2015 Comox Valley-Comox Harbour, Kitty Coleman, Cape Lazo, Denman & Hornby Islands

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has heard of any half decent reports from the area recently? Mainly around Cape Lazo?

Also this is the first year I'm trolling for salmon by myself (I'm in my early 20's). I haven't had any luck in hookin up (to a salmon) even when I am locating bait balls and jigging them with Wilson darts and zzingers. It's also the exact same story with trolling, constantly changing up and everything.

So I'm wondering if someone could give me some advice on an all round flasher hootchie setup or any other lures that will get all salmon species attention. Mainly coho chinook and pinks.

Tight lines
 
Welcome Double Eagle. You could try the marker bouy area off of the Coast Guard station. Fish around the 70 ft line. Try an Army Truck flasher and Army Truck hootchie. It works for me. Another one to try is a pink APEX Hot Spot behind a flasher. That works well for pinks.

Patience is the name of the game. Trial and error with different combinations will help you figure out what works.

Good luck and maybe see you out there some day.

Don
 
Going fishing for a couple days around hornby.any reports?

was out last night off hornby. boated a couple under sized springs in an hour and then spent the next few hours watching whales and porpoises until dark. Quite the experience. First time i have seen humpbacks off hornby.

Heading out again tonight for a longer shift
 
was out last night off hornby. boated a couple under sized springs in an hour and then spent the next few hours watching whales and porpoises until dark. Quite the experience. First time i have seen humpbacks off hornby.

Heading out again tonight for a longer shift

Must have been pretty lumpy out last nite ! Saw the whale show too!! Unbelievable how they breached. Only fished for a hour then reeled in to watch the humpies. Yesterday pawned and fished til noon. Not a sniff of fish. Did get nice size prawns but not a lot of them.
 
Get your childern down to porches for a burger and a piece of smoked salmon at joes.Bring there trout rods with a smallest pink blue fox smaller the better add a small twist wait.and send them casting 1pm -3:30pm tomorrow line the beach between there and the old cement dock.polerized protective eyewear is awsome to veiw thousands of pinks.they are still silver.Might find a lunker spring too.
 
Get your childern down to porches for a burger and a piece of smoked salmon at joes.Bring their trout rods with a smallest pink blue fox smaller the better add a small twist wait.and send them casting 1pm -3:30pm tomorrow line the beach between there and the old cement dock.polerized protective eyewear is awsome to veiw thousands of pinks.they are still silver.Might find a lunker spring too.
 
Fished Kitty Coleman yesterday for a few hours and managed one good size Pink. Picked it up at 80 ft using Army Truck flasher and hootchie.
Also had a few shakers on but not much happening. Not much bait around.

Anyone getting any Coho?
 
Hi Double Eagle. The post from GLC has some great photo's - I rig mine like the photo's from kingblazer84. Starting from the hook:

Use a single 5/0 Mustad 95170-ss hook. Crimp the hook to a fairly large barrel swivel. Tie a 4ft leader of a stiff 50# leader to the other end of the barrel swivel. Most Flourocarbon lines are stiff. Slide a mylar skirt down the leader to the barrel swivel. Slide a gum-puckey down next. Slide the hoochy of choice down. Make sure that the joint of where the hook & swivel meet is aligned with where the hoochy body changes from solid to tassels. Some plastic beads between the gum puckey & mylar squirt may be needed to achieve this alignment. when ready to fish, trim the leader as needed so that the length of your "tail" (bend of the hook to the knot to the Flasher) is 4 times the blade length, which will usually be 44". Tie the leader directly to the swivel on the large end of the Flasher. Put the gear in the release clip & check the action. The Flasher should rotate once a second or a little faster. The hoochy should roll/flop around 3-6" or so.

Note; this is the combo I always use & it has treated me well since 1986. There are other ways to achieve a similar action such as a shorter lighter leader such as 30# & using twin mooching hooks instead of the single Siwash hook.

Here is why I like my combo better:

When the bite is on, you want your gear in the water as much as possible. Single Siwash is way quicker to remove from fish & doesn't tangle in the net as easily.
Heavy leader doesn't get dinged requiring a gear change.
No need to net small fish - just grab the leader, put pliers on the hook shaft, a single twist & they are on their way. I have no problem treating 10# fish in this manner.
This rig can be fished at the same speed (faster) as a plug. I asked a commercial troller why he trolled so fast (4-5 mph) when sport fishing & his answer was "I kinda like eating fish"

As for hoochie's, most commonly used is the Octopus style (Golden Bait calls these OG), good for when herring or similar fish are the feed. Next common are needle fish hooch's good for when (guess what) needle fish are the feed. Golden bail calls these "NG". Least common are the squid hoochie's "KL" For squid hoochie's Yozuri hoochie's are probably better that the Golden Bait squid pattern. The hoochie's are known as "Tofino Dog Turd's".
For color, my 2 favorite in both OG & NG styles are color's 142R (green) & 161R. The turd;s are Yozuri J85. Realize that I do not fish in your area, so local color recommendations should trump mine.

For Flashers, assume that the Flasher's sight attraction is that of a feeding Salmon. I like something in UV purple or UV green. Glow is OK.

