2021 Vancouver-Howe Sound-Sechelt Reports Thread

ran to gabriola last night around 3 , lings were a joke , first drop two 20 plus pound fish in the box . had the 8wt sages spooled up with 40 lb , so thought we would have some fun with the chinook, had 4 low teen cookie cutters in just over a hour . stayed on the hook in silva , up at the crack of dawn to catch some live bait and once again , first drift a 20 plus , and a mid teener ling . tried to jig rockfish briefly but just more ling and released a beauty tiger rockfish . current was too squirrelly for our liking for salmon , so we are currently at hump/RC and nothing in two hours other than a 20cm, very strange

the old man with a couple
5089093D-BA99-413C-AE27-B6AC53000358.jpeg.
 
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adanac said:
ran to gabriola last night around 3 , lings were a joke , first drop two 20 plus pound fish in the box . had the 8wt sages spooled up with 40 lb , so thought we would have some fun with the chinook, had 4 low teen cookie cutters in just over a hour . stayed on the hook in silva , up at the crack of dawn to catch some live bait and once again , first drift a 20 plus , and a mid teener ling . tried to jig rockfish briefly but just more ling and released a beauty tiger rockfish . current was too squirrelly for our liking for salmon , so we are currently at hump/RC and nothing in two hours other than a 20cm, very strange

the old man with a couple
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Awesome I was there last Saturday just the one hit one ling was really slow
 
This morning I dropped off my crab traps in front of spanish banks in approx 60-70 feet of water at about 8am before cruising across the straight. When I came back to grab my traps at 1pm the same day, only 3 out of the 4 were there... I've been crabbing for quite some time so it wasn't a careless mistake.. I have weights in my traps, I clearly mark every trap on my fish finder and the traps are evenly spread apart and today all traps were set between 60-70 feet of water... I have read about a huge upswing in recent theft of prawn and crab traps. I am quite confident someone stole my crab trap but in the event I am wrong, if anyone is going to be dropping off crab traps or passing by spanish banks on their way to the fishing grounds can you please let me know if you see my buoy? It's a extra large ORANGE Bullet buoy which is not common so it should stick out like a sore thumb. I've attached a picture of the buoy and the location of where the trap was dropped. The buoy has my number with the last 4 digits being 9770.

The reason I've posted it in the fishing report is because many of you, including myself, drop of crab or prawn traps prior to going fishing or for a cruise... there have been a number of reports as of late about stolen prawn and crab traps...seems like this problem is getting out of control... If my traps were indeed stolen which I am fairly certain they were, perhaps the ones who picked it up dropped it off in deeper water or perhaps they dropped it off somewhere far from the original location. If you happen to be cruising past a LARGE orange buoy near spanish banks or spot it elsewhere, please message me. thank you.
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lost trap.jpg
 
A friend just sent me a photo of this boat that was caught pulling his pots and had other people's pots on board the boat. It's been reported to DFO but I thought I would share the photos
 

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cohochinook said:
A friend just sent me a photo of this boat that was caught pulling his pots and had other people's pots on board the boat. It's been reported to DFO but I thought I would share the photos
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Pretty sure that is the renowned Kingfisher that goes in and out of McDonald beach dropping off 'clients' with garbage bags full of bottom fish that they quickly scurry to their vehicles with. It may not be but I seem to recall it being a white one.
 
Would like to here the rest of the story! Did he get his traps back? Did he follow him back in? DFO/Cops show up? A bunch of jigging rods up top, looks like 2 guys on the boat. I have to admit, if I saw a 30"Harborcraft heading near my traps I would think he is getting his own as opposed to a junker zipping around them. I have lost 3 traps over the years (1 at the South Arm and 2 at the North) Always set in the same spot and then gone! Getting to the point now when you set your traps and have to hang out there all day!
 
cohochinook said:
A friend just sent me a photo of this boat that was caught pulling his pots and had other people's pots on board the boat. It's been reported to DFO but I thought I would share the photos
Click to expand...

this makes sense.... My 4 traps and buoys were set in a line along the 60-70 ft contour between the 2 mile markers in front of spanish banks.. all 4 traps evenly spaced and far apart.... As I was heading into the harbor from the straight, I noticed a very large aluminum fishing boat hovering around one of my buoys... Don't remember if it was the 2nd or 3rd buoy out from my heading (The 3rd buoy and trap was the one that was stolen), but the large aluminum boat was very close(I'd say within 10 feet of my buoy). It was close enough where most boaters would avoid due to the possibility of tangling the line up with your prop so there should be no reason why he was there... There was no other buoys that I could see nearby so don't think he was hovering around his buoy... I obviously did not suspect he was up to no good so I proceeded to pickup the #1 buoy which was the one that was closest to me... Perhaps he already picked up my #3 trap and was about to pick up #2 until he saw me coming full steam towards buoy #1. Can't say for sure as I never saw my traps being stolen but what are the chances that someone in a boat that was spotted stealing/pulling up someone else's traps was hovering around my traps and didn't also steal a trap of mine?

If I ever catch anyone with my gear onboard their boat or pulling up my traps, I would hound them for hours while calling DFO and the cops and make sure they have the shittiest day on the water.
 
Fishallspec said:
Would like to here the rest of the story! Did he get his traps back? Did he follow him back in? DFO/Cops show up? A bunch of jigging rods up top, looks like 2 guys on the boat. I have to admit, if I saw a 30"Harborcraft heading near my traps I would think he is getting his own as opposed to a junker zipping around them. I have lost 3 traps over the years (1 at the South Arm and 2 at the North) Always set in the same spot and then gone! Getting to the point now when you set your traps and have to hang out there all day!
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According to my friend they were close to Squamish. They chased them halfway to Horseshoe Bay before it got too rough. They called it into DFO.
 
cohochinook said:
A friend just sent me a photo of this boat that was caught pulling his pots and had other people's pots on board the boat. It's been reported to DFO but I thought I would share the photos
Click to expand...
This guy is a piece of garbage. You would never suspect a boat this nice to be pulling that ****. But it's also a very recognizable boat. Good luck trying to hide it.
 
Brett83 said:
This guy is a piece of garbage. You would never suspect a boat this nice to be pulling that ****. But it's also a very recognizable boat. Good luck trying to hide it.
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Sadly, it's not just this one boat. There are a couple of others as well and unfortunately they all come out of Richmond and right under DFO's nose. I have personally reported the blue Kingfisher and the other 28' with all fenders out but have never seen RCMP/DFO dispatching enforcement. This trap theft issue has been an ongoing problem in the harbor/Howe Sound for the last few years. Add to that the pressure of ghost trapping (under the FN's commercial fishing cover) and there's no surprise shellfish stocks have been going down lately. I'll still call in all the suspicious activities but also like to see some real enforcement.
 
cohochinook said:
A friend just sent me a photo of this boat that was caught pulling his pots and had other people's pots on board the boat. It's been reported to DFO but I thought I would share the photos
Click to expand...
I saw a boat like this filled with guys jigging at Porlier Pass several times before the closure, when they left they headed back toward the mainland.
 
cohochinook said:
Just heard on CBC that DFO seized 209 plus illegal crab traps in English Bay!
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It would be good to see if they also go after those in the illegal act. 209 ghost traps isn’t small operations and there’s likely an abuse of commercial fishing license involved in this.
I’ve seen these guys hammering the area with ghost trapping, every time I was out this winter and spring. Surprisingly, for my last 3 outings the last couple of weeks, I didn’t see them around the area. This DFO ops may have something to do with that.

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