2019 Sidney Reports

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Went out for an early solo fish before work this morning (7 - 8:30). Landed and released a very fat non clipped Spring near Coal - probably 18 - 20 pounds. Managed to lose a cannonball in the process. One other boat out there and they were doing well. Saw them double up at one point. Definitely fish out there if "the tug is the drug".
 
Spent less than 90 mins at Coal today just before the low slack. Released 4 fish - 1 under, and the other 3 ranging from 12-16lbs. All clipped, and all on the bottom on an AP sandlance in the ripping current!
 
Spent less than 90 mins at Coal today just before the low slack. Released 4 fish - 1 under, and the other 3 ranging from 12-16lbs. All clipped, and all on the bottom on an AP sandlance in the ripping current!
With or against the current? If against, do you speed up to try to make headway? Asking for a friend... ;)
 
The science behind trolling in the current... forgive me if this is common knowledge

First of all i dont use SOG (speed over ground) on my chartplotter, i use the angle of my downrigger lines. Depending on how deep my gear is I have an idea of how steep I want the angle to be. The ideal angle will be the same at a specific depth on any day, in any current, because you use the angle of the downrigger line to gauge the amount of drag on the gear. The current may be moving differently at the surface than on the bottom or wherever your gear is, so SOW (speed over water) doesnt work either. The angle of the downrigger line is truly the best tool to gauge the speed of your gear. If you fish one side at 60, and one side at 120, at the ideal speed, the angles will obviously be different. Over time youll develop an idea of what you want your lines to look like at the depths you normally fish. To get you started, if you know what the current is doing (in Sidney I use current tables, not tide tables) you can do some guesswork and a little basic math to determine roughly what speed you want depending on whether youre trolling into, or away from, the current. At slack current, most anglers like about 1.8-2.2mph for bait, 2.2-2.5mph for spoons/hoochies, and 2.5-4.0mph for plugs. If the current is ebbing approximately 2mph, if you troll into the ebbing current, your speed (using spoons in this example) will be quite slow, somewhere around 0.2-0.5mph. When I find myself in a scenario like this ill usually troll a little faster so I cover a bit more ground, so knowing that the "ideal" speed is 0.2-0.5mph, I might troll 0.5-1.0mph. Now you get to the top of the tack and turn around, suddenly that current is travelling with you, so you need to speed up (according to your GPS) a bunch to compensate. With the same 2mph ebb current, this time trolling with it, youll want to be in the 4.2-4.5mph range. This is obviously a fairly extreme example, as most sane fishermen wont fish a 2mph current out in the open and instead will opt for a backeddy or lee side of an island, but the same math applies if the current is 1mph or 2mph or 100mph.

When the current is really moving its best to just troll along with the current and pick up your gear at the end of the tack and start again from the top, otehrwise you spend 90% of your time chugging back "upstream" and by the time you complete your turn youve already blown by half the downstream tack.

TLDR: yes I speed up to make headway when trolling into the current.
 
The science behind trolling in the current... forgive me if this is common knowledge

First of all i dont use SOG (speed over ground) on my chartplotter, i use the angle of my downrigger lines. Depending on how deep my gear is I have an idea of how steep I want the angle to be. The ideal angle will be the same at a specific depth on any day, in any current, because you use the angle of the downrigger line to gauge the amount of drag on the gear. The current may be moving differently at the surface than on the bottom or wherever your gear is, so SOW (speed over water) doesnt work either. The angle of the downrigger line is truly the best tool to gauge the speed of your gear. If you fish one side at 60, and one side at 120, at the ideal speed, the angles will obviously be different. Over time youll develop an idea of what you want your lines to look like at the depths you normally fish. To get you started, if you know what the current is doing (in Sidney I use current tables, not tide tables) you can do some guesswork and a little basic math to determine roughly what speed you want depending on whether youre trolling into, or away from, the current. At slack current, most anglers like about 1.8-2.2mph for bait, 2.2-2.5mph for spoons/hoochies, and 2.5-4.0mph for plugs. If the current is ebbing approximately 2mph, if you troll into the ebbing current, your speed (using spoons in this example) will be quite slow, somewhere around 0.2-0.5mph. When I find myself in a scenario like this ill usually troll a little faster so I cover a bit more ground, so knowing that the "ideal" speed is 0.2-0.5mph, I might troll 0.5-1.0mph. Now you get to the top of the tack and turn around, suddenly that current is travelling with you, so you need to speed up (according to your GPS) a bunch to compensate. With the same 2mph ebb current, this time trolling with it, youll want to be in the 4.2-4.5mph range. This is obviously a fairly extreme example, as most sane fishermen wont fish a 2mph current out in the open and instead will opt for a backeddy or lee side of an island, but the same math applies if the current is 1mph or 2mph or 100mph.

