Nanaimo - Spring / Summer 2014

Fished the fingers three times this week, picked up two springs - a 13 & 16 on our first night, other than that, nada for the fingers for us with the exception of bottom fish. Headed north to Winchelsea and Ballenas, lots of other boats out most days and a lot more herring. Fishing was on and off, saw mostly Coho being caught. Released a bunch of smaller Coho, kept a few for the smoker. It was a Double Eagle convention out there earlier in the week, including ours 8/10 were Eagles. Great to see! My lady lost her biggest Spring yet at the boat, in the Tyee range. Turned and ran at the boat, with a shake of its head, out popped the hook! Feel the burn! Had quite a few Springs follow up our Zelda's, but rarely commit to hit - except for jacks.

Trolling seems to work at tide change and dusk, where jigging takes most fish during the off times. Green Zelda's and Lil' Nibs for jigging has out performed our other lures.

Talked with some awesome guys at Schooner, they were also doing well for coho, not many springs tho they commented.

Saw a chicken halibut carcass on bottom last night at Brechin, someone knows something we don't!
Finally found some keeper crab, mostly freshly moulted. Not much meat on them. So many undersized.

Made up a pot of Bouillabaisse with some Coho, Mussels, Clams, and Scallops. With some of the little lady's homemade bread, it was to die for.

Going to head out again tomorrow afternoon, if you see us, say hello. 1991 17' Double Eagle with blue canvas. "Pesca Lobo"

Tight lines :cool:
 
Thanks Fisherman Guy - some good info there. Might try the Winchelsea area next time. We were kayak fishing Five Fingers last night and didn't see any nets get wet, until the end when I brought up a nice ling, just over 8 lbs, on a light pink buzz bomb. Any idea what depth the Coho are at up there these days?
 
All around Winchelsea for quite an area is now closed for Chinook retention..check the DFO map for area 17......
 
Thanks Fisherman Guy - some good info there. Might try the Winchelsea area next time. We were kayak fishing Five Fingers last night and didn't see any nets get wet, until the end when I brought up a nice ling, just over 8 lbs, on a light pink buzz bomb. Any idea what depth the Coho are at up there these days?

For us mostly 70 to 80, though picked up a couple at dusk the other night at 40. I have hit them as deep as 200 out deep.
 
Lost a set of prawn traps out by the fingers today. One set was right where I left it and the other was gone. My name and number are on them if anyone finds them I'll be happy to reward you. Thanks
 
Nice report fisherman guy.

I was out once last week and the brother in law out twice.(I got the 17lber :) ) His report is here too. Night one, just after high slack, 17lb spring about 130' just off the fingers. Night two, one coho, one pink, and one sockeye. Didn't know the sockeye were over this side? Maybe somebody else can comment? All those were around 90'. Night three, one pink and two keeper crabs. Lots of shakers all three days. Changed spoons several times trying to stay out of the little guys.
 
picked up a nice 18.5 off neck on Saturday morning about 8 am. only hit all morning. 130 feet down in 150 feet of water
 
Nice to hear about the keeper Ling off of the fingers. Not many keeper Ling around, but plenty of undersized to keep us busy - encouraging to see the small slot numbers returning. Fished a couple of our Ling holes and have yet to hook into anything of notable size. My gal has to beat her PB of 22lbs, caught on the inside - lots of work yet to be done!

Fished the Fingers and Neck again last night in the waves. Bounced us around for a while, hoped that it would calm down as it has in the afternoon the last couple weeks, it did - but just a bit. Trolled in the whitecaps, only jacks on army truck flashers and Irish Creme spoons. No bait around, but plenty of seals. Did alright on Rockfish, countless blue Ling. 4 inch Green Needlefish is working well mooching when the waves are up and we upgraded all of our mooching tackle with Mustad Ultra Point 3x hooks and have reduced the numbers of dropped fish.

Wind is supposed to swing to SE Tuesday, hope it isn't blown out for another week.
Heading out this morning to pull traps and head to Thrasher, will post our results.

Tight lines :cool:
 
Headed out to through Dodds Narrows and around to Thrasher to get away from the swell. Fished around Thrasher and found a limit of Ling, had a great fish fry when we got home. No nets out on the other boats we saw, and no salmon for us.

Headed to Entrance and hit a few shakers, more bottom fish including a 19in Quillback.

Went to Ballenas last night and today. Feed has moved off the North reef, not much activity. Bounced back to Yeo and picked up some wild Coho. Today, we marched out to Ballenas in the swells, hooked many - dropped all but shakers and my Lady's PB Coho, 8lbs. 6ft swells on the way between Ballenas and Gerald, now drinking a warm dark rum from a dirty glass - yarrr!

Making up a Bradley full of candied coho tomorrow. Pepsi (or Coke) glaze with a little bit of Cayenne and Old Bay with some honey from Errington.

Tight lines! :cool:
 
Fisherman guy, nice to hear people still scratching out a few Lings,i kinda thought the Vancouver charter boats had cleaned em all up but I guess Thrasher is still holding few.... never had candied coho sounds delicious..keep up the great reports.
 
Time for u islanders to cross the straight our way ....... Get on them Sox boys .... Ur missing out! And yes the odd biggy spring is in the mix, a nice surprise while riggin for Sox
 
Fishing has picked up for us recently, seemed that there was a lull in the action for the past week. Launched the Pesca Lobo at Schooner and headed to the North End of Ballenas where my gal's uncle had already boated several large springs. Picked up a few Chinook, but nothing noteworthy, the Coho were not to be found. Wind was in our favor so we headed to the reef off of Yeo and picked up a couple more nice Coho.

Ran out of time to properly do up a batch of Coho candy, settled with the family recipe of smoked collars and fillets. If you haven't tried smoked collars or what we call wings, you must give it a shot! They are absolutely fantastic. Save your salmon heads for crab bait, but cut off the pectoral fin and gill plate as one piece. Brine them for 24 hours and smoke them like you would any salmon. They have a high fat content, so they are greasy and delicious with a pint of cold beer. We like them better than smoked salmon belly.

Tight lines! :cool:
 
Ended up get into i nice size bait ball off neck point fished 40 feet of water 25 to 35 feet down and scratched up two teen springs, on an other note i saw a 30 plus pound halibut laded just off the reef in front of neck point didnt think they were in this close but it was there no stories saw it with my own eyes, they could barely net the thing.
 
Fished solo tonight off Fingers. Landed a double header of teen springs at 100 feet after losing a bigger one that was smart enough to run at the boat and wrap around the motor. Had a half a chance to net it but too tricky with only one hand. A few other good hits as well. Everything on anchovies and both fish were packed with them. Beauty night!
 
Fished solo tonight off Fingers. Landed a double header of teen springs at 100 feet after losing a bigger one that was smart enough to run at the boat and wrap around the motor. Had a half a chance to net it but too tricky with only one hand. A few other good hits as well. Everything on anchovies and both fish were packed with them. Beauty night!

Thanks for the good report. Glad to hear someone has dialed in on the springs. It has been way too long since I caught my last one out front here.
Saturday I tried running half way across the strait to see if I could pick up a sox...No luck there...It was just a random thought.... killing time between floods.
Keep up the reports, guys like me, like to hear the good, the bad, but not the ugly. <")))><
 
how far out from the fingers were you grace underfire? I'm probably going to hit it tonight (wind permitting). Will report back.
 
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