2013 Vancouver, Howe Sound and Sunshine Coast Fishing Reports Thread.

[karatemac67]

Hopefully someone can help me. I am just trying to get some fish on the line so my son can get the thrill of fishing as opposed to hours of no action. I have been fishing off of West Van either from the Cap to the pink apartment or pink apartment out closer to Point Atkinson. I have not been out really early or too late in the evening (only a 14' Duroboat no lights) but I have been before during and after mid-morning to mid afternoon high and low tides. I usually try a hootchie (green spatterback) behind a purple haze flasher and go near the bottom (80' range) on the other rod I go around 50' with a 4.0 Coyote spoon neon green with an inline flasher (purple haze) or I have also put the inline flasher off of the ball 5' of 65# test leader and the spoon 10' off of the clip and about 3' up the from the ball. I have started trolling a little faster around 3 MPH (SOG). Also use a smelly jelly as well. How often should I change up my presentation and depth. Should I try closer in to the shallows where the water is only about 25'. Was out on Monday and all that we had hit the line was a about a 12" flounder. Seems whenever I'm out not too many other people are boating fish either. But I should at least get a hit after 6 hours! My son is losing interest fast. Any suggestions appreciated and I am going to try the Pacific Angler course at the end of September.

 

[mikeyman]

Morning bite and evening bite are best, tides can be a factor. I find if the tide is pushing, then fish in tight out of the rip. Try anchovy on one side, and a little white hoochie on the other side. Try different depths. 80' might be good for a spring which are few and far between, try higher up for pinks and coho. troll faster for coho. In about 2 weeks go to the south arm/sandheads, weather permitting, there will be so many pinks out there you will have non stop action. There are springs there, but you will have to put in your time, sharks have been a problem from sandheads to the red can. Or even try tsawassen/coal docks in a couple of weeks, fishing can get pretty good out there.

 

[trendsetter]

Hopefully someone can help me. I am just trying to get some fish on the line so my son can get the thrill of fishing as opposed to hours of no action. I have been fishing off of West Van either from the Cap to the pink apartment or pink apartment out closer to Point Atkinson. I have not been out really early or too late in the evening (only a 14' Duroboat no lights) but I have been before during and after mid-morning to mid afternoon high and low tides. I usually try a hootchie (green spatterback) behind a purple haze flasher and go near the bottom (80' range) on the other rod I go around 50' with a 4.0 Coyote spoon neon green with an inline flasher (purple haze) or I have also put the inline flasher off of the ball 5' of 65# test leader and the spoon 10' off of the clip and about 3' up the from the ball. I have started trolling a little faster around 3 MPH (SOG). Also use a smelly jelly as well. How often should I change up my presentation and depth. Should I try closer in to the shallows where the water is only about 25'. Was out on Monday and all that we had hit the line was a about a 12" flounder. Seems whenever I'm out not too many other people are boating fish either. But I should at least get a hit after 6 hours! My son is losing interest fast. Any suggestions appreciated and I am going to try the Pacific Angler course at the end of September.

If you are just hoping for some hits then you should target the pinks specifically. Get yourself some pink or red flashers and pink mini-squirt hootchies. Run the mini hootchies about 18-22 inches behind the flashers down 20-45 feet. Experiment with how far you run the flashers behind the cannonball. Start with one side about 10 feet back and the other about 15 feet back.

I like to fish the water from 20' deep out to about 80' for coho and pinks. Follow the pack and if you see boats hook some fish make a pass through the same area they were when they hooked up.

Good luck and don't give up!

Cheers

 

[karatemac67]

Thanks for the tips. My little Duroboat handles rough water pretty good but a friend of mine is a tug boat captain and tells me the mouth of the Fraser can be pretty nasty depending on wind and tide changes. I can get out to the Freighters by going out to the ferry terminal and around but getting to Sand Heads or T-10 would mean going out of MacDonald or Ladner I imagine and don't know if my boat is really big enough or not. Again opinions on this are appreciated. Being from Langley I hit the river a lot but I prefer the ocean and I am not a fan of bouncing. I will try anchovies and a smaller hootchie (white). I have caught all salmon species but springs so I do admit that I try to target them a bit more. My son just needs to see any fish brought into the boat so I will aim for some pinks and coho. Thanks again for the tips.

