A few questions for the group. This coming July will be my 3rd year going to Nootka with my daughter who is graduating from high school staying for 6 days. Like in the past, we'll stay at Mutch Bay Resort and usually fish the well-known spots like Camel Rock, Hoiss, Friendly Cove... This year, I have slightly a bigger boat. It's a 22' aluminum with 200 HP Yammy and a 9.9 Kicker. I like to venture out a bit further and learn new spots. If it was you, would it worth to take a ride and let's say try Esperanza? What other areas would you recommend for me to explore from where I'm staying? I keep hearing Bajo but don't even know where that is. Lastly, never had any success catching Hali, any particular area to increase my chances? Thanks so much in advance for your help.
Thanks so much for the excellent advice. All points are taken and I cannot agree more with what you mentioned. I'm actually getting new electronics including radar this week. I'm going to post in the boating section getting recommendations for someone to set them up for me.Hey Capman
I also have a 22ft tin boat with a "bucket" in the bow. I have logged many bar crossings on the Columbia River coming to and from the ocean. I bought this style boat for it's versatility. I anchor on the rivers for Springers, fish Puget Sound, the San Juans and the ocean for salmon. They are easy to tow and maintain and work great as a fishing platform for many species. However, they are not a true "deep water" boat like a fiberglass or larger aluminum hulls that have more displacement and self bailing decks. I can't tell you how many times I have filled the front bow area full with green water, fortunately, the large clearing ports dump the water fairly quickly, but still a concern. From my own experiences, you will have no problem fishing Bajo in that size boat or the Highway, just watch the afternoon wind and morning fog. I have radar, a decent electronic package, back up handheld gps and vhf, 2 large capacity bilge pumps and a large amount of other various safety equipment on board. You have good power with that 200 to get you back inside in a hurry if the weather starts to change and a kicker motor too for backup. Also, know and respect your personal comfort zone and the comfort zones of your guests on board when the conditions are less then perfect. I have turned around several times when crossing the bar or fishing the ocean when one of my guest is not "feeling" it. Especially at Nootka, there is plenty of good fishing on the inside waters as you well know. I grew up commercial fishing in Washington and Alaska so I am pretty comfortable being on the water but "Mother Nature" is the ultimate equalizer. By the way, my friend fishes Bajo all the time in his 18ft Hewes. Have fun, enjoy the salt and the time spent with your daughter. My son is now 28 years old and busy with his own life but his fondest memories are fishing Nootka with his family.
See you on the salt.
Fireball
SharronTime2
I would consider trying Port Eliza Lodge if you're going to be fishing Esperenza. Great location for good proximity to all the best spots. Here is there website https://www.portelizalodge.com/A few questions for the group. This coming July will be my 3rd year going to Nootka with my daughter who is graduating from high school staying for 6 days. Like in the past, we'll stay at Mutch Bay Resort and usually fish the well-known spots like Camel Rock, Hoiss, Friendly Cove... This year, I have slightly a bigger boat. It's a 22' aluminum with 200 HP Yammy and a 9.9 Kicker. I like to venture out a bit further and learn new spots. If it was you, would it worth to take a ride and let's say try Esperanza? What other areas would you recommend for me to explore from where I'm staying? I keep hearing Bajo but don't even know where that is. Lastly, never had any success catching Hali, any particular area to increase my chances? Thanks so much in advance for your help.
Yes it’s that time of year isn’t it. I find myself cruising the inter web looking and watching more salmon fishing videos than anything else, have to feed the inner callings lol.
Sort of half butt planning a spring trip to Nootka with my sons. Hoping to do something in mid May maybe late May. More of a prawning, Hali trip than salmon but we’ll definitely look for some.
Another awesome one from Fishing BC. If this don’t make you want to jump in your boat right now and head out I don’t know what would.
Hello new member here. Have been reading tons of great info on this site all about fishing up in BC. Super helpful stuff. So thank you for that.
What type of rod/reel set up will I need for bottom fishing? Want to target lingcod and possibly halibut. Going to be in Nootka end of July. I currently only own salmon downrigger gear. Is there a set up that would be able to fish for both lings and halibut. .
There is another forum already started on this topic last month with a couple of pages of posts "help with choosing my halibut gear" https://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/index.php?threads/help-with-choosing-my-halibut-gear.65357/
Questions about gear and many other topics very often already have multiple threads with lots of info. Use the "search forums" feature to find them, and if they don't have the info you were looking for you can add to them.
Another awesome one from Fishing BC. If this don’t make you want to jump in your boat right now and head out I don’t know what would.
Didn’t know you could transport fish home like in the video!?
If it’s processed by a registered processor it can be.