only a bigger fish will rip it out And will not pop off while getting to those depths as time goes on they wear in nicely where I can do the reel down in the rod holder then it will realease and then youll be tight to the fish. This is a benefit when fishing really deep, also the tight clip helps set the hook on the fish when he grabs it. I buy 600 ft spools of wire but only load 400 ft on the rigger. Scotty told me that 400 ft max or you'll warp the spool. Good luck out there be safe. Oh I run 15 and 20 pound balls the round style no fin.been fishing deep for years ...

Tight lines
Billydoo

Thank you deep wise one.
 
Some great reports, vague or not :)
I’m heading to Thrasher tomorrow morning.
Hoping to have same good times as the last few outings...
Not sure if I’ll go as deep as our friend greenhornet, but I’ll definetly be down in the 180 zone; totally agree on speed, its been a key; I’ll give a report in the morning.
 
Some great reports, vague or not :)
I’m heading to Thrasher tomorrow morning.
Hoping to have same good times as the last few outings...
Not sure if I’ll go as deep as our friend greenhornet, but I’ll definetly be down in the 180 zone; totally agree on speed, its been a key; I’ll give a report in the morning.

I just got back from an evening at Thrasher. The algae is bruuuuutal. Ended up having to pull in a load of line by hand and cut it, and the downrigger cable is coated in the stuff too.

We got there around 6pm and trolled for about two hours. The current didn’t appear too bad on the surface but as soon as the cannonballs dropped below around 80’ they suddenly went waaay back. Guessing there is a big difference in currents between the upper 80’ and ocean below. It was strong enough that with the engine in idle the cables were at greater than 45 degrees pointing towards Thrasher as the boat headed north. We “trolled” in idle the entire time so at least it was fuel efficient.

Hooked one around 7lbs at 185 then didn’t get another single bite. Other line was at 140/150. Both running spoons. When we pulled up the lines we could see why we weren’t getting anything. The lines were coated solid in algae. I’m sure the fish would have seen the lines and the algae was causing huge drag. I’m glad we didn’t hook anything decent as we wouldn’t have been able to reel it in.

It’s veen a good few weeks but I think I am done until the algae clears up. Or unless anybody has suggestions on places that aren’t so bad with algae!
 
Thanks for the report SaltyAlice,

Last week the algae was terrible as well and I suspected that it would be worse this week what with last weeks sunshine...last week had to pick lots off, but I touched base on what I do now I’m anotjer post...we weren’t having issues bring lines in, but I can see how that would happen.
Still taking off in 15mins. Hoping I won’t get screwed over like you did.
Yes the current can be strong, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the bite.
 
14lb hatch in the box. Away from the pack. 170ish’ skinny G.
 
F75CC835-F1F3-439E-9641-ACB20B3030E9.jpeg Lines in the water at thrasher today by 6:30. Tubbed out by 11:00 (4 fish). Spoons were the winner today. Only 1 caught on anchovies. Fishing in tight to the light ship.
 
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Pretty slow day today at the south end of Bowen. We went out at 8am. We had 4 hits, missed 2, lost 1 and kept a nice 10lb fish. Seemed pretty quiet from what we could see. Great day on the water though... Outfitter skinny g was the winner. 154ft on the rigger
 
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