2016 Nanoose Bay/French Creek Reports

I was fishing in the rain by 5:15 out by 8:15. Two small springs and one dog fish. Coyote green, white and black spoon. Green speckle back and purple haze hootchie. Mostly in 250' - 300' of water fishing from 160 - 220 feet. Winds were light so that was nice for a change. The rain started to get a little depressing and I was soaked - maybe tomorrow.
 
Howdy was out two nights ago. Lots of bait, good evening bite. Got two springs about 10 pounds in 200 feet of water in front of Columbia beach. Fish moved into the shallows about 8pm. Bite was from 7pm to 9pm. Got them on a large green and white spackleback hootchie.
 

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Managed to get out just after 6 today, slightly drier then yesterday. Stayed until 10. One small spring on green splatter back hootchie. Fished in water from 180' - 300'. It was slooooow. One orca spotted snd 4 eagles on the rocks at the marina so that made the trip all worthwhile, not to mention I had my son with me. Great day!

It seems awfully slow compared to some years but I'm sure it will improve.
 
Went out with my dad today from 10-3
Lots of shakers and one 22" threw everything at them all my hoochies and twice as many spoons
Pink sink ended up getting most of the hits around the hump there
Dad was reeling in to pack up and suprise to him had a 19" hatchery coho on the end of it
Bbq the lil fella tonight
 
Out yesterday (Monday) off F.C.
Low slack was 12:30 pm. Got a couple of hatchery Coho around 2 pm...silver /blue spoon and ArmyTruck hoochy off Humps.
Lots of undersize Chinook hits.
Hits varied from lure 130' deep to 190' ft deep at various places.
Towards 6pm and later ( high slack)more undersize Chinook on :- T-Rex needle, small Green/Glow plug , glow white hoochy (and even a Uv/pinkish, greenish cuttlefish hoochy with no flasher trolled at 3 1/2 mph).
Tried various other lures as well.

Had one monster Chinook on about 3:00 pm off the White Door in 190' water depth with lure (T-Rex needlefish hoochy 38" behind a Gold Betsy flasher) at about 185'. However it spit the hook.

Schools of fish were here and there. Around 6pm and later lots of fish showed up inshore in the 180' to 200' bottom-depth zone. Fish were at 100' to 130' ft frequently.
Some very large fish symbols on the finder. Frustrating because you could go right through them and still only get the undersize.

One guy at the dock said he got 5 Pinks. We didn't get any Pinks.

Didn't see a bait ball all day.

Lots of baby Chinook out there.
 
Out yesterday (Monday) off F.C.
Low slack was 12:30 pm. Got a couple of hatchery Coho around 2 pm...silver /blue spoon and ArmyTruck hoochy off Humps.
Lots of undersize Chinook hits.
Hits varied from lure 130' deep to 190' ft deep at various places.
Towards 6pm and later ( high slack)more undersize Chinook on :- T-Rex needle, small Green/Glow plug , glow white hoochy (and even a Uv/pinkish, greenish cuttlefish hoochy with no flasher trolled at 3 1/2 mph).
Tried various other lures as well.

Had one monster Chinook on about 3:00 pm off the White Door in 190' water depth with lure (T-Rex needlefish hoochy 38" behind a Gold Betsy flasher) at about 185'. However it spit the hook.

Schools of fish were here and there. Around 6pm and later lots of fish showed up inshore in the 180' to 200' bottom-depth zone. Fish were at 100' to 130' ft frequently.
Some very large fish symbols on the finder. Frustrating because you could go right through them and still only get the undersize.

One guy at the dock said he got 5 Pinks. We didn't get any Pinks.

Didn't see a bait ball all day.

Lots of baby Chinook out there.
Pinks? Sounds like someone was probably mistaken about small springs or coho. Hopefully he didn't bonk them.
 
I was out front F/C very early this morning, fishing was exausting for the first couple of hours as there seemed to be a fish coming in every 10 minutes. Eventually I brought in one line but by then it had started to slow down. Lots of bait around 80 - 160' in 200 - 250' of water so for the most part I fished around 90 - 100'. Many coho and small springs. Managed to get two hatchery coho so all was not lost. Never even made it down to the hump. Tried fishing deeper but was only getting wee springs. At least when you catch a fish at 90' it has some fight in it when you get it up.