Spoons are much more straight forward' you don't need a leader or swivel. Like a flasher/hoochy, speed is not as critical as with a plug.
 
Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has heard of any half decent reports from the area recently? Mainly around Cape Lazo?

Also this is the first year I'm trolling for salmon by myself (I'm in my early 20's). I haven't had any luck in hookin up (to a salmon) even when I am locating bait balls and jigging them with Wilson darts and zzingers. It's also the exact same story with trolling, constantly changing up and everything.

So I'm wondering if someone could give me some advice on an all round flasher hootchie setup or any other lures that will get all salmon species attention. Mainly coho chinook and pinks.

Tight lines


hey mate. first thing you need to do is stop working. and tell your friends and family that you've got a lot of work to do in pursuing fish so you won't be seeing them much during the season. in order to be an expert and successful fisherman around here (ie. catch a few salmon) you need to dedicate the right amount of time. 5 hours a day is a good start. read every thing you can, and spend your time off the water in the fishing stores. best if you have a lot of money saved as you will be spending a lot of it on gear, then more gear, then new gear and then some more gear. lots of good advice from the pros on this forum, so good luck and have at er! let us know if you catch anything.
 
Are the boat launches to be buisy in comox tomorrow and for the next couple weeks?I will do this fishery as good chance at keeping my catch.
 
Hello all...Newbie here just moved from Hinton, AB....super stoked to be living in God's Country here! Been primarily a fly fisherman for the past 20 years but have now acquired a 17 ft glass boat and am eager to learn- have been reading pages on these forums! I live in Merville so have taken my boat only once so far to the Kitty launch- by myself (didn't want to endanger the wife and kids on the first trip!) Made it back alive which was goal #1! No fish but the guy I bought the boat from kept the riggers and I'm too...ahem....'frugal' to cough up more on riggers than the boat! I tried with a deep 6 or whatever and had a few tangles but had a fun day anyway. I really appreciate all the info that you experienced salties share here- it's like learning a new language but slowly I'm getting to understand, not to mention go broke! Well today I bought a couple manual riggers for now- I like that there's not much to go wrong with them- and I'll keep my eye out for a decent electric next. I need to get back on the water in the next day or two to try again! Looking forward to meeting some of you out there, take good care! BTW if anyone would like some company or join me , feel free to message me, will find a job around here someday when absolutely necessary...better yet, my wife might start working part time...I like the sound of that!
 
Welcome to this site Chum4chum and welcome to BC.
There are great fishing opportunities all around you. There are also many many helpful folks on this site with great advise for you that will help with the saltchuck fishing learning curve. Try to drop into a well established tackle shop and seek some one with knowledge and expertise to help you. Good on you for giving it a shot already and there is still lots of season action left if you get at it. I don't live any where near you, but if I can be of any help don't hesitate to PM me.
Good luck out there ........ With leaving Hinton ....... You too left a little of gods hunting country.
HT
 
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18lbs spring last night off lazo bar, 15lbs spring tonight same area, moon jelly flasher with 5" tomic spoon green/white
 
Nice work Prawnhunter...so what I'd like to know- did you catch anything else or is it common to go out for 4 hours and catch 1 fish? My son and I went to Pacific Playgrounds the other day hoping there were still pinks coming up the Oyster- I saw one surface and we did catch a bunch of bullheads (Kept my son interested) The ocean got calm so we went out, dropped a couple crab traps and had our first attempt on the manual downriggers. Didn't catch anything after a few hours so did a little bottom bouncing and caught a few species of bottom fish- nothing big but again, as long as the kids take interest, I'm happy!
 
Nice work Prawnhunter...so what I'd like to know- did you catch anything else or is it common to go out for 4 hours and catch 1 fish? My son and I went to Pacific Playgrounds the other day hoping there were still pinks coming up the Oyster- I saw one surface and we did catch a bunch of bullheads (Kept my son interested) The ocean got calm so we went out, dropped a couple crab traps and had our first attempt on the manual downriggers. Didn't catch anything after a few hours so did a little bottom bouncing and caught a few species of bottom fish- nothing big but again, as long as the kids take interest, I'm happy!

There was one other spring and some pinks caught by the boat that day and one nice 7 lbs hatchery coho. It's pretty slow out there right now though, I think there will be another small wave of puntledge fall run still to come along with coho. Typically there is lots of coho around this time of year but i suspect the weather has been playing a role in why they are not here in the numbers expected. Did you get any crabs in the traps?
 
I had one legal Dungeness but it was a female so put her back. Great that you caught more fish- looking forward to my first salmon on the downriggers, have caught pinks, chum, and sockeye on the fly rod which was awesome but they were in rivers- want those silver fish, especially a spring!
 
Hey all, thinking of wetting some lines tomorrow- only my third time out and a bit nervous to venture too far (old 17 ft K&C boat/motors, new to the salt water thing, most important may have a wife and child on board!) Ant suggestions for the Kitty coleman/ Pacific playgrounds area? Love a salmon or two but if the family is with me it may be better to bottom fish- would love a P cod!
Thanks in advance!
P.S. May have to go again on the weekend so suggest away!
 
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