When the current is really moving its best to just troll along with the current and pick up your gear at the end of the tack and start again from the top, otehrwise you spend 90% of your time chugging back "upstream" and by the time you complete your turn youve already blown by half the downstream tack.

TLDR: yes I speed up to make headway when trolling into the current.
If possible I like to fish across the current to keep my cable angle where I like it
 
Set out the traps in the morning and carried out my business for a few hours went back to check them and couldn't have been more successful! Three Giant brown rats that have been plaguing my yard for a while.
Peanut butter was the winning bait :p

... Boy do I miss fishing... But the backyard hasn't looked better! :D

Sorry, but I feel compelled to weigh in on this. On my drive home last week, I witnessed a dead raccoon on the Pat Bay highway. A quick call to the local chapter of "We Love Cute Animals More Than People" confirmed my suspicions that this was obviously clear evidence that the racoons are starving.

Some additional investigation pointed clearly at the culprits as humans and their wanton overharvesting of brown rats. Local FN's are claiming that only they have the right to kill brown rats and plan to continue to use utilize their traditional harvesting methods of .22 rifles and sticks of dynamite regardless of any government legislation. David Suzuki was asked for comment and blamed climate change, tanker traffic, and anybody who doesn't agree with him, as the real problem for the plight of the raccoons. He has also reached out asking for further funding for the Suzuki foundation from government and private donors so that he can save them.

Calls for a raccoon corridor are out and the Federal government is recommending that that the Pat Bay highway be shut down as the raccoons are known to frequent this area. Justin Trudeau quickly weighed in and apologized to the FN, the raccoons, and the rats for all of the bad things done to them before he was born. Anything he has done as PM were specifically excluded from the list of apologies.

While a local raccoon expert from UVIC has explained that raccoons don't actually prey on brown rats, none of the news media have chosen to report his findings.

Sorry for the derail.
 
Sorry, but I feel compelled to weigh in on this. On my drive home last week, I witnessed a dead raccoon on the Pat Bay highway. A quick call to the local chapter of "We Love Cute Animals More Than People" confirmed my suspicions that this was obviously clear evidence that the racoons are starving.

Some additional investigation pointed clearly at the culprits as humans and their wanton overharvesting of brown rats. Local FN's are claiming that only they have the right to kill brown rats and plan to continue to use utilize their traditional harvesting methods of .22 rifles and sticks of dynamite regardless of any government legislation. David Suzuki was asked for comment and blamed climate change, tanker traffic, and anybody who doesn't agree with him, as the real problem for the plight of the raccoons. He has also reached out asking for further funding for the Suzuki foundation from government and private donors so that he can save them.

Calls for a raccoon corridor are out and the Federal government is recommending that that the Pat Bay highway be shut down as the raccoons are known to frequent this area. Justin Trudeau quickly weighed in and apologized to the FN, the raccoons, and the rats for all of the bad things done to them before he was born. Anything he has done as PM were specifically excluded from the list of apologies.

While a local raccoon expert from UVIC has explained that raccoons don't actually prey on brown rats, none of the news media have chosen to report his findings.

Sorry for the derail.
Sorry, this is not the "Onion."
 
Had a front row seat to the Stizzla show today at Coal. Im gonna have to start dibbsing the deep side when I fish with guys from the forum, this is getting out of hand.

