2016 Gulf Islands Reports

It has been hard work out there Tincan but there are few fish around jut nothing big yet. I fish mostly Salamanca, it seems to be more consistent than on the inside of Galliano for me but also work the inside of Active Pass [Colinson Point area] and occasionally down to Sidney. Some guys swear by Pender Bluffs but its never bean very productive for me. Haven't gotten up to Porlier yet this year, maybe later in the month. From following the Vancouver thread it seems guys are making the crossing and picking up some better sized fish along with Coho so you'd think they'd be showing up further south. Look forward to hearing how you do.

Fished Collison Point Saturday for about an hour just before low tide. Was watching the port side rod when I finally noticed my starboard rod bouncing fiercely. By the time I got to the rod it the fish was off. White hoochie in 75 feet. Lots of bait balls in the water. I used to fish Active Pass as a kid in a 15 ft Whaler and an 18 Outrage Whaler - we crossed from Point Roberts. I remember being on the bow of the 15 footer on the east side of Active Pass mooching and wondering if the ferry waves were going over the bow! No way I would cross the Straight in a 15 ft Whaler nowadays!
 
Too bad you missed that one @D24M . It always stings when you know you're likely only going to get the odd hit while fishing that area and then have it happen while you're looking away. I love fishing the Collinson / Helen pt side of Active Pass and would love it even more if there were a few more fish around :) I grew up fishing the area and got to enjoy the 80's and early 90's as a kid when fishing was great. Since then it's been a slog but it's very satisfying when you do catch a fish or two around Active now. I will say I've noticed a serious uptick in number of boats fishing the area in the past few years after a long stretch of just the usual suspects.

For whatever reason I seem to do better with gear on the inside of active (spoons and hoochies) than with chovies which I much prefer using at Salamanca. Anyone else notice this or is it just a total coincidence on my part that I've now turned into a fishing strategy?
 
My last few seasons have been the best in many many years this year has been full of shakers. I did have one big one on that I never saw but made three long runs spooling to the last few winds.
Sometimes nothing is better than anchovies ....the only
If it's open now I like right in front of Gossip where it goes from 100 - 300 in the mouth of the Pass. And curl back to Salamaneca. I never get big ones on the west side of the Pass. Spoons can be the most productive ive never got a Tyee on a spoon though.
Wonder why the fish are so small and skinny this year. Usually releaseing enough to keep me busy and hopes up, maybe a good sign of residents.?
 
At Active Pass yesterday for the tide change. Fished in the pass for an hour through slack then the current and traffic made it uncomfortable so moved out to Collinson Point and an hour into the flood hooked into a good Spring [10-12 lb]. Exciting playing the fish, getting gear in, handling the boat in the current, netting on your own and then a successful release. Great fun.
AP herring and green flasher @ 125' on the downrigger. One other boat, didn't see any other action.
 
Fished Porlier Pass Monday at 5:30 to 6:00 pm on the flood. Had three lines out with one being a river rod with 15 lb line and a 1980 small blue Point Defiance lure (new hook!) attached to a green 6 inch flasher (regular anchovies and flashers on the other two rods. Landed two coho's in about 20 minutes - both on the 1980's blue Point Defiance at 70 feet in 250 ft of water! One of the other rods were stripped twice but we never noticed.

Here is an internet picture (my hook was barbless)
upload_2016-7-22_10-26-4.png
 
At Active Pass yesterday for the tide change. Fished in the pass for an hour through slack then the current and traffic made it uncomfortable so moved out to Collinson Point and an hour into the flood hooked into a good Spring [10-12 lb]. Exciting playing the fish, getting gear in, handling the boat in the current, netting on your own and then a successful release. Great fun.
AP herring and green flasher @ 125' on the downrigger. One other boat, didn't see any other action.

Nice work on the solo landing and release. Thanks for the reports guys. I think my boat should be finished with the upgrades by this weekend. I'm hoping to make a run across the strait as soon as I have it back together. My son is over on Saltspring, so I may head over for a visit and hit both Active and Porlier.
 
