Nanaimo Area

[Finished Business]

Your persistance has won me over young one lol.

I wouldn't worry about your bait falling apart out of the pack, unless its old stuff thats been sitting around the tackle store freezer. I would fish some bait before going into the many complicated or simple brining recipes. Just throw some rock salt over them and hit the water.

As the guys mentioned, an anchovy head will work. I was using small herring, a little bigger than a large chovy, and had good luck off thrasher. This was a few weeks ago but it didn't take long for the herring to find its mark in the form of a 23 and 16. Good luck....I might see you out there

edit: I'm no bait pro, but I pay close attention to those that are

 

[islander55]

went out to thrasher rock today at 6am and got to the inside of the pass and relized i forgot my dam rod holder so back to ladysmith i went then boated all the way back out to thrasher rock, trolled around for a few hours lost a dandy ling snaped 30lb test line, and released a baby coho salmon, but hully mully batman that wind got pritty good in the after noon well over 4ft waves with white caps for sure. it was funny though i was out there in my 14ft lund when it was blowin havin a jolly good old time when then i seen like 24fter boats turning around cause it was too windy . heres some pictures, sadly no pics of fish

 

[bigdogeh]

looks like a little net repair ahead of you islander55. reminds me of one time when I tried to net a 65lb hali.... big mistake... lol.

 

[vanisland]

Lots of boats out there tonight, no reports tho..hmm. It was very slow going out there this evening, but absolutely beauty out so cant complain. Probably the calmest ive seen it in a long time. Lots of boats tight to the fingers and close to neck point. Never saw a net come out. Had one little shaker from about 630-915, no hits, nothing. At about 915 I headed into shallower water just off pipers in about 120 ft of water, had one rod at 100 and the other at 60. I saw a large bait ball on the sounder at about 20-40ft, so I pulled the shallow rod up to 42ft hoping it was a bait ball and not a kelp bed. About 10 seconds later while im steering the boat, im alerted by the sound of my reel absolutely screaming!! And I had my drag set tight as possible. This fish had some serious power and took out most of my line. Every time I would get it close to the surface or to the boat it would take back off again on a crazy long run. Finally after about 30 minutes of back and forth, I got it up to the boat and in the net first attempt. Which is pretty good for being solo i'd say. Just over 24lbs on the digi scale. Pretty stoked about landing this fish especially after last time I was out on the weekend, I had a similar size or larger fish on only to have him break my knot apart and off it went. Redemption! Was caught on a glow green chartreuse splatterback 4 coyote behind a purple haze flasher. I hadnt used this lure yet this season but was a really hot spoon last year. Will be using next time out thats for sure!

 

[Aces]

went out to thrasher rock today at 6am and got to the inside of the pass and relized i forgot my dam rod holder so back to ladysmith i went then boated all the way back out to thrasher rock, trolled around for a few hours lost a dandy ling snaped 30lb test line, and released a baby coho salmon, but hully mully batman that wind got pritty good in the after noon well over 4ft waves with white caps for sure. it was funny though i was out there in my 14ft lund when it was blowin havin a jolly good old time when then i seen like 24fter boats turning around cause it was too windy . heres some pictures, sadly no pics of fishView attachment 8131View attachment 8132View attachment 8133View attachment 8134

Keep fishing out there in 4ft whitecaps in that boat and you may become a statistic someday, just saying.

 

[Finished Business]

Beautiful fish vanisland!

I am coming over to Nanaimo in an hour or two...gives me hope there are still some slabs out there!

 

[Seafever]

Beauty fish VanIsland!!!: congrats.....!!

But that's not a purple haze flasher in the fish pic........

 

[Finished Business]

Beautiful day on the water. Crossed from Richmond to Nanaimo in a little over an hour. Half arsed a few lines down in one of my laziest days fishing. Results proved it lol, small small ling and a dogfish. Didn't check gear for a couple hours so who knows how long their free ride was haha.
Around the neck pt area...I was surprised how few boats were fishing.

