2019 Nanoose Bay/French Creek Reports

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Hi.
We now have our boat moored at fairwinds. But we have not fished in that area before. We have been out a couple of times for a couple hours since opening. Only picking up undedsize. Any tips or tricks. Maybe depths or places to try?

Thanks
We have been having reasonable success off Gerald in the evenings deep i.e. 200+ on the riggers with 15 lb balls. Plugs have been the lure of choice. Have found more success in the away from the island (just about midpoint to Ballenas) rather than tighter in.
 
Hi.
We now have our boat moored at fairwinds. But we have not fished in that area before. We have been out a couple of times for a couple hours since opening. Only picking up undedsize. Any tips or tricks. Maybe depths or places to try?

Thanks

I haven't been out there myself but a friend sent me a picture of a max size he caught at Ballenas last night - 140'. Reported lots of coho too. Good luck.
 
Went out yesterday late am with family (my son's request for something to do for his 20th birthday:)). Trolled around Gerald without much luck - far fewer schools than previous days for sure. Decided to head to the top of Ballenas and the birthday boy managed a legal hatchery 77' on the rigger with a small 232. Crew had to other plans for the afternoon so we cam back to a tide that was way to shallow to load onto the trailer...so I dropped them off and headed back out. We found a ton of bait back off the top of Ballenas and landed 2 stunning 80 cm springs. One of them at 225' on the rigger completely breached 3x on the way in and the second did everything it could to wrap itself around the boat. They both acted just like coho but were definitely springs. Again, both on the 232 (225 and 185). The other bonus was the water flattened right out and made for a great evening all around.
 
Fished from 11am to 7pm yesterday out front of French Creek was pretty slow. Caught a few shakers, about 3 wild coho, a hatch coho and then close to the end we picked up a nice spring about 13lbs just under 80cm, fish was a pea head. Most were caught on a white needle fish hootchy around 120. Was fishing spoons and a plug for a bit as well as other hootchy and covered most of the water column. Marked lots of fish on the sounder but we couldn’t get any bites. Water was so glassy, wanted to stay out but had friends who had to get back to tofino, had a feeling a nite bite would happen. Keeper spring was caught in closer to shore on the troll in.
 
Always liked and have done well on the NW side of the Ballenas near lighthouse - fishing the structure between 60-110 with the usual spoons and hootchies
 
Went for a night fish yesterday. 2 springs ( 76 and 78 cm.) and 1 hatch coho. Released a bunch of wild coho and undersize springs. Spoons was the ticket.
 
Went for a night fish yesterday. 2 springs ( 76 and 78 cm.) and 1 hatch coho. Released a bunch of wild coho and undersize springs. Spoons was the ticket.
I am new to the area- what size/type of spoons and leader length do you use? with flashers?
 
3.5 or 4 inch cop car or irish cream spoons with 5-6 ft behind flasher
x2 on both - we have also had success with 3.5" Skinny G Outfitter spoon (check other posts for recent concerns about Gibbs hooks unfortunately...)
 
x2 on both - we have also had success with 3.5" Skinny G Outfitter spoon (check other posts for recent concerns about Gibbs hooks unfortunately...)

Yup the hooks on the Skinny G's are really weak, they can't handle any fish of size...I had one open up, thought it was just a fluke so I switched to a new Skinny G right out of the package and the very next big spring I hooked, it opened up just the same....total crap !
 
178CDB88-F58F-444E-B7DB-5E519505D804.jpegHooked a real nice one that was probably 25 lbs or so was close to 100cm. Usually do the gaff release but sometimes you gotta treat yourself lol. Boy wanted to see it up close, he netted it after several attempts. Fun fish on a 6 inch plug at 160 in between the marina and the first hump. Was a fairly slow afternoon and really picked up towards the evening, landed s couple keepers and lost a few keepers. The keepers had big herring in the stomach one was the biggest stomach I’ve ever seen on spring had 3big 7 inch herring. Had action on a variety of gear. Was a good night out there
 
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