Here it goes... I had a great trip up to VAN/Howe Sound this weekend! First off, I appreciate everyone who helped throw some pointers out/shared intel and a few who even shared their phone numbers with me. We arrived at Vanier at 4:30PM on Friday. Launched the boat, motored around the corner to Coal Harbour/Bayshore West. We ended up getting the Westin Hotel to work with us and let us keep the single axle trailer in a parking space for the weekend and just paid self-park rate...So was nice to have close and secured. We met up with another Arima owner/new friend Saturday morning. Dropped Crab Pots at Pt. Akinson and Shrimp Pots near Seymour. Headed to Tunstall, then Grace...They left for the day, we finished up at Waterfall.... Only had 2 fish to the boat Saturday...Both short, 19-20". Tons of bait at Waterfall in afternoon, but no bites. Sea Lions didn't seem to be roaming, just beached up on homeowner's docks. Pulled prawn gear and buddies 4 pots had enough for 4 limits plus a little extra..they set within 300 yards of us... Our two pots had...8 Shrimp. So my theories are: either I set incorrectly, the pots rolled or were not fishing right... the mesh was too large or worse case, someone saw my out of state buoy and decided to pull it. Crab pots came up with 2 limits plus some... We repeated Sunday with the same schedule, except this time we first fished the Bell at day break for a couple hours.. Ended up with 5 to the boat and released there, all 18"-23", too small...The dumped Pots at same locations...Passed Tunstall with only 3 boats fishing and didn't seem too active. We found a lot of boats fishing Waterfall and fell in line to begin the troll... We worked the area for a few hours, there was a commercial boat circling the Piling/marker post out there for like 30 minutes + straight...Any idea what they were doing? Looked like a long liner or prawn boat checking bottom. We hooked 3 fish and landed 2 there...Once again, too small. Headed back South and caught 2 Orcas heading up the Sound near Tunstall. That was a hilight for me...We don't get to see many Orcas in Central/South Puget Sound (Seattle). Pulled gear and same story...Almost exact same spot for Prawn gear...for 3 shrimp total. Using shrimp pellets soaked in blood/fish oil juice, added in chunks of Salmon Bellies, Whole Pollock and other chunks of fish...All mashed up in a bucket that soaked overnight to get the oil/scent trail loaded up strong...Ran into a Hewescraft with 2 guys pulling gear next to us and they thought their gear had been picked over too...I have no idea what the heck happened! Crab Pots were ok, only 5 keepers total between both pots. Monday, we were either going to run up to Defense or over to Thrashers, glad we didn't go across... It was lumpy and didn't lay out like forecast said... We were the second boat out at the Bell and decided to just focus on that area and only Blackmouth for the day, not crab/shrimp. We landed 9 to the boat. A couple were at 23.5" so just under...But about 5 fish in, we had a stupid Harbor Seal latch on and wouldn't let go. I hand pulled the line in and used a gaff to do a quick hook pull from its cheek and saved both the lure and flasher, so big win! As we were about an hour or less from calling it quits, Port side rod twitches and releases clip...tip was just slightly bending, nothing major...thought that I came off...And then rod buried and head shakes began... Game on, real one! Landed a 27.5" male, hatchery with an empty stomach. Few more passes and then pulled out and headed to Seattle. I'd say 80% of the fish were caught on an Ace Hi Fly with salt cured herring strip off the trailer hook. Next popular lure was Silver Horde Coho Killer (White Lightning). Soaked in anchovy/herring lotion. Flashers were Limeade glow, herring aid, black hallucinator. Also fished hoochies, Gibbs skinny g's and a couple Tomics.
Couple of thoughts/questions....
- Canadian Tire is awesome! Why is every parking lot, even one that was designated if for a specific store, pay to park?
- Security Guards in almost every single retail store we went into...Even a restaurant had a security guard.. Bad crime or homelessness?
- Had a Big Grady White blow by me really fast at the Bell Buoy Sunday morning when we were trolling... Only another boat or two out there, plenty of ocean to find a different path.. Why couldn't have he gone further outside of us and not thrown us into his wake..Seemed targeted. heard there is a guide boat or two that's known to cause problems... Also happened again to us and a couple other boats, I believe it was a Maroon Hardtop Tin Boat leaving Waterfall Sunday afternoon...We are not used to Salmon Trolling and having guys fire up and blow out of the zone to head somewhere else, usually a person will slow motor out of the troll zone and then pick up and go... Maybe it's more common/normal there?
- South end of Bowen Island, right in the wide open... saw a lot of Buoys just offshore line and some guys trolling...Is that another popular area for Blackmouth? Good spot for Crab/Shrimp?
- Holy cow, $6.55-$7.00/ Gal for Fuel. You all weren't kidding when you said fill up before we get up there...Glad we went to Costco Friday, haha. What is the reason behind the high prices?
At least I got some redemption 
, a bunch of unders , measured a couple at 58cm’s the rest were released while still in the water. Switched to Non-Mesh Prawn traps, what a difference!!
