2016 Winter Harbour Reports

Because of the amount of otters in the area you have to set your traps in deeper water. I set mine in the 200-275 foot range and have no problem catching a limit of big dungies.
 
Wow….. deep for some crabbies…. are you saying that any traps at about 50 will get infiltrated by the otters?
 
Wow….. deep for some crabbies…. are you saying that any traps at about 50 will get infiltrated by the otters?
No -they don't usually get infiltrated-the crabs are all gone(eaten) so no crabs=nothing in the traps-to survive they go deeper-how deep I'm not sure-Otters can dive pretty deep-anyone have a factoid on that?? I usually set at 150 now and I do okay-maybe I should be deeper too!!
 
No -they don't usually get infiltrated-the crabs are all gone(eaten) so no crabs=nothing in the traps-to survive they go deeper-how deep I'm not sure-Otters can dive pretty deep-anyone have a factoid on that?? I usually set at 150 now and I do okay-maybe I should be deeper too!!
I see…. I thought they were getting in the traps… makes sense….
Those damn otters… turned by back for seconds on a 50 pound hali on the cleaning table in Sooke…. and wham… .turn around just to see the otter drag it off…. was crazy.
 
I see…. I thought they were getting in the traps… makes sense….
Those damn otters… turned by back for seconds on a 50 pound hali on the cleaning table in Sooke…. and wham… .turn around just to see the otter drag it off…. was crazy.
I think that would have been a river otter not a sea otter-sea otters won't go on land except to die is my understanding-definitely the big crab predators in WH are Sea Otters-never saw them above the narrows until 4 years ago-lots of crab then-now --not so much. We used to crab right in WH until about 2008-then the Otters showed in numbers and it was dead within 18 months.
 
I think that would have been a river otter not a sea otter-sea otters won't go on land except to die is my understanding-definitely the big crab predators in WH are Sea Otters-never saw them above the narrows until 4 years ago-lots of crab then-now --not so much. We used to crab right in WH until about 2008-then the Otters showed in numbers and it was dead within 18 months.
Makes sense….. shame about crabbing in WH for sure. Headed for first time ever in two days…. can't wait… looking for white meat…. hopefully this will be an epic trip.
 
We have learned through trial and error that 125-150 feet seems to be the minimum to get decent catches of Crab these days in Quatsino. We were getting very little at 50-70 feet two years ago and then started to get 2 or 3 legal per trap at around 90 feet. When we tried 130 it got alot better. We got easy limits when we moved deeper to about 200-225 feet. We don't have a puller so it's alot of rope to pull, but it's better than not getting them.
 
Sounds like you guys are going on your fishing trip a little early, quite a ways to travel for slow fishing. Could spend half your time learning a new area.
 
Have you ever been to WH in June? There's nothing slow about it! Especially the bottom fishing. It's my favorite time to fish there.
 
Have you ever been to WH in June? There's nothing slow about it! Especially the bottom fishing. It's my favorite time to fish there.
Absolutely!!! I have been as early as end of april-everything depends on the weather. One of my crewmen is on wife minding duties after knee surgery or I would have been on my 3rd trip there by now!!!
 
Have you ever been to WH in June? There's nothing slow about it! Especially the bottom fishing. It's my favorite time to fish there.
Music to my ears!
Only 2 more sleeps and we hit the road… boat is all rigged and ready to go… we are hoping we can be steered to the right places for hali and ling!
 
Music to my ears!
Only 2 more sleeps and we hit the road… boat is all rigged and ready to go… we are hoping we can be steered to the right places for hali and ling!
Good luck trying to sleep, we are on our way there on the 10th, looking forward to hearing your reports! One to two miles straight out off Cains will produce lots of Hali action, and the lings are on every rock pile. Good luck out there!
 
Music to my ears!
Only 2 more sleeps and we hit the road… boat is all rigged and ready to go… we are hoping we can be steered to the right places for hali and ling!

Mooring @ Outpost now while up there.
Should be there sometime Monday
Pop by for a bs..
 
Fished Tuesday/Wednesday
Slow for springs..we picked up only one and that was at Cains on anchovie in tight to kelp..no coho around
NW wind was an issue on Tuesday and made for tougher fishing off shore..run up to my usual spots out from Lippy and first rod down with hootchy on, instantly had a Hali in the boat.
Good thing this trip was about bottom fish
Hali,lings,big red snappers and yellow eyes were all caught some while trolling ,some while jigging.
Wednesday had the low swell and not much wind made for perfect jigging with lines straight down while drifting very slowly over saved way points.
Cooler of bottom fish going back with happy buddy from Cowtown
Nice meeting ronj from forum up there
 
Just made it home……
Halibut Report….. EPIC! Largest was 71 Pounds…… caught in the first hour… inside Kains! Limited out on Hali.
Ling Report…. EPIC! Largest was 27 pounds…. found a "honey hole" off shore that produced with jigging and back trolling to keep lines down.
Snapper….. EPIC! Largest was 18 pounds…. Looked like a sea monster….. jigging on rock piles.
Salmon…… reports from the area were slow…. we never even bothered to try… but on our last day we heard of a 3o pounder off shore…. my guess is that they will be arriving soon.

Overall….. as Terminator would say….. "I'll be Back!"
 
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