Anyways Ill let the Stizzmeister fill u guys in on our trip, dont wanna steal his thunder!
 
I put my big girl panties on and fished with my good luck charm @advTHXance this afternoon.

My skill was surely on display (and with full guns out) I hooked a personal best (14ish) and a couple around 10. Wicked nice day. Lots of sun and laughs. Thanks man! BTW... Great left handed releases :)

Stizz

Stizzfish.jpg
 

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Sorry, but I feel compelled to weigh in on this. On my drive home last week, I witnessed a dead raccoon on the Pat Bay highway. A quick call to the local chapter of "We Love Cute Animals More Than People" confirmed my suspicions that this was obviously clear evidence that the racoons are starving.

Some additional investigation pointed clearly at the culprits as humans and their wanton overharvesting of brown rats. Local FN's are claiming that only they have the right to kill brown rats and plan to continue to use utilize their traditional harvesting methods of .22 rifles and sticks of dynamite regardless of any government legislation. David Suzuki was asked for comment and blamed climate change, tanker traffic, and anybody who doesn't agree with him, as the real problem for the plight of the raccoons. He has also reached out asking for further funding for the Suzuki foundation from government and private donors so that he can save them.

Calls for a raccoon corridor are out and the Federal government is recommending that that the Pat Bay highway be shut down as the raccoons are known to frequent this area. Justin Trudeau quickly weighed in and apologized to the FN, the raccoons, and the rats for all of the bad things done to them before he was born. Anything he has done as PM were specifically excluded from the list of apologies.

While a local raccoon expert from UVIC has explained that raccoons don't actually prey on brown rats, none of the news media have chosen to report his findings.

Sorry for the derail.

This is legitimately funny. Thank you!
 
I put my big girl panties on and fished with my good luck charm @advTHXance this afternoon.

My skill was surely on display (and with full guns out) I hooked a personal best (14ish) and a couple around 10. Wicked nice day. Lots of sun and laughs. Thanks man! BTW... Great left handed releases :)

Stizz
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No mention of if the fish where hatchery marked not that it matters, but curious.

Nice work by the way. Nice to see some fish are out there and someone’s making the best of the weather and current situation.
 
I honestly didn’t notice if they were hatchery or not. I Just enjoyed the fight! Maybe THX noticed as he released them in the water and I stood back to give him space to do so.
Maybe if it were a 44 pounder I would’ve had a closer look. (Inside joke for the Alberta Boys)

I feel like with the closures and NOBODY else fishing on such an INCREDIBLE day, it makes for some action packed catch and release fishing.

If they actually could find a way to keep the nets out of the rivers, we would likely see a difference for the future of salmon fishing.

FYI we were at coal and the hot hand was green glow flasher and skinny G on bottom. (Sorry I’m rusty at reports as it’s been months since I’ve caught anything!)
 
I honestly didn’t notice if they were hatchery or not. I Just enjoyed the fight! Maybe THX noticed as he released them in the water and I stood back to give him space to do so.
Maybe if it were a 44 pounder I would’ve had a closer look. (Inside joke for the Alberta Boys)

I feel like with the closures and NOBODY else fishing on such an INCREDIBLE day, it makes for some action packed catch and release fishing.

If they actually could find a way to keep the nets out of the rivers, we would likely see a difference for the future of salmon fishing.

FYI we were at coal and the hot hand was green glow flasher and skinny G on bottom. (Sorry I’m rusty at reports as it’s been months since I’ve caught anything!)

2015 was a good year for chinook and I don’t think it’s a surprise that this year has been off to a good start.

Its a shame they shut down the ocean for a chinook stock that haven’t made up even a small portion on any fishery for years.

If your catching lots of hatchery fish, well Those fish if they don’t get caught are just going to swim up to a hatchery outlet some where, where they will get bonked for brood or packaged up.

If there is lots of wild fish or unclipped fish out there it would be a good sign pending they are actually wild fish and not just unclipped Canadian hatchery fish.

Congrats on your new record, I find 15 pound chinook fight like possessed demons.
 
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