2015 Nanoose Bay / French Creek

[Daveroo]

Fished Winchelsea area Sunday afternoon.

Water was pretty calm. Smoke haze made the whole afternoon really strange. Could still see for quite a distance though.

Low slack was 2:40 pm.

Things picked up around 4 pm. Nothing trolling so went to jigs. Landed one 9lb'er keeper, had another one on much bigger but it threw the jig in a spectacular jump. Had other smaller ones on.

Quite a bit of activity on finder from about 4 to 7 pm .....with some very big symbols appearing now and then in shallow water (50ft).

Jigs were 5 inch black/white Spinnow......(repainted to "Cop Car"this worked best) and also a 4 inch black/white "Cop Car" home-painted jig.


Before I left the house I thought of going to Ballenas........and that's where I should have gone in retrospect.

A woman at the dock who just got back from there said it was absolutely smokin' hot (no pun intended).

Baitballs everywhere and everybody was getting nice fish. She didn't say if they were jigging or trolling though......

I was sailing by Ballenas yesterday around noon and there were large schools of bait just about 100' off the shores of Ballenas. We saw two boats in the area and they were both trolling. We saw one boat net a HUGE one as we went by. From about 150' away it looked to be at least high 20's if not close to 30# maybe?

 

[Trophy]

Fished high tide At french creek this am. Big weed patch out front, fished around it. Lots of marks 50-150 ft. Few small bait marks. Released one wild coho caught at 111ft on green flasher with white glow hoochie. Lots of good taps and several hits off clip - gone (double at one time). Hot rig was green flasher with white pokadot spoon 60-120ft.

 

[Trophy]

Fished low tide At french creek this am. Lots of marks 50-130 ft with the odd small bait mark. Lots of weeds. Released 2 wild coho caught on green/white spoon with Red/green/silver glow flasher. Depth ???? , both caught while bringing rig up. Same rig, 130 ft, just under size chinook released. Released shark caught on teaser head/anchovy.
Lots of action but cooler empty. Funny, lots of boats out but no other reports?

 

[Part Timer]

Fished Ballenas from 6.30 am to 2 pm. Hit a few Coho, one nice hatchery about 7 pounds. Marking a ton of fish and bait but failed to hook a Spring. Tried various hootchies and spoons at all depths, a glow white hootchie was the ticket for the Coho. Few other boats in the same area but never seen a net out.

 

[Seafever]

Seems like a lot better fishing everywhere else except around these parts......

If I was tourist this is the last place I would pick as a salmon fishing destination.

There are never any articles in the local papers about fishing here. (F.C., Ballenas, Gerald, Sangster, Winchelsea etc )

There is never any input from local guides on what's going on....unlike other places where you have Pacific Angler, Island Outfitters, Ucluelet-Tofino-Sooke blogs and so forth.

I have never seen a person in the charter kiosk at F.C....it's always empty....and I've been past it dozens of times....

The last fishing report in July Island Angler for French Creek......nothing.......instead all about Port Alberni sockeye with a footnote about how you can get one once in awhile out front here.

Whatever...........

 

[Reel Time]

Yep, this time of year I catch less out front, but size is better.... usually picks up early September for a few weeks again.

 

[Daveroo]

Seems like a lot better fishing everywhere else except around these parts......

If I was tourist this is the last place I would pick as a salmon fishing destination.

There are never any articles in the local papers about fishing here. (F.C., Ballenas, Gerald, Sangster, Winchelsea etc )

There is never any input from local guides on what's going on....unlike other places where you have Pacific Angler, Island Outfitters, Ucluelet-Tofino-Sooke blogs and so forth.

I have never seen a person in the charter kiosk at F.C....it's always empty....and I've been past it dozens of times....

The last fishing report in July Island Angler for French Creek......nothing.......instead all about Port Alberni sockeye with a footnote about how you can get one once in awhile out front here.

Whatever...........

But look on the bright side.. you are not going to have every Internet browsing fisherman clogging up your favorite fishing spots after seeing a great report on the forum.

Daveroo

 

[Charter Tofino]

Seems like a lot better fishing everywhere else except around these parts......

If I was tourist this is the last place I would pick as a salmon fishing destination.

There are never any articles in the local papers about fishing here. (F.C., Ballenas, Gerald, Sangster, Winchelsea etc )

There is never any input from local guides on what's going on....unlike other places where you have Pacific Angler, Island Outfitters, Ucluelet-Tofino-Sooke blogs and so forth.

I have never seen a person in the charter kiosk at F.C....it's always empty....and I've been past it dozens of times....

The last fishing report in July Island Angler for French Creek......nothing.......instead all about Port Alberni sockeye with a footnote about how you can get one once in awhile out front here.

Whatever...........

Book a charter and you can find out all the info! My guests enjoyed calm waters and lots of fish this year.

 

[Seafever]

The friendly fisherfolk of F.C.....

Last year in late August I was out fishing off White Door area minding my own business with my wife in the afternoon.

We were trolling. There were maybe 5 other boats out, all fishing the "right out front marina" part. One of which was a white commercial boat about 45 ft in length.

Looked like a "prawner" or "crabber' the way it was set up. But he was doing neither. Looked more like he was sport-trolling speed as he made his way back and forth. Although I could not see downriggers or poles.

He makes his way down our end. My wife is driving our boat as I'm busy messing around with tackle.....

His course was such that he drew closer and closer to our Port side. I told the wife:- just go right a bit and let him pass. Which she did, but he cut her off again anyway.

We adjusted our course to get out of his way......but back he comes and cuts her off again. She yelled out "What the heck are you doing"......no reply.

Again we made a course adjustment to get out of his way.

