norman oliver
Member
Good report, keep em coming. Thanks.
2019 Winter Harbour Reports
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norman oliver
Member
I thought I replied to this, but maybe it was an email. Either way, Team Deplorable as we got nick named last year while there. ( yeah we all voted for Trump!) Hahahaha just too funny. We will be there on the 14th and hope to see some fishing. But half the fun is some of the folks we met last year and if we can find fish, that will be the icing.Super excited we just confirmed coming up to winter harbour July 16th-19th. Got moorage and a campsite at the dock. If any of you are up at that time feel free to stop in for a beer and chat! Last time we were up was 2 years ago and never made it offshore as the weather wasn't the best and were having some motor troubles! This time were coming up with brand new power so hopefully that won't be an issue! Just curious and not looking for any spots but of course will gladly except any info someone has if they wanna share. Ive been watching a few videos on youtube of guys getting hali and ling at the same time while anchored up. Is this a normal thing to expect in this area? We've never fished an area where that was something that happens regularly.. do most guys anchored up near some rock and try to get both species at once or are we better off to find some gravel to anchor for our halis and then go somewhere else to drift and jig lings. Our anchor is set up with the zapstrap break away system but our main concern was dropping the anchor in a rock garden and not getting it back.
Thanks for any insight! Super stoked for this trip!
Michael
Cuttplugin97
New Member
Heading up on Friday how has the fishing been?
oilslick
Active Member
Just got back tonight with a couple other fellas, got to Winter Harbour at 8 am Thursday, fished Thurs, Fri and Sat.
Got our limits of Spring and Hali, few lings and the odd coho. Biggest spring was 26lbs and smallest 18. Some big fish were caught by some of the guides, a few in the mid 30’s.
Few fish were caught at Grants and just outside of it and 1 or 2 at Kains and the rest were caught at Cliff.
The amount of bait that we saw was amazing, the most I’ve seen in the last 15 years of going up there.
We tried anchovies, and just bombed through the rest of the tackle box but the real winner by far was 5” herring.
At Cliff all bait was small herring, at Grants it was all squid. One of the fish at Grants had 21 squid inside its belly, it was quite the site.
All in all a good trip, it slowed on Saturday so we had to grind it out but we were successful.
Good luck.
Brian Reiber
Well-Known Member
Great to hear that fishing is going so well up there. Three more weeks until our WH trip. We can't wait. Hopefully the weather cooperates and with any luck there will be a fresh wave of fish waiting for us.
Lee Richards
New Member
Thanks for the report oilslick. I am en-route starting today. Should be on the water by Thursday (I am taking my time to cover the 1100 miles from my home in Montana). My wife and I are very excited to see a new part of Canada and meet some new people. We are mostly C&R fishers but we really like to eat Cabezone anybody catch any up WH way?
Busterbrown
Active Member
We just returned from 5 days in Winter Harbour . Weather was not great , and it made getting offshore a real challenge. Ended up with 2 person limit of Springs, Halibut and Ling cod. We did not fish much in Grants Bay but did manage a few springs from there. All were at 42 ft on a White Turd the fish there were stuffed with squid.
Not much for us at Kains Island but did get one coho and a handful of springs tight to the kelp. Very few boats there the whole week.
The place to be was at Cliff Point and Gooding Cove. No big fish for us but had a blast catching and releasing. Interesting that all our fish were wild, no hatchery marked except the coho . Best morning for me was 7 springs with only one rod in the water. White turd was the ticket. Cant wait for to get back in a couple of weeks
Not much for us at Kains Island but did get one coho and a handful of springs tight to the kelp. Very few boats there the whole week.
The place to be was at Cliff Point and Gooding Cove. No big fish for us but had a blast catching and releasing. Interesting that all our fish were wild, no hatchery marked except the coho . Best morning for me was 7 springs with only one rod in the water. White turd was the ticket. Cant wait for to get back in a couple of weeks
oilslick
Active Member
Good luck up there, just heard from my buddy up there today that Cliff is on fire right now, all boats with limits by 9am. I knew it would be with all that dam bait we saw.
Safe travels and enjoy the west coast...
Enniberg
Well-Known Member
Easy limits today. Biggest fish in the low 20's. A lot of shakers in between.
oilslick
Active Member
Well I guess with all commercial fishing shut down in Alaska it’s definitely helping the west coast out....
Cuttplugin97
New Member
Can you still get ice at qualicum river
oilslick
Active Member
You would friggen think so..... I was pissed about that when I was up there. Not only about the ice but the fuel dock and store are only open from 3:30 - 5:30 each week day and 2:30 - 5:30 on weekends.
They say they will change it to normal hours around July 12....go figure...
SerengetiGuide
Well-Known Member
Restrictions end July 15...
We just got back from WH yesterday. Chinook fishing was pretty slow lots of boats at cliff and Grants but not much happening. There are a few Coho starting show and there was a small bite in late afternoon at grants so hopefully a new wave of fishing starting to roll in.
Good luck Enniberg
Tyson Berkenstock
New Member
We fished WH Friday-Monday. Fishing was definitely slow. We kept 6 chinook and 3 coho. We hit ~12 salmon the whole trip ranging from 6-20lbs.
The best fishing was Cliffe pt Sunday morning when we caught 3 springs in ~20 minutes first thing. We went back to Cliffe Monday morning and didn't hit anything. We also had some luck fishing around Kains island midday. Guys were doing ok at Grant Bay first thing in the morning with white hoochie combinations but fishing seemed to die after 7:00am.
All the fish we caught were full of squid and small (~2-3") needlefish.
We fished hard - 12-14 hours/day Saturday/Sunday fishing bait, assortments of spoons and hoochies at all depths at most of the classic spots. The most productive hoochie was a green spatterback needlefish and the most productive spoon was a 3.5" watermelon.
Although the fishing was slow, the weather was decent and people were friendly. Like anywhere this time of year, the fishing could turn on like a switch.
The best fishing was Cliffe pt Sunday morning when we caught 3 springs in ~20 minutes first thing. We went back to Cliffe Monday morning and didn't hit anything. We also had some luck fishing around Kains island midday. Guys were doing ok at Grant Bay first thing in the morning with white hoochie combinations but fishing seemed to die after 7:00am.
All the fish we caught were full of squid and small (~2-3") needlefish.
We fished hard - 12-14 hours/day Saturday/Sunday fishing bait, assortments of spoons and hoochies at all depths at most of the classic spots. The most productive hoochie was a green spatterback needlefish and the most productive spoon was a 3.5" watermelon.
Although the fishing was slow, the weather was decent and people were friendly. Like anywhere this time of year, the fishing could turn on like a switch.
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