Nanaimo and Area reports - Spring and Summer 2011

[lucky ling]

Was out between the fingers and snake today, about 5 miles out. Hit a 15 pound spring at 150 feet in around 580 feet of water. Caught on a 50/50 glow green coyote and a glow green flasher. Had some other hits on an army truck, but nothing stuck. Does any one know if these fish off Nanaimo are resident or migratory?







lucky ing

 

[Degree of Freedom]

spent the weekend at Newcastle...hoped to get out for a quick fish but that wasn't happening. Saw a few nice ones getting cleaned at Brechin on Saturday.
Witnessed what looked like a local Fishing Guide ripping down the channel past the Yacht Club at 20 knts...the new Harbour Patrol boat was quick to chase after him...must've been a little embarrassing with a boat load of clients

 

[Fishing Guide]

Cheers Degree of Freedom,

A few corrections to your 'claim' as your statement is inaccurate:

The fishing guide was me so I have the facts;

I did not 'rip past the Yacht Club' and, while approaching the warning sign was on plane but, upon reaching the NorthWest boundary, came off plane to the noted speed - which I have faithfully done for the past 20 years;

The Harbour Patrol boat did rip down the channel as they were across the harbour and made quite a scene - not to mention bow and stern wake - to chase down yours truely, which included their wild journey past the yacht club so the only vessel to travel down the channel past the yacht club at 20 knots was the Harbour Patrol;

The eventual warning from the Harbour Patrol was that they 'guessed' we were 2 miles over the speed limit of 5 knots (a far cry from 20 knots);

And, contrary to your 'guess', the guests were not embarassed as they told the harbour Patrol exactly what they thought of their 'Wild West' antics; they felt that the actions of the Harbour Patrol were childish, very unprofessional and dangerous and will be sending letters to the Harbour Comission to that effect.

Finally...the above noted facts are not in dispute as I made a full report to the RCMP and have had a report back from the RCMP that the facts I presented were seconded by the Harbour Patrol. Further, this information has been forwarded to my lawyer.

Thank you for allowing me to clear up the misinformation....

 

[Degree of Freedom]

not gonna get in a debate with anyone here...not the right thread...just gonna point out that the 5 knt boundary is at the two white markers labeled "5 knots"...not the big sign on Newcastle.

 

[Pippen]

Back.....to.....fishing.

Ran across a flat calm Strait to fish Thrasher.....the water was BRRR-OWN all the way over. We trolled around Thrasher for a bit and hit nothing....and I think only saw one fish hit. We pulled up and ran up to Grand/Waterfall as they water was once again "blue"....the bite turned on around noon-1pm and a fair number of nets were in the air. We managed a double header at ~100 feet with a chovie and green/glow spoon in about 200ish feet of water. Made for some good excitement.......and both fish were landed; one was 11lbs and the other 15lbs...one marble (11) and the 15 my buddy took home was definitely white and may also have been a marble. It was hitting the smoker so I just cleaned it out and let him deal with it how he wanted.

Beautiful calm day out there in the sunshine and had a visit by some whales around 4:30 or so. Heard chatter on the radio of fish being caught all over the place in the water column from 50ish down to 180ish; talk of chovies and spackles seemed to be the word.

 

[gamechanger]

We fished yesterday from 2-4 and got into 3 around the Waterfall, the first was a small guy and #2 and #3 hit at the same time, both freight trains. 180ft and 90ft, purple haze spoon and a french creek special hootchie. My buddy snapped his off and lost everything (******) and I got mine in, it was about 23 and marbled. Great day out there, it was windier on shore than it was out on the water. About 15 boats there and suntanning weather. Saw 6 orcas out there too.

 

[Pippen]

gamechanger.......what boat were you on? We pulled out on the Kingfisher just as the whales were rolling by around 4:30. I sure hope that kid who was pleading on the radio as to the location of the whales got a look at them!

Also noticed that the fish we got......although not "huge" were VERY scrappy!! The 11lber I hooked up had a few good long runs while still down deep.....great fight for a fish that size!!

 

[gamechanger]

My boat is the 22 aluminum crew boat, it has 2 black salmon decals on the front. I saw a Kingfisher, prob you guys, heading towards the whales just as we were backing off. Yep, he got to see them. That was his first time salmon fishing and to see a fish like that come in and then see some Killer Whales just made his day. He was sooo pumped. I was trying to get him to keep it under control on the radio but he was just so charged up to see the whales that he couldn't stop talking on it. Only sad part about the whole day was my little guy who is six was on deck for the next fish when that 23 hit and it took so much line out at the beginning that I couldn't reallly pass it off to him. Then the fish sounded and went straight to the bottom in about 200 feet of water. I couldn't believe it, and here's my little guy going ok dad, I'm ready for it. Sorry bud, I can't let you have this one! The last time we were out we hit a big guy at the Humps when it was his turn and I tried to let him do it and it was just to much for him and we lost it at the boat, and he cried. It kind of breaks your heart a little bit though to see a little boy so jacked up about salmon fishing that he is ready for battle when the rod starts pumping and that's what hits again when it's his turn. Next time bud.

 

[Pippen]

Haha.....gamechanger....that must be tough for the little guy. I didn't realize the little fella on the radio was your son. I was the one who piped up and said to look directly east between the Waterfall and Bowen to get the general vicinity they were in.

