Aces
Well-Known Member
When are you heading up? I’m thinking the 28th
2022 Central Coast Reports
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tightlines
Well-Known Member
Anyone have any intel on what is going on with Shearwater Resort this year? I've got a booking confirmation but can't reach anyone up there via phone to confirm. Heading up Aug 7-14 and getting a little nervous. Don't want to show up and have nowhere to sleep.
Anyone with intel or contact number much appreciated.
Thanks
Anyone with intel or contact number much appreciated.
Thanks
Last_Call
Well-Known Member
Yes. They are open and operating but have limited staff and are trying their best to keep things rolling. I just stayed next to Shearwater in whiskey cove and my buddy I went with initially booked with Shearwater but didn’t hear back from them after several attempts to confirm his booking so he ended up booking whiskey cove and then the day before we arrived Shearwater called him back to confirm that we are staying with them. He had to explain how he tried to confirm his reso with Shearwater 5-6 times by phone and e-mail with no success. All that to say, they are open for business. Just short staffed. The store was well stocked and looked nice fyi. Good luck.
tightlines
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that - I actually got a call back today - Apparently email is the best way to correspond with them as I got a call back within 5 min. Sounds like we are good to go for our trip - hope the fishing and weather co-operate!
myles
Well-Known Member
Going up in my 34CHB towing my Hourston. I won't be up till the 2nd or 3rd maybe longer will need good weather to cross etc max speed 8.5 knots.
Aces
Well-Known Member
Oh, great idea! We are going to rough camp in my Hourston in the bay
Just heading over to Rivers Inlet for the first time on July 30th if the conditions are ok. Just trying to figure out where to fish. Could anyone point us in the right direction for Ling, halibut and salmon. Do you need an anchor system for halibut over there? Any info is appreciated.
TipUp
Well-Known Member
Attached is a map that I used as a reference when fishing Rivers this past June. The main salmon spots seem to be Cranstown Point and The Dome which you'll see all the guideboats fishing from the local lodges. Although the fishing was poor for our trip up there in June, we had most luck on small spoons mainly the herring aide skinny g. Ling fishing was good. Surprisingly caught all of our ling trolling while targeting salmon. Tons of decent sized black rockfish too which are a blast on light spinning rods. Rivers Inlet is a huge area so I think you just have to put in your time and find the fish. Hakai Pass is another good spot which is an 1.5 hours run (from Dawson's Landing). Enjoy the trip!
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Thanks for the info. Appreciate it.
fishbadger
Active Member
Is Rivers Inlet the kind of place where a guy can bring his own boat and fish a bit? I'm guessing trailer to the north part of the island and launch and transit on a weather window?
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RogersonCrusoe
Well-Known Member
I did some guiding out of a lodge in Penrose Island. I've circled the spots that were always good producers - Swan Rock (North circle) was our coho-go-to. And the opposite shore was Chinook-land.
Stick close to structure, fish shallow, hang on.
Stick close to structure, fish shallow, hang on.
Wondermur
Crew Member
Got back from a 14 day excursion on 30 July.
Starting at Port Hardy 16 July to Telegraph Cove to Sutil to Rivers inlet, Hakai, Spider, Cultus, Shearwater return to Port Hardy. 5 days boat camping, 7 days Shearwater accom. . 2 nights in hotel. This is our 4th trip since 2017
Fished Telegraph Cove, Sutil first two days. Not many boats and nothing of size at Sutil. Trolled white hoochies and needle fish spoons at Sutil. Larger Chinooks Didn’t seem to be there. Feeder springs only caught. Compared to last year when there where 15-20 boats and we caught big Chinook same time in 2021. Needlefish in abundance tho.
Headed across QC straight 18th July, an easy crossing. Caught a few lings at cape caution 30-38” and released them. Also a yellow eye decended. Fueled up at Dawson’s Landing and headed out to Fitz Hugh Sound. Fished the NW tip of Addenbroke Island and picked up our first two chinooks over 15 lbs. on green skinny gees - released them. Saw a humpy breach 300m behind the boat going away from us. A first for our 3rd boat member Andrew visiting from NZ. A second breach and the whale was gone. No photo op for our Kiwi buddy from uni’ days long ago, but we assure him there will be plenty more, Fitz Hugh is a highway for humpys especially.
