2018 Secret Cove, Pender Harbour and Texada Reports

heading over there this weekend boats bit too small too sleep on anybody recommend a bb or vrbo bed breakfast thats within walking distance of a marina ? thx much appreciated
 
Don't forget you can fish right inside SC in the evening. Springs come in and chase bait. Can't remember the depth but years ago we would mooch live's with success. Don't know if its still viable but you don't know if you don't go.
 
Don't forget you can fish right inside SC in the evening. Springs come in and chase bait. Can't remember the depth but years ago we would mooch live's with success. Don't know if its still viable but you don't know if you don't go.

Ive trolled inside the bay before in a 12' tinny but never got anything of size before maybe 12" largest, caught lots of big blue lings off jack tomey island with a herring and 1 1/2 oz mooching weight, but on the outside of the bay on high tide just infront of jack tomey island there is a deep hole in there and ive mooched some nice fish out of there when the springs chase bait balls around there.
 
Finally got my own boat back in the game last week and yesterday was her first serious fish of the summer. My accessory battery had packed it in so I knew I was jigging today, no downriggers. Went on a long burn from Selma to Epsom then immediately to Sangster. Water was unbelievable! Immediately lots of bait on the sounder and lots of arches. The arches were being picky however, and the bait turned out to be small anchovies so I sized down my jig and went 2 for 6 on wild coho. Landed 1 small coho and one nice plump wild about 7 pounds. Spun around to the north reef hoping for springs and found an undersized that fought like a champ. In the distance I can hear a whale breathing and boom there's the giant tail of a grey waving to me!

About an hour after the low I start trying a really fast aggressive jig and boom my rod bends way over in half and goes for a hard run. Not a coho. It comes within sight, big chrome flash and back down she goes.... choked about my jig! She went on 4 or 5 solid runs before I get her close enough to snipe with the net. Of course my scale explodes into rusty pieces, but she measured 34.25 x 19.5. Hell of a comeback fish on the jig after being laid up with boat repairs Id say.

I burned back to Epsom to say hi to the boys and decided to float around on top of the shelf with my fly rod and enjoy the sun and crazy flat water. Went for a swim to cool off, hop back in the boat, start taking off to head home and spot some orcas!! I cut my engines and they swam right in my direction and past my bow. Super cool... 2 little calves and 2 parents. Little ones were jumping and playing. My first time seeing any orcas up close.

Doesn't get any better then that folks... yesterday was worth the downtime!

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Easy limits off the bjerre.
Green glow spoons and small PLUGS no flasher close to bottom.
All 12-18lb reds with the odd big white in the mix. Few wild coho as well.
Prawning is awesome.
Great place and good ppl!
 
Whitebuck - sounds like fun. I have never fished Bjerre Shoal. Do you fish the Texada side and in how deep water? Have a number of friends who have never caught a fish with me tomorrow and will be in that general neighborhood so any additional info would be appreciated.
 
You can fish either side of the shoal or on top, the entire piece of structure can be productive. Standard rules and depths apply.... start on the south and troll north looking for bait and arches!



ps Theres an RCA along the mainland semi-near there.
 
Easy limits off the bjerre.
Green glow spoons and small PLUGS no flasher close to bottom.
All 12-18lb reds with the odd big white in the mix. Few wild coho as well.
Prawning is awesome.
Great place and good ppl!
Fished there recently, heard it's producing. What depth of water were you in and were you on the inside or outside
 
You can fish either side of the shoal or on top, the entire piece of structure can be productive. Standard rules and depths apply.... start on the south and troll north looking for bait and arches!



ps Theres an RCA along the mainland semi-near there.
anything i should know about the shoals, i'm heading out in a couple days
 
anything i should know about the shoals, i'm heading out in a couple days

Not really, start south, troll north on one side and down the other looking to find the bait. Pretty standard! Good luck out there
 
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The view from my air B&B in Parksville. Of course the first thing I do is hit Navionics when I get here to see the spots I read about in reports. Looks like a beautiful part of the world you guys fish in! Wishing I had my boat here...Have a good weekend out there.
Edit: who want to take me out tomorrow morning?
 
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I have a report, but not fishing...

I was going to post a pic asking about a the purpose of a big boat in the harbour that had 2 booms off of it... There were also a half dozen or more other smaller boats in the area, but none were moving. These were in like 15-20’ of water.
We put the baby to sleep and heard a pop as I went to the living room. We were then treated to 15 solid minutes of fireworks that were as impressive as any that I’ve seen before.

Did any of you get your boats out to see it?

Awesome weekend here rain and all! Next year I will only do vacations if fishing is involved though ;)

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Did any of you get your boats out to see it?

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If your in Parksville, your across the strait from us since we're all based off the mainland side of the strait. Unless your keen on running across at night, unlikely any of us saw it. Looks like a good time tho!

PS I love Parksville, I grew up there. ;)
 
Since you asked... fishing out of secret cove is still reminiscent of the 80's Lots of ho's, Orca bait to 18LBS as of yesterday. Don't need to go far Epsom contours will do, springs in the sand, coho right off the clip to the bottom, any rig works. Friday was hatch jobs, yesterday NO hatches? Guys still netting fish to ID Ho's? They are only 6-8 LBS a quick lift of the leader over the water, look and release works fine. I know it's taboo to post due to risk of getting 16 shut down but thought best to back the report with photos.
 

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