Fishing Denham, Stuart, Sonora island area
- Thread starter vancity16
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ab1752
Crew Member
The area is amazing and is well covered by local guides, you may want to consider going with a guide for a day or so to get the lay of the land. If not, keep an eye around the guide boats and follow their lead in terms of direction on the troll. How are you going to approach the area? It is very tidal and the last place you want issues is in the narrows near Dent. You may want to follow Dent Island Resort on their FB page, things have been picking up for sure, and I heard of a 39 lb hali coming onto their docks. Enjoy the area, it is one of my most favorite on the Coast and will be back up there in September early on.
tincan
Well-Known Member
incredible areas to fish as @ab1752 pointed out. Fishing not always red hot but very beautiful scenery... and fast moving water! In addition to Dent Island Lodge you will see a bunch of Sonora Resort boats around and a few other charters, etc as well. I haven't fished up there in years but we did have some great days around Denham, Hall, Green Sea, Chatham, etc. Wish I was up there right now! Once thing I recall about that fishery is that there always seemed to be a couple hoochies that out-produced everything else on a given day. I am a bait guy (chovies) and they worked just fine but I chatted with some of the local guides and it seemed that every year there was a new 'hot' lure that kicked butt. 1 year it was a blue/green hoochie of some sort and another year it was some special brown turd... anyways, try to chat with a local guide at the docks if you can. Dent island is a public dock so best to try there perhaps. If not, just go fish and do what we all do when in a new place ... mix it up until you find what works! Good luck. Jealous
trophywife
Crew Member
denham bay, flood tide, 90' white hootchie.
ab1752
Crew Member
Last weekend was the Dent Derby so it was likely loaded up...you'll get 10+ dent boats plus the fleet from Sonora on the run out but there are lots of great spots...find the Pizza Hut and this time of year it can be bonkers. Massive tides in the channels but no where better than Denham to crush a few and see if you tighten up the lines...the south end has been bonkers for others on our boat over the years, aim for the quiet spots away from the fleet. Tons of great info in this thread already...cheers.
ab1752
Crew Member
Hey OP, by the way our friends just cruised past the fleet in Denham Bay today on their way to Cortez...said the docks at Dent are super busy and to be clear, those are private docks owned by the Dent Island Lodge. Anyway I was mistaken in that their derby is this weekend, not last, so expect it to be pretty competitive out there. Again, aim for the quiet spots against the fleet....you have lots to work with and let us know how you do. I will be off Epsom this weekend and might run towards Powell River, it has been pretty great from what I have heard off pender harbor.
Lots of good point above reports. Also keep in mind the tide/rapids at Dent rapids(devils hole) between little Dent and Sonora as well and more importantly Aaran rapids between Stuart island and the main land. Both of these should be avoid on flood tides unless you have experience jumping the rip and definitely at max flood. Both can be very sketchy on big tides.
Rotational tack- the guides use a rotational tack that keeps things in order. Starboard(green) to the beach stay close to bottom as you can anywhere from 90 to 140 of cable once you finish your inside tack turn out and stay to outside drop your down deep make your way to the the start of the inside tack again. Wait your turn to get inside. It's a big circle but it works very well.
Denham bay on the flood tide especially end of flood.
Hall point on the Ebb tide and first push of flood tide.
Thurston bay on ebb tide first push of flood.
Hootchies and chovies work best go one and one see what the chinooks are into that day.
Hootchies - Blue meanie(blue green)Green hornet (green)Shower curtain (white opaque) are some of the staples up there.
Good luck it's a beautiful spot to fish pay attention to your tide chart.
Tight lines
Rotational tack- the guides use a rotational tack that keeps things in order. Starboard(green) to the beach stay close to bottom as you can anywhere from 90 to 140 of cable once you finish your inside tack turn out and stay to outside drop your down deep make your way to the the start of the inside tack again. Wait your turn to get inside. It's a big circle but it works very well.
Denham bay on the flood tide especially end of flood.
Hall point on the Ebb tide and first push of flood tide.
Thurston bay on ebb tide first push of flood.
Hootchies and chovies work best go one and one see what the chinooks are into that day.
Hootchies - Blue meanie(blue green)Green hornet (green)Shower curtain (white opaque) are some of the staples up there.
Good luck it's a beautiful spot to fish pay attention to your tide chart.
Tight lines
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Good advise ... Been a couple of years since I fished that area, but I am planned to head up soon as the scenery alone is worth it!
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
So, just out of curiosity, if it's a slack tide show at Denham and Big Bay, what are the boats doing in between tides? I'm going to be there next week---are there quiet bays to escape the mayhem in the Dent/Yuculta areas when you're waiting out tide changes?
If coming from the south Most boats/yachts time the slack tide. To get through yuculta/dent rapids. If you get to the start of yuculta rapids to early you can hang out in church house bay on East sonora island. It's an old Indian reserve there is usually a rope that goes across the bay in tight to shore 30 feet of water tie to that and wait it out or anchor out. You can troll through the bay to the south point of bay And around the corner heading south. There is the odd salmon that hangs in the bay.
To avoid any rapids you can go up the Johnstone straits from browns bay to north west tip of Sonora island and go down nodales channel The NW winds can be painful thou.
If coming from the north hang in denham bay that's where you want to be fishing on flood tide anyway.
To avoid Aaran rapids go south around Stuart island into Bute Inlet. The inlet is a pretty cool spot to check out.
Have fun.
To avoid any rapids you can go up the Johnstone straits from browns bay to north west tip of Sonora island and go down nodales channel The NW winds can be painful thou.
If coming from the north hang in denham bay that's where you want to be fishing on flood tide anyway.
To avoid Aaran rapids go south around Stuart island into Bute Inlet. The inlet is a pretty cool spot to check out.
Have fun.
I usually fish up this way 1 or 2 days per year - can anyone advise where the "Pizza Hut" spot is? PM is certainly fine if you do not wish to share broadly.
Last year we had great luck at Thurston/Davis point late on the ebb with bait. Other years we have done quite well at Greensea late on flood on bait as well. Still haven't quite mastered Chatham and the tidal gong show there.
Thanks!
Last year we had great luck at Thurston/Davis point late on the ebb with bait. Other years we have done quite well at Greensea late on flood on bait as well. Still haven't quite mastered Chatham and the tidal gong show there.
Thanks!
RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
not to mention the usual " right rod to shore" rule seems to be out the door at Chatham. had a well known OBMG guide telling me i was going the wrong way. ( Duane Mustard ) perhaps it changes on the ebb tide change? anyone care to weigh in on this? i don't wanna be that guy unknowingly pissing everybody off
hambone
Well-Known Member
Most of the strongly tidal spots north of Campbell River the rule becomes that the boat running against the tide has the "shore side" right of way. This means that at Chatham Point or Browns Bay on the flood it is port rod to shore that has the right of way. This just makes sense because when the tide starts to push the boats coming with the tide are basically wrecking balls that only spend a brief moment in the 'hot spots' as they fly down current. Also they cannot fish close to the structure because if you hook up your balls going with the current you are hooped...
RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
Aaaaahh. this makes perfect sense now. yes Chatham and greensea can really rip and you would have little to no time to fish gear with the current. doubt flashers and anchovies are turning anyway, mainly just suspended below the ball. thanks for the input Bugs. much appreciated!
NootkaFisher
Member
never fished Dunham or hall pt before but going to give it go tomorrow. Which tide location do you use to figure out if it will be flooding or ebbing....Big bay or shoal bay? Thanks.