This time he got ahead of us a ways and then turned right round so he's coming back at us head on......finally cutting his engine about 80ft in front of us.....

We can't make really sharp turns with the downriggers out deep.......so I yelled over and enquired about the condition of his mental faculties..

To which he opened the window and said "I'm a commercial fisherman and I can fish wherever I like" along with a recommendation on impregnating myself.

To which I advised him on certain parts of my anatomy being available for his oral enjoyment.

After that I hauled gear and picked a spot about a mile away......and he went back to fishing the other far end........



Kelly:- I have to say you are the exception to the rule....you've posted lots of times with pics and info over the years.......
A big thanks......

I can understand many of the locals wanting to be "protectionist zipper-lip" in an area that's often never "smoking hot"....happens everywhere at the best of times to some extent. You don't want everybody coming along and catching all the fish.

 

[Trophy]

Fished french creek hump at low tide late this morning. Very few marks or bait balls. Lots of weed patches. Released 3 small coho, lost a big coho half way to boat when it did its high flying act. ( i' ll say it was wild to make me feel better) Purple onion glow flashers with white glow hoochie and/or white spotted spoon from 60 to 120 ft were the only thing that worked.

 

[hedgehog]

I'm not writing this year off yet but it seems a tad slow compared to last year when I hardly ever missed getting a keeper. It was great earlier this year and I'm sure things will pick up again - soon I hope. For me I'm less than 5 minutes from French Creek so I`ll continue to fish there for the most part but only early in the morning. I just can`t handle the parking lot on the water later in the day.

By the way people and I`m sure this doesn`t apply to anyone on here, how about getting your friggen boat ready before putting it in the water. When you`re at the dock is not the time to check your oil or get your fishing gear ready or chit-chat with your buddies!

Yup, never seen a human at the charter booth - ever but I guess it has pamplets so you can phone.

Yes, Seafever, I know the boat you speak of. I just assume nobody knows the rules of the water and some don't care. I am the guy who usually fishes at the opposite end to everyone else if someone's coming at me I try to get out of the way, afterall we're out there for a good time, who needs the stress.

 

[Part Timer]

Fished Ballenas and Sangster the last 2 days. Caught a lot of undersize Springs and Wild Coho. Did manage to get a couple of keepers and Pink. But overall its not what I would call good fishing at present. Tried all kinds of gear but seems the white hootchie worked best at various depths.

 

[Red silver]

New here but been reading for some time.
I get blanked one day then hit fish the next.
So its all yesterdays news.
Out front yesterday hit several fish of all types kept the big spring, released the cohos and pink.
Middle of the the tide, hit the spring at 2:45 and the rest after with no bait showing.

 

[Seafever]

How big was "the big spring"?....

 

[Red silver]

not huge, good enough for me, 20#

 

[Trophy]

Fished high tide for a couple hours this a.m. At french creek hump until wind picked up. Lots of weeds, no bait, lots of marks especially 40-90 ft. Other random marks lower. Caught a coho at 127 ft with white glow hoochie and green onion glow flasher but lost him close to boat. ( too many summer salts in the air )

 

[Seafever]

Fished Winchelsea yesterday from 1 p.m. until 7:45 p.m.

trolling and jigging.

Low slack was at 2:30 p.m.

Lots of activity on finder around 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in shallower areas.

Solunar table bite said later 3 to 4:40p.m. or so. Never happened....(not that I consider the solunar tables as gospel)

As the day wore on the activity became less until by 7pm there was next to zilch.

Picked up quite a few undersize Chinook on the Gibbs Skinny G spoons... black/white and black/green/white.

3.5 inch Army Truck Glow spoon also worked.......

Tried the Andrew P Sitka spoon again....which I have now retaped with different colors 4 times......still nothing on that.

Bunch of undersize Chinook on jigs.....black/white being the hottest color. Best jigs are ones that have a lot of flutter action.


Jigged shallow and deep...inshore and offshore.
Trolled using down riggers all around from depths of 50 ft to 250ft....both lure and water depth.
Trolled using planers and spoons all around the shallows, shelfs and reefs in water from 15ft deep to 80ft deep.....

 

[Part Timer]

Fished Winchelsea yesterday from 1 p.m. until 7:45 p.m.

trolling and jigging.

Low slack was at 2:30 p.m.

Lots of activity on finder around 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in shallower areas.

Solunar table bite said later 3 to 4:40p.m. or so. Never happened....(not that I consider the solunar tables as gospel)

As the day wore on the activity became less until by 7pm there was next to zilch.

Picked up quite a few undersize Chinook on the Gibbs Skinny G spoons... black/white and black/green/white.

3.5 inch Army Truck Glow spoon also worked.......

Tried the Andrew P Sitka spoon again....which I have now retaped with different colors 4 times......still nothing on that.

Bunch of undersize Chinook on jigs.....black/white being the hottest color. Best jigs are ones that have a lot of flutter action.


Jigged shallow and deep...inshore and offshore.
Trolled using down riggers all around from depths of 50 ft to 250ft....both lure and water depth.
Trolled using planers and spoons all around the shallows, shelfs and reefs in water from 15ft deep to 80ft deep.....

Contemplated hurling rods, tackle boxes and net into chuck at 6:45 pm.........wife talked me out of it.

Pretty much my experience the last few days. Going to try again in the morning, then off to Bamfield for 3 weeks.

 

[adanac]

Anyone ran over to Sangster recently?

 

[Red silver]

Fished out front this morning about 9:30-1:30
Had several hits which didn't stick brought 4 pinks to the boat which I released, one spring around 15# at about noon
glow yellow flasher with a kitchen sink
Watched a boat close to me net one fish, thinking nice coho was to big to be a pink and kind of small for a spring