2023 Secret Cove, Pender Harbour and Texada Reports

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Saturday shift from 10 to 8 pm off upwood area on texada...must have released 30+ unders it was crazy. Finally at 8 pm a 66 cm spring decided to hop on the boat. 3" yellow spoons the winner by far. I should have moved to sangster but I'm stubborn and stupid when I commit to a fishing area.

Spent some time off lower sunshine coast last night and it was lights out. 3 x 74 cm Chinook in 45 mins and could have doubled it easily, all beautiful wilds on white Jughead hoochie.

I heard it was good fishing at the entrance to Pender harbor on the weekend too. I'm gong back towards egmont tomorrow. Cheers.
I fished sangster on Saturday it was a little slow there but some fish around
 
Headed up from the north arm on Friday to fish out of secret cove for the opener.
Found it hard to find the springs with all the coho!!

Friday 6 hatch coho @ Epsom point
Saturday 1 chinook 5 coho upwood-sangster
Sunday 3 wild coho released. Epsom

Dropped in at gower point on the way home and released 2 more wild coho!!

All in all great trip with friends we had a blast!!

Defo up there as one of my favourite fishing destination!!
 

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Still happening lower coast,I dropped in on my way amd did a few passes lines @ 120', white hoochie both sides. Missed 3 for sure chinooks, not sure what was going on but it had blown up a bit and the boat was tossing about. Finally at dusk the dependable bite hit and had a double on, kept one 72cm spring. All around byng area follow 140'contour.
 
Fished from 11:30 to 1:30 through the slack low at Epsom today. Did a full lap from E to N to W. Marked fish scattered throughout but rarely bait and rarely bait and fish together.

Did manage to scratch out 5 coho (2 hatchery) and 1 small chinook. Decided to let them all go. Best concentration of fish was in 120’+ on the W side near the S tip.

Saw some other boat with fish on there too but it overall seemed slow and like the fish were there in the deeper water holding and not feeding.
 
Got out again last night and fished just the W side of Epsom from 7:45 to 9:15.

Guessed at where the bait would be and didn’t even get the second rod down. Good sized chinook on that ran a few times and then threw the hook beside the boat. 120’ on the flats with the rods at 45’ and 65’.

Trolled around to a few spots that tend to hold bait. Found 5 coho, a few small chinook and lots more bait, which all seemed encouraging.

At dusk found a bait ball beside a hump full of fish at 90’. Dropped the deeper rod to 80’ and got a solid hit from a heavier fish. A few runs peeling out line and netted this 74 cm chinook.

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My family think I’m a bit obsessed but I’m ready to head out again soon.
 
Got out again last night and fished just the W side of Epsom from 7:45 to 9:15.

Guessed at where the bait would be and didn’t even get the second rod down. Good sized chinook on that ran a few times and then threw the hook beside the boat. 120’ on the flats with the rods at 45’ and 65’.

Trolled around to a few spots that tend to hold bait. Found 5 coho, a few small chinook and lots more bait, which all seemed encouraging.

At dusk found a bait ball beside a hump full of fish at 90’. Dropped the deeper rod to 80’ and got a solid hit from a heavier fish. A few runs peeling out line and netted this 74 cm chinook.

View attachment 94939

My family think I’m a bit obsessed but I’m ready to head out again soon.
Uuuuuh, yeah. What's their point? 😉 Best damn addiction a guy can have lol.
 
Got out again last night and fished just the W side of Epsom from 7:45 to 9:15.

Guessed at where the bait would be and didn’t even get the second rod down. Good sized chinook on that ran a few times and then threw the hook beside the boat. 120’ on the flats with the rods at 45’ and 65’.

Trolled around to a few spots that tend to hold bait. Found 5 coho, a few small chinook and lots more bait, which all seemed encouraging.

At dusk found a bait ball beside a hump full of fish at 90’. Dropped the deeper rod to 80’ and got a solid hit from a heavier fish. A few runs peeling out line and netted this 74 cm chinook.

View attachment 94939

My family think I’m a bit obsessed but I’m ready to head out again soon.

Interesting they're hanging around epsom shallow, in seeing section south of the but deep.

I think an evening there is in the cards although I've always been challenged to retain at epsom, unless with livies.

Had to rip to town, be back Saturday night for sure. Go get em!
 
Interesting they're hanging around epsom shallow, in seeing section south of the but deep.

I think an evening there is in the cards although I've always been challenged to retain at epsom, unless with livies.

Had to rip to town, be back Saturday night for sure. Go get em!
I find they’re in shallow on the flood tide and at dusk / low light. Combine both at once and it can be dynamite. On calm nights I’ve jigged them with some success in past years. Getting a 12+ lbs fish on a spinning rod is good fun.

I also see schools of fish out deeper (150’ - 250’) to the S and W but I never find they’re feeding much, unless around bait. Are you fishing the bottom for them or higher up in the water column?
 
I find they’re in shallow on the flood tide and at dusk / low light. Combine both at once and it can be dynamite. On calm nights I’ve jigged them with some success in past years. Getting a 12+ lbs fish on a spinning rod is good fun.

I also see schools of fish out deeper (150’ - 250’) to the S and W but I never find they’re feeding much, unless around bait. Are you fishing the bottom for them or higher up in the water column?

I'm not fishing epsom so the bottom is a long way down. But all my action (and there was tons just only one in 30 for keepers haha) was down around 120'off texada.
 
Lots of coho still around Epsom. Fished the high tide this morning from 7:30 - 9:30 and had lots of action. Somewhere around 15 fish to the boat. Some smalls, some wilds, some hatchery. Best action was in 140’ with spoons at 120’ on the W side.

Bonked these two BBQ fish and still looking for some bigger chinooks.

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Tested the waters around Hodgson this morning. Two nice keepers, one undersize, and about 5 good hits then lost before back to the boat, all within 4 hours. White Hootchies and green plugs. Their hitting on the tail hook suggesting that their curious but not hitting hard and taking the hole bait like earlier. I ran the trailing hook a little longer and started deeper and seem to be getting better luck. No coho today.
 

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I wanted to hit egmont one final trip to see if fish are still holding and did so yesterday. Soon after I dropped into Killiam, I had a decent hit and it was on. It came racing at me and directly to the boat, as I went for the net and was just about to scoop I see these 2 big eyes snag him and go ripping away about 200'. I wanted my gear back and gave chase deep in the bay which is fun when you're solo with the other side still fishing.

I managed to avoid the bouy and chased him down then he surfaced. Fortunately, I had good tension so soon as he broke the surface his jaw opened and I raced him for the fish. Shockingly he gave up and it was mine with damage to his head only. After that, it was quiet that way. Cheers.
 
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Did one tack from Chapman Creek south for 40 minutes yesterday after finishing my sampling route.

Two wild coho landed on the 60’ rod, but no chinook. Wondering where the chinook are. Maybe getting pushed out by the coho?
 
This morning was a bit lumpy but managed to bring in two nice springs (max slot size). Lots of hits but only three to the boat. Both had little in their stomachs except for small herring.
 

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