 

[Hookin'up]

karatemac67,
Trendsetter pretty much nailed it for you, if the pinks arent hitting the white squirt try a pink one as well
I tie direct to the flasher with a swivel with 40lb leader on the hootchie with about a 30" leader seems to work best for me
set it all about 10-15' back from the ball I also like the top 35' of water but that being said last weekend we hit them at 55' so dont be scared to change the depth if your not getting hits, and when you do find them just keep circling the area, and dont forget when you get a hit watch for the doubles and triples, can be alot of fun, we hit more triples last week the ever before
try from pink apt to fisheries,

 

[Seafever]

How fast are you trolling for Pinks?........just curious.....

 

[Hookin'up]

How fast are you trolling for Pinks?........just curious.....

SOG is pretty much irrelevant, check the gear at side of boat, flasher should rotate and not just swing side to side I watch the cables and shoot for a good 30-40 degrees of blowback with a 15lb ball
GPS SOG can vary from 2.3-4.0+ IIRC,
sometime a quick throttle up for a few seconds then back down can trigger a pink to bite, especially if you know you just dragged through a school of them
watch the outside rod when turning quite often it gets the hit

 

[tulameentrapper]

Fished the cap down to fisheries today from 10 to 3. Got a pink that spit the hook beside the boat and boated a 20 lb white spring. 91' on a green glow teaser head with an anchovie. Was fishing in 100' to 110' of water. Got that fish at maybe 10:30. Then nothing else. Beauty day out there. Barely any boats.

 

[Seafever]

Thanks for sharing........cheers...

 

[karatemac67]

Where is the fisheries? I know Cap and Pink apartment not familiar with fisheries although I probably have fished it.

 

[karatemac67]

Sorry, figured it out. Was fishing near there Monday. Sounder was showing what I thought was huge bait balls but I think it was jellyfish. Saw the strange red colour people mentioned. Going to get some smaller pink & white hootchies, some anchovies and give it a go Saturday morning. Thanks again to all for the advice. Hopefully posting some positive news that evening. Tight lines.

 

[Hookin'up]

Sorry, figured it out. Was fishing near there Monday. Sounder was showing what I thought was huge bait balls but I think it was jellyfish. Saw the strange red colour people mentioned. Going to get some smaller pink & white hootchies, some anchovies and give it a go Saturday morning. Thanks again to all for the advice. Hopefully posting some positive news that evening. Tight lines.

Im out sunday, track me down if ya want, I'll let you know what we find
radio chan 88a call sign outaline
Tim

 

[karatemac67]

Okay one more question. I have read that you want to troll with the current not against it. So if I am fishing before a high tide I would want to troll from fisheries towards the Pink apartment and on outgoing tide troll the opposite direction? At slack I imagine it wouldn't matter which direction? The fellow on the Salmon University website says he will pull his gear up and head back out as there is no point trolling against the current. Opinions?

 

[Seafever]

Personally I either troll with the tide flow..or across it (as long as I'm not messing up anybody else).

I will pull my gear and go back where I started rather than go against the tide.

 

[Reel Tight]

Any reports from the mouth of the south arm or Porlier. Shooting across tomorrow morn to do some camping, just trying to decide if I should stop and fish around the steveston jetty or just shoot straight across and fish Porlier?

 

[tincan]

I'll be over in the Porlier area tomorrow as well but haven't heard any recent reports. Further south I've heard there are quite a few pinks around Pender Bluffs and the inside of Active Pass but haven't heard much in terms of springs.

 

[Reel Tight]

I'll be in a white campion 682 boats name is Jenny Lee. Monitoring 88a if u see me say hi will probably start at the mouth south arm first light then make my way over that way.

 

[stones93]

I was out today and had a GREAT day. Boated 2 chinook (white 18 and red 24), 2 crome pinks, 1x 7lb coho. Hit tons of shakers and 2 dogfish. Tossed back a bunch of undersized. Great action today 7am-2:30 pm. All good hits were on white glow hootchie. Every time we tried an anchovie we hit a mudshark. Area and depth to remain secret until after the weekend as I promised my buddy I wouldn't tell until then. One of the chinook that we lost at the boat looked (I know its a fish story) HUGE!

Tight Lines and good fishing this weekend friends!

 

[Dogbreath]

karatemac-be sure to vary your speed a bit from time to time.

 

[GypsyKing]

Fished T-10 this morning. Nothing happening for us. Lost 1 and that was about it. My buddy in the adrenaline marine boat boxed a 31.5lb tyee and a 16. Both reds. Heading back out tomorrow. Will post a pick of that beast when I get home.