North island reports

Got back from Port Hardy on Saturday. Fished Sunday the 16th to thursday the 20th. In general fishing for springs was still quite good. Other than Monday it was pretty windy with lots of kelp to deal with. Purple flasher with Purple teaser worked good, and bright red/orange teaser was really hot at times. Springs were a little on the smaller side ranging from 8-17lbs for us though we saw a couple larger ones caught. Did one day on the west coast and got 24lb at cliffe pt on purple combination. Got a couple smaller hali and 2 nice ling and a nice snapper before it got rough bottom fishing out front of Cains. Pretty good swells 6-8 ft. Really good quick trip!
 
Went up to Port Hardy for our first time this last week over the long weekend and we had fabulous weather. Sunny skies and calm sees. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

Day #1 we arrived a bit late (2AM) to the Cabin so we didn't get onto the water until about 1 PM. Headed out to wear some people were trolling at the mouth of the hardy bay. Didn't see much action so we went further out and caught a Coho. Action was slow, only saw one spring caught. So we headed to some calmer water since it got a bit windy in the evening and found some black rockfish in 20 feet, caught a couple for dinner, a couple greenling and a flounder.



So many Jellyfish!





Continued...
 
Day # 2 we got out earlier and headed in search of bottom fish since our host at the cabins said the salmon fishing had not been good and if we wanted to catch some fish that would be a better bet. So we sent in search or structure. First few spots were a flop then we found a good location that gave up some nice fishing.
















 
Day #3 went out again to try for some quick bottom fish and then go after some salmon. Caught a ling and four rockfish and since we hand our rockfish we moved onto the salmon. Ended up catching another ling trolling for salmon then got into some action. Caught a nice big Pink salmon and four big coho but one got off right by the boat. We also had a killer whale come visit us which was the high light of our trip!













Tried trolling for halibut only caught these.



Finished off the day with this,


Our final day we were at Campbell river and had been fished right out so we went to check out the salmon spawning... tons of pinks.






Well that was our epic adventure and we will certainly be back. We'll try a bit harder for the halibut next time. Only gave it a go the last hour of light.
 
What's the fish the dude in the black jacket has in his left hand- also top fish in next pic? Caught a couple of those but tossed back as I didn't know what they were. I was in shallow water so knew they'd be ok...
 
Good to see the girls wearing life jackets. And some really nice yelloweye and lings too.
 
I think it's a Cabezon?

What's the fish the dude in the black jacket has in his left hand- also top fish in next pic? Caught a couple of those but tossed back as I didn't know what they were. I was in shallow water so knew they'd be ok...
 
What's the fish the dude in the black jacket has in his left hand- also top fish in next pic? Caught a couple of those but tossed back as I didn't know what they were. I was in shallow water so knew they'd be ok...

Yeah it is a greenling. I always used to catch them in California but would toss them back. Then someone recently commented on one of my pictures that they like eating them. So the limit is a generous 3 fish, so when I caught a couple I decided to keep one to try it out. It's filleted but I have to fry it up and I'll let you know if they're worth keeping.

Good to see the girls wearing life jackets. And some really nice yelloweye and lings too.

Yeah trying not to trigger previous events.
 
Really nice report FishDoc!
Looks like you and your family had a great time. I've yet to fish the port hardy area but will someday. maybe as the beginning of an excursion to rivers inlet. that trips on the bucket list. looks like a nice variety of fish you were able to catch. have a good one,
bigD
 
Really nice report FishDoc!
Looks like you and your family had a great time. I've yet to fish the port hardy area but will someday. maybe as the beginning of an excursion to rivers inlet. that trips on the bucket list. looks like a nice variety of fish you were able to catch. have a good one,
bigD

Thanks very much. Yeah maybe once I get a more sea worthy boat with longer range I'll head up to rivers inlet as well for the monsters.
 
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