40 mins later we go close to bottom on the sounder at 67’ and then bottom drops off quickly to 130’ two rods go off. Then the 3rd rod bumps. Triple header! Then the 4th rod. Quad header?? Then the canon ball bumps. Panic! We are on the bottom! How? Reverse. Line still coming off the downrigger. Boat is stationary. Line ripping off the downrigger still. Starboard side rods bent backwards over the port side of the boat. Bang-boom…….silence fills the air except for some exasperated cursing. Andrew assumes this is all the fault of his driving us onto a reef and looks down at the floor in shame.
…..the loose down rigger line waves nonchalantly at me at the end of the rigger to let me know it sent the 15lb ball to the bottom.
WTF happened? A light ripple on the water is broken by a 50’ swirl of whirlpools out the starboard side of the boat. We assess what is left of the gear and are confused, lucky to have not broken both port side roads as Rick was able to get them out of the road holders in time. Umm - Were we just whaled?? The whirlpools. The line was shredding off the downrigger sideways at great speed . We must have!. We have never heard of that happening. Then 400 metres off our port side a casual breach and spout as our friend heads north up Fitz Hugh Sound.
We hadn’t seen a whale in the area for more than 30 minutes for sure and it was some distance from where we were now. We console ourselves that we didn’t do anything wrong and the gear would have gone straight to the bottom and left our friend clean. Save for perhaps my barbless skinny Gee no bananas spoon that might have held on for a bit longer.
We head north and that night we anchor up in Mustang bay where we had found and tied up on a rough-cut floating dock in 2017. It was gone on arrival. No doubt illegal in Hakai. We count up the damage, lost 2 cannon balls, 2 flashers, 3 spoons, 4 clips and 2 tuna cord connectors. Did repairs that night and next morning fished The Gap north of Hakai, nothing big caught. Just feeder chinooks. Only one lodge boat there which told us we were in the wrong place that day. Tried Barney Point for an hour, nothing on the sounder of size. Fished spider and again nothing big. Next up Cultus and we started getting into bigger fish. A 20 and 21 lb red chinook. 3” Needlefish in the stomachs. Coho were there but smaller than previous 2 years. Coho killers and skinny gee were working best behind green flashers. We never fished any bait for salmon.
Tried for Hali and picked up an 88cm under. North of Spider. Headed for Shearwater fished idol, image and Cheney a few times each. Not many chinooks on the sounder on the inside. Very quiet at Cheney but only fished it twice, the fish were not there in number on those occasions. . Fished McInnes 3 times. Chinooks holding there with 3” needlefish balling up on the surface all the way to the bottom. Picked up our biggest Chinook there a 25lb white spring. Not big numbers being caught when we were there despite there being up to 15 boats. Coho feeding on the surface on needle fish on the inside tacks.
McInness and Cultus where best for us. Fished them both 3 times. Most of our springs where caught at Cultus. 12-18 lb reds mostly. Skinny gee lemon lime? Colour and 4” Needlefish red racer where our best two producers. (Made by Grand Slam Bucktail; 34” behind flasher. If you fish hoochies just fish these the same way. Have been great for me every summer on Chinooks)
The weather was crazy good. 10 days in a row Sunny. Emmaline Bank produced big ling as usual especially with 200g flat fall glow jigs. Swim tails also. A 121cm hali also on a circle hook and baited hoochie.
Last 2 years we used 4” plugs a lot but this year small bait meant they mostly sat up in the rocket launchers on spare rods. Ivory produced on the ebb tide. Lots of coho there and some springs. Also lots of rocks and kelp and rockfish. Swarms of the little brown Rockies kept us busy clearing our small gear if you got to close to the kelp in most spots on our trip.
I might post some photos of the trip when I’m caught up at home and recovered. We got some great shots of scenery and video of some violent salmon strikes in shallow water.
Another great trip with unusually good weather. 1650km on the boat, we fished hard and took home enough fish. Also put lots back.
Shame the Northern coho seem a bit late this year as we have had good times with them in the past years.
On the way home we had good fishing at Spider, Superstition, no luck again at the gap or Barney Point. Hakai boats were fishing Cultus some days which suggests Hakai has been patchy?
