Winter Harbour Report

Great report SF, I'm glad those strips worked out well for you. Who would of thaught, fake stips from Ontario...:p
Maybe some other tackle from lake Ontario would work on WCVI salmon?

Eston

Same fish-just got to keep an open mind about stuff. They (McRocket strip) are impressive indeed-tried them 3 times at different places and on different stage fish and they got results in all 3 places. I won't say they outfished anchovy-but there were times that I started to wonder-but 40 years of habit dies hard!!LOL
 
-lot of coho in the 9 to 11 lb range. We were in the over 45cm area but that also put us in the 2 coho a day spot with only one unmarked allowed-seemed to work out ok.

if you were fishing in 400+ feet of water it soudns like you were outside the surf line... which is 2 coho per day, hatchery marked only. If you were in the "surf" area or in area 27 itself, you would be allowed 4 coho per day, marked or unmarked.

there are no regulations in the Quatsino area that state "2 coho per day, 1 of which may be unmarked", its either 2 hatchery marked in 127 outside the surf zone, or 4 of any inside and includeing the surf area.
 
Quite Right! If you notice I moved from where it was a total coho show to where we got springs the day before. Kept very few coho except in behind Kain and at Koskimo creek-Thanks for reading the post though! I should also add in reflection-I wrote the post at 3 am
 
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Any new reports? Will be in WH on Friday and looking for some good news.....? It's probably been so quiet on this thread cuz everyone is out slaying right? Lol
 
If you can't find fish off-shore-there were lots of coho at the narrows and all the creek and river mouths on the way down and with the recent rains I would say that's the case now. I caught fish there last fri.
 
Thanks spring fever. When talking about "the narrows", are you talking about Cliffe pt?
No the Narrows are Quotsino narrows right after Cole harbour on the way down. Fish the top part on the flood ,bottom (seaward side) on the ebb. Fish behind Boughton island on an ebb. Fish the mouth of the Mahatta and in the bay in front of Koskimo creek also Koprino . Cliffe is good but more exposed-I always fish all those plus and anywhere else I see jumpers this time of year. A pink coyote and white 602 hootchies are very effective. Coho only in those places I should add!
 
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The McRockets look interesting, what colours are you finding effective SF?

Well I was given a couple of prototypes that were 10 years or so old-basically a white glow and some kind of coffee colour about a month ago. I took them to Nootka and didn't really have any expectations but I thought they looked neat and they really were tuneable and did look like strip. So I was going to fish a dummy flasher and a bare anchovy above it. What I did was stacked my rigger and put the strip plus flasher on the bottom and the bare anchovy 10 feet above. First fish I got was on the strip=figured it was a bit of a fluke but no!! it happened again. It continued to at least hold it's own but by the end of the trip they were looking pretty sad. Talked to the member who gave them to me and he said the McRockets were way stronger and much better. I looked at the web site and ordered a lot of the white glows. Dalmation, and anything that I thought reminded me of my favourite spoons-heavy on the pilchard dots. The owner sent me a couple of new colours-one called Blueberry Muffin in the magnum size-I had it rigged and when I was at Winter Harbour .The fishing was steady but only anchovy were taking fish-I felt bad so I gave the Blueberry muffin strip rigged to my partner on the boat-scented it with super gel herring scent and he proceeded over the next 3 days to get as many fish as my chovy and with less effort! So I haven't tried them all-I didn't get the Bluberry muffin back But I'll order them in the Spring. I just ordered colours like my favourite spoons. The glow is excellent , they feel good, they accept scent and are strong and tuneable. If I had my order over I would have gone all Magnum. I think they have real potential-they are apparently a go to lure in the Great Lakes for salmon. Bought stupider stuff!! The Rhys Davis strip holders are a bit of a chore to find now days-I had some from yesteryear!
 
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Heading up to Quatsino on Friday. Does anyone have any news on how the fishing has been and where the fish might be found?
 
Heading up to Quatsino on Friday. Does anyone have any news on how the fishing has been and where the fish might be found?
If you are boating down from cole harbour-should still be coho at the narrows and all creek mouths and behind Boughton island on the Ebb-other than that I haven't heard. Good Luck
 
If you are boating down from cole harbour-should still be coho at the narrows and all creek mouths and behind Boughton island on the Ebb-other than that I haven't heard. Good Luck

Thank you Spring Fever. Not familiar with Boughton Island - did you mean Brockton Is? Last year we went at approximately this time and could not find any coho inside. We did manage to luck into steady coho action outside near Grants Bay and Lippy in the north and Brooks Bay in the south. However, the weather only allowed for 2 days of offshore fishing, after which a major storm forced us into Quatsino Sound for the rest of our trip. I'll report on our trip when we return.
 
Thank you Spring Fever. Not familiar with Boughton Island - did you mean Brockton Is? Last year we went at approximately this time and could not find any coho inside. We did manage to luck into steady coho action outside near Grants Bay and Lippy in the north and Brooks Bay in the south. However, the weather only allowed for 2 days of offshore fishing, after which a major storm forced us into Quatsino Sound for the rest of our trip. I'll report on our trip when we return.
Sorry if I got the spelling wrong-about half-way down with a light on the point. The inside stuff depends on the rain for sure and is very tide sensitive, You've got where I would fish on the outside at this time of year covered. Very hit or miss but can be great-so worth a chance.
 
We're back from our final trip of this season. History Channel is filming season two of the series ALONE in Quatsino Sound, and it had all of the locals abuzz! That was most of the excitement for us, as the fishing was very spotty and the weather discouraged us from fishing outside. Inside we found straggler coho at Cliffe Pt., Koprino Harbour and Koskimo Bay, Mahatta River on the west side, and also west of the Quatsino Narrows. No schools of fish - just a loner here and there. No luck in Rupert Inlet or in front of Varney Bay. We also noted the brown colour of the water in certain parts of the Sound ( runoff or red tide? ), loads of giant jelly fish just about everywhere we fished, and even caught two pacific mackerel in front of the Mahatta River fish farm! Go figure. Looking forward to next season already!
 
We're back from our final trip of this season. History Channel is filming season two of the series ALONE in Quatsino Sound, and it had all of the locals abuzz! That was most of the excitement for us, as the fishing was very spotty and the weather discouraged us from fishing outside. Inside we found straggler coho at Cliffe Pt., Koprino Harbour and Koskimo Bay, Mahatta River on the west side, and also west of the Quatsino Narrows. No schools of fish - just a loner here and there. No luck in Rupert Inlet or in front of Varney Bay. We also noted the brown colour of the water in certain parts of the Sound ( runoff or red tide? ), loads of giant jelly fish just about everywhere we fished, and even caught two pacific mackerel in front of the Mahatta River fish farm! Go figure. Looking forward to next season already!

Glad you had a good time! Pretty late for quotsino if you cant get out!! Thinking of next year as well!!
 
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