2017 Nanaimo Reports

Hit the water for a couple hours this morning for the first time in 2017. Had my wife, both kids and my mom on the boat. We threw some crab traps outside new castle and got one nice 7.5" dungy. Trolled around pipers for about an hour until the kids were getting a little antsy we got one nice 8lbs hatchery spring and lost one. It was flat as could be out there so we went for a cruise up Past gabriola bluffs and through dodds narrows.

Great day on the water and only one other trailer at the launch.
 
Got out today for a bit. 10:30 till tide change. Trolled Hudson rock to out in the deep past the fingers and back. Tried depths from 109-189 on the rigger, bunch of usual tackle. Nada. Lots of birds, more seals than I've ever seen. Could smell the herring sometimes. Beauty first day on the Chuck 2017.
 
I thought I saw a Herring Boat out there yesterday. And the seals were so loud today that I could hear them up on Lost Lake road. Early?
 
Was out this morning from 8:15 till 2:30. Ended up with a broken Rod by 8:50 am... Of course I left my spare in the garage, called my wife and she met us at the dock and we were back out to the fingers and fishing by 9:30. Trolled around the fingers in 140-220 feet of water and not even a sniff. Headed over to pipers and trolled between pipers and neck point and picked up a couple just under in 180' dragging on the bottom. Then the wind started to blow and it wasn't fun getting banged around so we headed over to gabriola to tuck out of the wind and have some lunch. Soup and sandwiches were on the menu but I forgot the lighter for the stove... Trolled around gabriola for a bit and picked up another shaker before we headed to the crab traps, got one dungy and a couple red rocks.

I saw one boat out working the deep water in the middle of the straight. Any one got any reports from out there? Seems a little early for fish to be moving through.
 
Heard the Herring were schooling up around FC so decided to give Nanaimo a go. Quite a few birds and no shortage of bait. Got tough to keep the jig below the boat with the huge afternoon ebb.

Hey Buckethead, how do you process your herring so there is minimal scale loss after brought onboard? Do you shock them with colder water or some sort of chemical to insta-kill them? When I dip net a herring ball they lose a ton of scales in my live well. Appreciate any tips you have.

Thx,

Barry
 
Hey Buckethead, how do you process your herring so there is minimal scale loss after brought onboard? Do you shock them with colder water or some sort of chemical to insta-kill them? When I dip net a herring ball they lose a ton of scales in my live well. Appreciate any tips you have.

Thx,

Barry

Hey Barry. I actually just wrote a thread looking for some of the same answers. If you take a look under the saltwater fishing section the thread is titled "Processing self caught Herring for quality Salmon bait". Not sure how to link the thread onto this post but it won't be hard to find, any questions let me know.

Cheers.
 
Hey Barry. I actually just wrote a thread looking for some of the same answers. If you take a look under the saltwater fishing section the thread is titled "Processing self caught Herring for quality Salmon bait". Not sure how to link the thread onto this post but it won't be hard to find, any questions let me know.

Cheers.
Thx Bucket, great thread topic.
 
Got out Sunday morning for high tide. Fished off the fingers. Beauty morning, little chilly. No hits. By the look of other threads I may have been too deep. Lots of Herring balls. Screen blacked out a few times.
 

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We were down at the boat ramp two nights ago and seen a guy bring a 15 to 18 pound spring from his boat to the cleaning station.

That was the nicest fish I've seen in a long time down there.

Hope that is the start of good things to come.
 
Yep seems like lots of fish right now, got out sunday afternoon for 2 hours didn't go 5 minutes without a bite. Mixed bag of size handful in the 8-15 range lots of 20-24 inchers. The best part though, not a single Pollock.
Nice to finally see a few reports from the right side of the pond
 
Yes Nanaimo has picked up. Yesterday aft was rough out there but fish were active. This aft was calm and it was slower but was still productive.
 

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Bonked a couple of beauty hatchery 15 lbs tonite. Released a bunch of undersize and a couple wild 10 lbs. 120-140 bloody nose spoon and one of nogs greenies. What a night.
 

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