Fished Cranston Point in Rivers inlet in morning of 29 July. Lots of lodge boats but didn’t see anything caught. Picked up another under Hali in QC straight. Yet another easy crossing. That’s 8 crossings and we have always had decent conditions. Touch wood.
Fished Sutil again but just coho stuffed with more needlefish. Small feeder chinooks released. Fished castle point and more small springs and coho came to the boat. All released.
Good luck out there! Hope this helps make someone’s fishing day a tiny bit better.
Starting at Port Hardy 16 July to Telegraph Cove to Sutil to Rivers inlet, Hakai, Spider, Cultus, Shearwater return to Port Hardy. 5 days boat camping, 7 days Shearwater accom. . 2 nights in hotel. This is our 4th trip since 2017
Fished Telegraph Cove, Sutil first two days. Not many boats and nothing of size at Sutil. Trolled white hoochies and needle fish spoons at Sutil. Larger Chinooks Didn’t seem to be there. Feeder springs only caught. Compared to last year when there where 15-20 boats and we caught big Chinook same time in 2021. Needlefish in abundance tho.
Headed across QC straight 18th July, an easy crossing. Caught a few lings at cape caution 30-38” and released them. Also a yellow eye decended. Fueled up at Dawson’s Landing and headed out to Fitz Hugh Sound. Fished the NW tip of Addenbroke Island and picked up our first two chinooks over 15 lbs. on green skinny gees - released them. Saw a humpy breach 300m behind the boat going away from us. A first for our 3rd boat member Andrew visiting from NZ. A second breach and the whale was gone. No photo op for our Kiwi buddy from uni’ days long ago, but we assure him there will be plenty more, Fitz Hugh is a highway for humpys especially.
40 mins later we go close to bottom on the sounder at 67’ and then bottom drops off quickly to 130’ two rods go off. Then the 3rd rod bumps. Triple header! Then the 4th rod. Quad header?? Then the canon ball bumps. Panic! We are on the bottom! How? Reverse. Line still coming off the downrigger. Boat is stationary. Line ripping off the downrigger still. Starboard side rods bent backwards over the port side of the boat. Bang-boom…….silence fills the air except for some exasperated cursing. Andrew assumes this is all the fault of his driving us onto a reef and looks down at the floor in shame.
…..the loose down rigger line waves nonchalantly at me at the end of the rigger to let me know it sent the 15lb ball to the bottom.
WTF happened? A light ripple on the water is broken by a 50’ swirl of whirlpools out the starboard side of the boat. We assess what is left of the gear and are confused, lucky to have not broken both port side roads as Rick was able to get them out of the road holders in time. Umm - Were we just whaled?? The whirlpools. The line was shredding off the downrigger sideways at great speed . We must have!. We have never heard of that happening. Then 400 metres off our port side a casual breach and spout as our friend heads north up Fitz Hugh Sound.
We hadn’t seen a whale in the area for more than 30 minutes for sure and it was some distance from where we were now. We console ourselves that we didn’t do anything wrong and the gear would have gone straight to the bottom and left our friend clean. Save for perhaps my barbless skinny Gee no bananas spoon that might have held on for a bit longer.
We head north and that night we anchor up in Mustang bay where we had found and tied up on a rough-cut floating dock in 2017. It was gone on arrival. No doubt illegal in Hakai. We count up the damage, lost 2 cannon balls, 2 flashers, 3 spoons, 4 clips and 2 tuna cord connectors. Did repairs that night and next morning fished The Gap north of Hakai, nothing big caught. Just feeder chinooks. Only one lodge boat there which told us we were in the wrong place that day. Tried Barney Point for an hour, nothing on the sounder of size. Fished spider and again nothing big. Next up Cultus and we started getting into bigger fish. A 20 and 21 lb red chinook. 3” Needlefish in the stomachs. Coho were there but smaller than previous 2 years. Coho killers and skinny gee were working best behind green flashers. We never fished any bait for salmon.