Army truck and pink and black hootchie seemed to be the ticket today, also caught a couple on kitchen sink spoon.

Big fish soon - please - may have to go up island.
 
Out front from 9 until 12 this morning and it was pretty busy with lots of coho and some springs in the mix. We lost two decent springs, kept one 11 lber and kept 3 hatchery coho.
Ran two Pesca spoons from 120 - 150 feet.
 
Out from 6pm-9pm tonite and managed 3 hatchery coho. All at about 70' around the humps and all caught on a green splatter back. Released 3 wild coho. No springs at all tonight, not even an undersize, saw very little bait. Beauty night on the water!
 
Out yesterday (Monday) off F.C. from about 1:30 pm to 8:20pm.
Low slack was 5:30pm. Trolled Humps, "out front", White Door and inshore 200ft contour.
Two hatchery Coho keepers. But caught quite a few others undersize or wild, released.
Caught many an undersize Chinook, released.
At 6:40 pm got a 10 lb Chinook. ( T-rex needle hoochy,shortened about an inch,38" behind green/glow flasher, 160ft in 200 ft of water.)

Also jigged earlier on. Dogfish, flounders, P-Cod.

Pockets of bigger fish here and there at various depths. Many small fish everywhere at 30 to 40ft depth.

Generally fished anywhere from 80ft to 220ft lure depth. Got hits at all depths but 140 to 180 lure depth was best . 200 to 230ft water depth.

Got hits on:-
Small pink hoochy 38 "behind Purple Haze flasher.

Home made hoochy combo that looked identical to a "herring aide" spoon. Put it together months ago and then read about the spoon so thought I'd try the hoochy. Worked quite well for actual hits behind a Purple Haze flasher.

Used another home-made hoochy combo that is basically a 4" u/v Turd body with glow inside. Used that 38" behind a Pink Haze flasher and got lots of hits on it.

Also used a 5" 602 Tubby Tomic plug. That worked. As did a 5 inch plug that was :- black top, silver sides, glow bottom, red snout. 4 mph speed.

Got absolutely nada on the green splatterback hoochy.

Always go back to the good old shortened T-rex needlefish hoochy at some point. Behind a green/glow or Super Gold betsy flasher. (There a couple of versions of the T-Rex hoochy..the Yozuri one that you get from PNT is the better one.....not the dark green splattered one that is found in other stores).

There are lots of fish at F.C. but so many of them are baby undersize.
 
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Thanks for the super detailed reports Seafever. There's only a hanfull of lures that I can actually remember the names of so when someone gives those names, leader length and type of flasher it's really appreciated. Big ones are coming!
 
Great report Seafever. Going tomorrow morning and I will try your tips.
As Hedgehog mentioned, being quite new to salmon fishing, I know only a few of the lures mentioned. I love when I see a picture of the fish with the lure beside it. It helps me even more.
Thanks for all the info. I will give it a try.
 
Hi Seafever, I am also a salmon rookie and really appreciate the pics. Can you explain how you are keeping your leaders coiled up nicely? Looks like twist ties or masking tape? I don't like rooting through a tangled mess when changing lures.
 
Just buy a pool noodle for 5 bucks and cut into 14 inch lengths and wrap your leaders around that. Best and cheapest I have found for not getting kinks in leaders and keeping the leaders from knotting up when you unravel them
 
Hi Seafever, I am also a salmon rookie and really appreciate the pics. Can you explain how you are keeping your leaders coiled up nicely? Looks like twist ties or masking tape? I don't like rooting through a tangled mess when changing lures.


Go to mcdonalds grab a hand full of straws and cut into 1.5cm lengths
Coil leader around two fingers and slide the coil into straw
 
Was out yesterday from 5 am until noon. Not ideal conditions, pretty rough out there. We had fairly steady action the whole time. Flavour of the day was white glow hootchie 80-150 feet on the rigger. Only 2 out of 20 + were hatchery coho around 3 lbs.
 
This morning was unusually calm compared to lately. Not one single spring today fishing from 90' to 220' depth. There was lots of Coho around and I managed to bring home two hatchery. I had one bit off by a seal, the only thing left was the head. Mostly hootchies today although spoons worked too. Anything with green on it you put down would catch one.

Anyone who thinks fishing is not good exercise should go out by themselves with two lines out and the fish hitting. I hardly had time to drink my coffee. Yee Haaa!
 
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