Fished Salamanca on Saturday morn for a few hours and saw 4-5 other boats out there. Lots of juvenille springs and some small pinks for us. Had one chinook that was just under (by an inch) which we released safely and had another keeper on that spat the hooks (probably a 10lber or so). Was a beautiful morning but nothing to bonk for us. We moved around quite a bit and covered shallow and deep water and seemed to get consistent bites no matter where we were. Went though 8 chovies rather quickly on undersized and army truck hoochie worked well for us too. Just need a few more keepers to replace those small guys and it would have been a successful trip.
 
Picked up this beauty at porlier pass few weeks ago. Only bite I had but she stuck. Was a great fight with a few good long runs. Didnt weigh her.
 

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Salamanca and Porlier Pass today with a buddy - early until about 2. Lots of little guys so was kept busy, one small just legal hatchery coho, released but nothing else. Tried AP spoons across the size and colour spectrum, Cop Car, Hootchies, even a tooth marked old plug but nada. Left Salamanca when the Orcas showed up, got a short show from two Humpbacks on the way to Porlier. One other boat said had same kind of day - no keepers. Calm and clear. Just about a perfect day. All those little guys around have to be good news - right?
 
I fished porlier last Friday, August 12. We had 10 hits, of course the two pin poppers and line peelers were the ones that got away. The were 7 coho, 10-12inches, all released, and one small spring (maybe 18inches) also released. Pretty consistent action, all on the ebb, just couldn't keep the sizeable ones on the line.
 
Red Hot is doing great. Been having trouble finding any salmon over 62cm this year, but we've got 5 or 6 undersized almost everytime we've gone out. I had to replace the drain plug, but everything else has been great. Heading out to Porlier tomorrow morning so I'll post an update soon about what's going on this week. Will probably be at pender bluffs next weekend. Cmon fishes!!
 
Aug 20 collision pt into active for low slack and collinson again after. 3 hrs, 3 undersized to very undersized springs. Fun times had anyways.
 
Red Hot is doing great. Been having trouble finding any salmon over 62cm this year, but we've got 5 or 6 undersized almost everytime we've gone out. I had to replace the drain plug, but everything else has been great. Heading out to Porlier tomorrow morning so I'll post an update soon about what's going on this week. Will probably be at pender bluffs next weekend. Cmon fishes!!
yo vanisle,launching from maple bay to either porlier or pender next couple days any update would be much appreciated
 
Out at Salamanca and the north end of Active Pass for 5 hours of testing the gear. Close to a dozen shakers [ from 50' to 140' on everything in my tackle box :) ] but nothing to keep. One other boat said they had two small [??].
Can anyone tell me what the 'Shakers' are? There sure have been a lot of them out there this year.
Sure was a great day to be on the water.
 
Out at Salamanca and the north end of Active Pass for 5 hours of testing the gear. Close to a dozen shakers [ from 50' to 140' on everything in my tackle box :) ] but nothing to keep. One other boat said they had two small [??].
Can anyone tell me what the 'Shakers' are? There sure have been a lot of them out there this year.
Sure was a great day to be on the water.[/QUO

Pursuit.... for the most part the shakers you are seeing are probably Chinook, but there is the odd Coho around too. You can tell the difference with the usual features, black gums and generally larger spots and a more greenish (rather than bluish) colour on the Chinook. There are some that are a little tricky to ID when they are little. If your shakers are between about 6 inches and 11 inches they are probably in their first ocean summer (went to sea this spring). Most of what are around are ocean-type Chinook (This is what comes out of the Cowichan, Nanaimo, Lower Fraser,most Puget Sound systems etc...) they will have hatched late last winter and gone to sea this spring). Mixed in are a few stream-type Chinook.... they would be from mostly upper Fraser systems (Nechacko, Quesnell, Chilko etc....); these fish hatched in spring 2015, spent a year in the river, and went to sea this spring... They are a little bigger (but not much) than the ocean-type fish, probably around 11 inches right now. Anything over about 12 inches is probably in its second ocean year...... most of these fish will be about 16 inches or so by now. They will be this winter's 2-4 lb winter springs. A high proportion of these second year fish in the gulf islands are clipped fish from Puget sound.
 
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