50 Fathom line
- Thread starter Trophy21
- Start date
spring fever
Well-Known Member
The 50 fathom line or as it is often known-"the hiway" can be a very productive area to fish. I too fish structure, points, backeddies, reefs etc but when that doesn't work I head out deeper. The hiway-is not some strict narrow band of water right at 300 feet of depth-it maybe at 260 or 500 feet of depth but usually it is where you find transiting fish-I believe it is temp and bait related. If I know of structure there I will try it. If I see birds or bait I try there. Usually I fish very deep-220,240 ft of wire. We usually start higher and quickly work our way down. If we get a hit-we mark it and do an expanding square search. If we get a fish we don't just blindly move on but try to reproduce depth, bait, direction of travel etc. Some areas are better than others. Last year the hi-way at Winter Harbour didn't produce as well as it usually does-yet the fish showed up in the Columbia in droves-we kept on going out and found lots of fish in 500 ft-water was warm last year-might have been the reason. Can get awful lonely out there-make sure you have the WX ,gas and boat to do it. Most guys will give you good areas to try-I certainly do. Pre-planning is a good idea-for instance try all your in-shore points and if no joy have an area you want to try
Off-shore. Think about your lures-I use bait-but some guys can't stand that because of the depth and how often it has to checked. Great place for hardware, plugs spoons etc. Usually big fish so big spoons turds etc are productive late july aug. I'm rambling on-I could write a book 'so I'll shut-up. Must be time to leave Baja and get the boat in the water. LOL
Off-shore. Think about your lures-I use bait-but some guys can't stand that because of the depth and how often it has to checked. Great place for hardware, plugs spoons etc. Usually big fish so big spoons turds etc are productive late july aug. I'm rambling on-I could write a book 'so I'll shut-up. Must be time to leave Baja and get the boat in the water. LOL
Tailwalker
Active Member
Spring Fever, so are the fish usually that deep (200-300 ft) in the "highway"? If going out to the "highway" from Nootka, would one expect to fish those depths as well?
spring fever
Well-Known Member
Nootka is a little different in that the hi-way is a long way from land and one assumes you are going to be beyond Bajo. I don't often fish the hiway at Nootka because there are so many productive areas before you reach it. I have done it and been well reward. I fish the hi-way when the in-shore stuff hasn't worked-my belief is that it is a temp thing with the hiway/and or bait. I expect to fish deep, I expect the fish to be deep. If I haven't hit fish after working out to the red cone buoy at the corner of Bajo (90 ft+/_) Then I chase the bottom directly to deep water, other guys on the boat will elect to level at 140 or 160 but I just chase the bottom. Get a lot of halis. If you are on the hiway expect to fish deep-one exception is if you see bait on the sounder and then I try to straddle it. Above and below. Hope that helps.
Tailwalker
Active Member
Thank you very much!
walleyes
Crew Member
spring fever I just wanted to give you some acknowledgement. You are by far one of the most helpful people on this site or any site I am a part of. I learn a lot by reading your posts and trying to soak up some of your knowledge and experience. It's a big ocean with lots of room for everyone why not share it and pass on some knowledge when we can.
Thx you for your valuable input..
Sorry for the derail..
Thx you for your valuable input..
Sorry for the derail..
I second that.
Always helpful and doesn't seem to get involved with the endless childish squabbling you see so often here.
Keep it up man.
Always helpful and doesn't seem to get involved with the endless childish squabbling you see so often here.
Keep it up man.
spring fever
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the nice sentiments, guys-appreciate it-packed up the 15 ft tinny in Baja just now-probably one of the worst overall seasons down here for some years. Looking forward to some real early season fishing out at the 50 fathom mark-first place they'll be-if only the weather is better than last year.
Island Fish Lifter
Well-Known Member
x5............
Fish on John
Member
Yes SF is very Knowledgeable & Great for forum.
Just a thought Fishing Out of Esperanza Inlet gets you out to the Highway much sooner. It is way closer to beach. 6 to 12 miles. Check out chart # 3604 or your GPS or computer you will see what I mean.
The Highway is the most productive outside Chinook & Coho fishing area out there. You are also usually near some of the best Halibut fishing areas off Esperanza. So when you finish with Salmon change gear & get your Hali.
Good Luck. FOJ
Just a thought Fishing Out of Esperanza Inlet gets you out to the Highway much sooner. It is way closer to beach. 6 to 12 miles. Check out chart # 3604 or your GPS or computer you will see what I mean.
The Highway is the most productive outside Chinook & Coho fishing area out there. You are also usually near some of the best Halibut fishing areas off Esperanza. So when you finish with Salmon change gear & get your Hali.
Good Luck. FOJ
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