2017 Chinook Salmon - how was your season ?

March, April and May were good in Vancouver(HITW,Bowen) Didn't fish too much in June and July. Nootka was hit and miss the first week of August but we still managed some decent chinook, hali and ling. Only been out fishing once off the North arm last week and it wasn't a great day lots of shorts. Maybe get out to the Cap in the next week or so.

Mike
 
Fished Massett & Kyuqout. Chinook were scarce, small, & underfed with far less than average fat content.
Dave Murphy mentioned that the near-shore population of Candlefish has disappeared.
Chinook counts for up to yesterday on the lower Columbia are about 33% of last year. Fall run peaks about now.
Dave was right. Zero sandlance the last 2 years. Because of that our early runs just smoked thru the area
 
Winter fishing in Sooke was good for me, best ever I think. june was also good, but almost every fish I caught didn't fit the slot, so lots of releases. Including one 69 cm hooked through the eye. boy did I hate to let that one go. July was slow in Sooke for me. Spent Aug 9-12 in Tahsis. My boat was acting up so stayed on the inside. Zero fish for me there. Spent one of those days on the south end of Nootka too. never saw anyone with a net out. My buddies who went off shore got into some nice fish.
Looks like I missed the august fun in Sooke. Went out last thursday night no love. Gonna try again on Saturday, I hope there are a few around
 
Vancouver, overall pretty good. Went out as much as I could when I had time off and only got skunked a couple times. Had well over a dozen legals to the boat in under a dozen trips. First year with the bigger boat; previously only managed undersized, pinks and sockeye in the old tinny. Still kinda new to ocean fishing after spending the last 10 years solidly fresh water fishing, but this year I felt like I got the hang of it.
 
Sidney from the winter-July was excellent, if not better. Plenty of multiple fish days and limits but rarely any springs bigger then 15lbs.
Sooke through the summer was average. A few really good days with plenty of fish and a few really spotty days.
Victoria Waterfront through the summer was and continues to be a little above average. A few really good weeks and some slower ones but conistantly the odd fish kicking around.
Overall I'd have to say it's been a "decent" year of salmon fishing. Lots of 8-15lbers around, but bigger springs continue to be more and more scarce.
 
Vancouver area May- June we did pretty good. 8 keepers. July - now haven't been skunked yet and have been out almost every weekend. Most fish were decent size with only a few small guys just legal.

Nootka sound - early July was on fire for us. No problems limiting out in 3 days for 4 guys. All fish were 15-25lbs.
 
Vancouver, overall pretty good. Went out as much as I could when I had time off and only got skunked a couple times. Had well over a dozen legals to the boat in under a dozen trips. First year with the bigger boat; previously only managed undersized, pinks and sockeye in the old tinny. Still kinda new to ocean fishing after spending the last 10 years solidly fresh water fishing, but this year I felt like I got the hang of it.


Thanks for confirming that a bigger boat will catch bigger fish. I've been trying to convince my wife of this all summer.:D
 
Fished Nanaimo/Gulf Islands April-July. Got multiple fish every trip but nothing huge. Teeners. So decent but not like the old days. Only lost fish to seals one day which was unbelievable. My Dad hasn't fished around Nanaimo in 10 years since we lost 5 springs in one day to them. Maybe I'll be able to get him out again.
Fished Ucluelet in August and it was really good. Had a great (fish every 15-20 min) bite at Wya that lasted the better part of a day. It's days like that that make it hard to get motivated to fish around my home waters. We really timed that trip well.
Fished Renfrew Last weekend and it was slow for us. 2 springs and a coho.
Sounds like this year was better than last year for most. I have to admit that I didn't expect it. Let's hope this trend continues.
 
Fished Massett & Kyuqout. Chinook were scarce, small, & underfed with far less than average fat content.
Dave Murphy mentioned that the near-shore population of Candlefish has disappeared.
Chinook counts for up to yesterday on the lower Columbia are about 33% of last year. Fall run peaks about now.

Up in Hardy we were catching tonnes of Columbia fish. If we fished all day for salmon we definitely had 30+bite days up until mid-late august, so I assume that the run is a little later than normal. Fishing was consistent until late august.
 
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Up in Hardy we were catching tonnes of Columbia fish. If we fished all day for salmon we definitely had 40+ bite days up until mid-late august, so I assume that the run is a little later than normal. Fishing was consistently great, with a couple peaks around mid June, June 31st, mid July, and another hot wave around the August 12th mark. There were a couple slow days too. Regardless, on all but maybe 7-10 days all season(June 1st-Sept1st) we would be able to get our 8 chinook/boat in around 2-3 hours or less.

How do you know they were Columbia fish?

Didn't think many of them went down the inside of Vancouver Island....
 
How do you know they were Columbia fish?

Didn't think many of them went down the inside of Vancouver Island....

There were a few hatch heads that came back as it... Also lots cookie cutters. But then again could be other fish too with just a few schools of Columbia hatchery fish making their way down the inside... I've caught some Columbia fish around the gulf islands. I've also always wondered how many hatch fish go up the "wrong" rivers.
So in short, it was a big assumption based upon a half dozen or so hatch heads.
 
Also most springs landed in Hardy are actually caught on the northern tip of the island or way up on the mainland coast and therefore could be Columbia springs that do travel the outside. I would think as off Duval Pt. the salmon are committed but way less springs hit the docks from there.
 
May June were good for teeters. Cooled in early July. August and first half Sept good - excellent. Now slowing but I'm still in for a few weeks. Biggest 23 lbs weighed; many of the reports the fish weights seem ball parked too heavy. Only 2 skunks out 2-3 times a week since May. Overall terrific season.
I fish Porlier, Thrasher, Sand Heads.
 
Campbell River, much better than last year for us. We had a good season this year, several days where we tagged out.
 
Did not get out enuf in the winter, as some told me it was very good. When I did get out, I found a few snags, and lost 30 lbs of lead. Carburator started acting up in February, got it changed in May.
Howe sound; march thru late may was fair to good, with one fish at 21' of 14 lbs., some fish taken in june and july, and a report just the other day.
South Bowen of not much note, one fish. Thrasher/ Porlier yielded only 2 fish in May/June. Alternator calfed, and also changed carb on the kicker.
Entrance better with 2 fish and a ling in early August.
West Van Coho/July fishery a disaster, landed 3 pinks of 8 hooked.
Bell has yielded a pair of reds and 2 undersized jacks, couple misses.
Capilano has produced 1 spring and 2 Coho so far.
Planning on trying Sandheads for Hatchery Coho in October, although I'm not sure it will be open to do so.
 
Epsom, South end of Texada and the Trail Islands were really good for winter springs. Picked up in April and May, it was great. Slowed down in the beginning of June. End of June, July and beginning of August were bad. Mid August to end of August was good.
 
My presuit of chinooks is done 4 on my lic # Two from the hump at kitty and two from cliffe WH. I will harvest a puntage coho at royston.might plucka sping.slim on the pickins
 
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