Tried for Hali and picked up an 88cm under. North of Spider. Headed for Shearwater fished idol, image and Cheney a few times each. Not many chinooks on the sounder on the inside. Very quiet at Cheney but only fished it twice, the fish were not there in number on those occasions. . Fished McInnes 3 times. Chinooks holding there with 3” needlefish balling up on the surface all the way to the bottom. Picked up our biggest Chinook there a 25lb white spring. Not big numbers being caught when we were there despite there being up to 15 boats. Coho feeding on the surface on needle fish on the inside tacks.
McInness and Cultus where best for us. Fished them both 3 times. Most of our springs where caught at Cultus. 12-18 lb reds mostly. Skinny gee lemon lime? Colour and 4” Needlefish red racer where our best two producers. (Made by Grand Slam Bucktail; 34” behind flasher. If you fish hoochies just fish these the same way. Have been great for me every summer on Chinooks)
The weather was crazy good. 10 days in a row Sunny. Emmaline Bank produced big ling as usual especially with 200g flat fall glow jigs. Swim tails also. A 121cm hali also on a circle hook and baited hoochie.
Last 2 years we used 4” plugs a lot but this year small bait meant they mostly sat up in the rocket launchers on spare rods. Ivory produced on the ebb tide. Lots of coho there and some springs. Also lots of rocks and kelp and rockfish. Swarms of the little brown Rockies kept us busy clearing our small gear if you got to close to the kelp in most spots on our trip.
I might post some photos of the trip when I’m caught up at home and recovered. We got some great shots of scenery and video of some violent salmon strikes in shallow water.
Another great trip with unusually good weather. 1650km on the boat, we fished hard and took home enough fish. Also put lots back.
Shame the Northern coho seem a bit late this year as we have had good times with them in the past years.
On the way home we had good fishing at Spider, Superstition, no luck again at the gap or Barney Point. Hakai boats were fishing Cultus some days which suggests Hakai has been patchy?
Fished Cranston Point in Rivers inlet in morning of 29 July. Lots of lodge boats but didn’t see anything caught. Picked up another under Hali in QC straight. Yet another easy crossing. That’s 8 crossings and we have always had decent conditions. Touch wood.
Fished Sutil again but just coho stuffed with more needlefish. Small feeder chinooks released. Fished castle point and more small springs and coho came to the boat. All released.
Good luck out there! Hope this helps make someone’s fishing day a tiny bit better.
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Sea Chaser
Crew Member
Thanks for sharing !
Great report, thanks for the detail. Very interesting with the whale encounter. We fished Sutil earlier this year and got a 21 and some smaller ones and lost a few nice ones on other boats downrigger lines. There were quite a few boats when we were there June 28, 29, 30. We had some very dense fog which kept us from fishing Bremner so we targetted some lings and did well there. I have a friend who fished at Bremner a week ago and got some nice springs.
Aces
Well-Known Member
Very good detailed report
Fishing24/7
Active Member
We just got back from fishing 5 days in the area. Fishing was slow the fist two days, then turned on the rest of the trip. July 31 and Aug 1 we saw maybe 30 or more fish a day, lots of coho and chinook. All cookie cutter 10-14lb with the exception of a 58 that was pulled up at Chaney point. Whole herring was effective in the morning but interest seemed to die off later in the day so we switched to flasher combos for the evening bites. We fished mcinnes, chaney, cultus, boulder. Lots of sport and lodge boats. Fish seemed to be hitting mid to lower in the water column.
marbledmurrelet
Active Member
Heading up to Hakai Pass tomorrow for 3 days of cut plugging, getting pretty excited! Anyone have some recent intel?
Odlum, Donald Island, and Barney pt usually get the brunt of our focus for chinooks.
I hope to have fish tale or two to share when I return.
MM
Odlum, Donald Island, and Barney pt usually get the brunt of our focus for chinooks.
I hope to have fish tale or two to share when I return.
MM
We just got back from 2 weeks plus between Hardy and Klemtu.
Not great fishing compared to the last few years but great weather. Good to see KPL back up and running. Rivers was slow but there were reports of a double header 60 pounders on one of the days we were there.
Not great fishing compared to the last few years but great weather. Good to see KPL back up and running. Rivers was slow but there were reports of a double header 60 pounders on one of the days we were there.
was reading one of Joe's guide's post on facebook and he got a 50lb & 32lb chinooks for his guests on the same day
i would try the gap and spider island while you are there. Barney point for Coho.
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