I think I noted your boat....aluminum hull and "super structure"....kind of had an open back to it?

We were headed home and saw the whales behind us....stopped to snap a couple of pics before they dove and came up way, way inshore. That was it for us.....home to cook up some fresh fish.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Made a quick clip of my little cousins first salmon from the weekend. She fought it like a pro except at one point she clamped down on the reel during a run. Haha it almost pulled her in and i have no idea how it didnt break off. Man they are fiesty. I would have put it over 30 based on how hard it fought.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BCToughCrew?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/i2pkAj1AEu8

 

[burnsy22]

Made my first trip to the grande/back side of gabriola yesterday, lost a 19-21lb at the boat at about 630am, after dropping the gear 45 seconds earlier...Didnt get another bite and had to limp back around 1030am on one of my 2 50hp engines with the impeller acting up on the other one...Spackleback in 120ft of 130 feet of water.

 

[dmurph]

Fished Trasher and the Grande this past weekend and had some great action on very aggressive 9 to 16lbs springs. Wife and I each filled our limit for the 2 days minus one fish . We had three or four more in but released them as we were looking for the sneaky derby winner which managed slip by us all weekend. Had many hard fighting fish hit the gear between 176 to 118 feet . Most were hit on herring caught on the way crossing the straight . Spackleback teaser head and glo did well. The Glo ugly also killed it for us at all depths. What a great weekend , pretty good weather with flat calm waters. Did get some savage currents on the Monday with a bit of wind, anybody fishing trasher that day find it impossible to get the gear running propper or or am I .... was driving me crazy . Should have hit the Grande which had flat clear water. Note to self don 't run past the guy who has fished the area for 25 years and set up eles where . Thanks to Derrek and Linda for hosting the Derby. Good times.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Wanted to post a few observations to see if others have some input.Theres been a few odd things going on this year.... I am interested to know the causes, correlation between the events. The algea bloom and the lack of a major commercial herring fishery seem to be possible causes. Anyways this is what i noticed and i am going to try to adapt my fishing methods. Likely fish 4 rods and just try to cover a ton of water.

1. I have seen good numbers of salmon in the 4-6 lb range jumping, finning in the area which i have rarely seen before. I think they are immature springs but i havent touched one of them?

2.There are good numbers of herring, salmon fry or both on the surface all over the place which is uncommon in this area. I think this is what the above 4-6lb fish are feeding on.

3. There are salmon around but they are not in the places we normally find them which is killing me... Normally i find them in structure 140-200ft down but all my spots are coming up dry. Now its in open water as most guys have posted 50-170ft down.

4. This god damn algea is down 140+ feet and can be a huge pain in the butt. Maybe this is what has moved the springs up and out of the regular structure? My springs have had a mix of herring/pacific cod.

 

[Degree of Freedom]

1. I have seen good numbers of salmon in the 4-6 lb range jumping, finning in the area which i have rarely seen before. I think they are immature springs but i havent touched one of them?

2.There are good numbers of herring, salmon fry or both on the surface all over the place which is uncommon in this area. I think this is what the above 4-6lb fish are feeding on.

3. There are salmon around but they are not in the places we normally find them which is killing me... Normally i find them in structure 140-200ft down but all my spots are coming up dry. Now its in open water as most guys have posted 50-170ft down.

Sounds like the pre-early nineteen nineties ...there were always immature herring on the surface all over the place and fish were taken with 2-6 oz bannana weights, 4-8 oz slip weights, or buzz-bombs...not downriggers.
Reduced commercial herring fishery and cooler water would be my guess.

 

[Gronk]

Got out for a while today and fished the deep waters (1000ft) off Winchelsea. Got two nice springs at 130 and 155 ft using an speckle hoochie (green) and an ugly boy spoon. Nice day to be out.

 

[Copper Moon]

We were fishing Ballenas without success. We kept trolling on our way towards Gerald. In 850 ft we picked up a little guy @ 140 using an Irish Creme. I, and others, have been getting murdered by seals @ Gerald lately.

 

[Charter Tofino]

At least your finding fish even if the furred bastards are winning. Has gerald been holdong a few?I might head out tomorrow even though I know I should be in bed. Might poke over to sangster.

 

[Klob]

Fished low slack in front of FC this morning. Slow until we came up to 120 and hit a blueback and small feeder spring, both on my new Money. Herring are here because of the limited slaughter this winter by the commies. Thank the oversupply in Alaska and the earthquke in Japan. I hope the small ones jumping are bluebacks. Time will tell..........

 

[bigredsnapper]

Had a great morning at Gerald. Hit a nice 10-12 spring in the first 20 min. then an hour later right on the bite I netted a 28lb beauty. Both on hootchys and both about 150ft. The big guy was quite the battle and managed to get him in the net on the third try(I was solo). He turned out to be white and he was full of 4-5 inch herring and I had a 4" black and white spoon on the other side and he hit the hootchy. Anyway great morning and thanks to the crew on the trophy, every time we passed I got a fish! BRS

 

[Charter Tofino]

Thats a great fish greg. Im going to head out in an hour on a friends rig. Was going to head to sangster but sounds like its worth stickin close to home.