 

[Sculpin]

Beautiful day on the water. Crossed from Richmond to Nanaimo in a little over an hour. Half arsed a few lines down in one of my laziest days fishing. Results proved it lol, small small ling and a dogfish. Didn't check gear for a couple hours so who knows how long their free ride was haha.
Around the neck pt area...I was surprised how few boats were fishing.

Ah come on man. I thought you would have put some more effort in. I hope you had a good barbeque!

 

[vanisland]

Thanks guys, there are some decent size fish out there but they are few and far between. SF I know it's a green haze flasher, I just threw one down beside it for size reference. There was a little too much going on at the time to put the one that was on the rod down beside it..lol.

Was out last night again, little more action but no keepers. Decent amount of bait in the water tho, saw tones of small fish or bait jumping all over the place. Might have to head out later today if this awesome weather and no wind continue.

 

[Discus]

Good Luck Vanisland!

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Spatterback coyote? Would you care to post a pick?

Nice fish!

-KK

 

[Finished Business]

Spatterback coyote? Would you care to post a pick?

Nice fish!

-KK

Not coyote but silver horde makes a blue, chartreuse, and green spatterback spoon. The green has been a reliable producer for me this year.

 

[tex]

Was out for 3 hrs this morning in the wind and came up with nothing but 4 shakers. The last one was bitten right in half in about 130ft of water. Hoping for better luck and less wind for tomorrow's low morning tide.

 

[tex]

better luck tonight at 7 and then 7:30 with a nice 15 white and 18 red. Right off the fingers in 250ft of water.

 

[vanisland]

Right on tex, nice catch! How deep did you get those at? I was late to get out there last night (730), but once I did it was pretty much non stop action. Decided to try fishing deeper than usual and it paid off almost right away. 175 down and within minutes had a decent hit, probably released about 6 or more in the next hour and a half. Most were smaller probably about 4lbs or 60cm. Didnt realize until I got a keeper size on and in the boat that it was a pink! Put up a good scrap tho. All hits were at 150-180. One rod that was at 125 for a while got nothing, then as soon as I put down to 150, got a hit. I was out past the fingers in 800+ft water. Alot of people I talked to at the ramp when I was going out got skunked for a whole day of fishing, so I should consider myself lucky. Also I should correct my earlier post about a spoon I pulled in my 24 with, it was labeled wrong, its actually called a Everglo/Green Tiger/Hot Tail, this worked well for me yesterday as well. So I thought pinks came in every 2 years? Or is it every year here?

 

[tex]

Hi VI, you're on to me, I was fishing a little deeper last night around the 180 mark on one and 135 on the other. Had two hits deep (keepers) and one on the 135 that got away. I was using a multi coloured spoon and purple hooch. The first one was the 18 and he gave a huge initial pull. I thought I saw a seal so I reeled him up as fast as humanly possible getting a good finger burn from the line along the way. When he hits the surface I was lucky enough to net him in head first only to look over my shoulder and see it was a freaking log head. But I must say it was nice not having the seals to contend with last night. Maybe they're following the pinks into the bay. Not sure how often the pinks come in, seems more regular these days. Hoping to get out tomorrow and would love to catch a few more for some canning action.

 

[vanisland]

Right on tex. I spoke to a couple people today who pulled in some nice chinooks and they were all caught around 150-180. Was out late tonight again, 7 oclock start..really need to start getting out earlier lol. No action fishing deep, then switched up the tactics around sundown and started fishing shallow and close to shore. Paid off fairly quickly, getting 2 springs about 5 min apart, both on chovies at 70ft in 150ft of water just off pipers. Both about 12-13lbs, not sure on exact weight as I released both to fight another day! I have enough salmon in my freezer..lol. Great fight and long runs, these sure are fun to play.

 

[7Deuce]

I got out for a couple hours last night right at sundown. I didn't get much of anything going on until the sun was basically set. I picked up a nice 12 pounder only 60 feet down. I was seeing lots of action on the sounder but knew others had been having lots of luck deeper so I changed tactics and pulled my gear up and it paid off. The fish was packed full of 5.5" bait fish.

 

[ForbesyFloat]

I made it out yesterday afternoon off neck point for a couple hrs. We landed nice 18 pounder right away at 4:30 and not much else happened after that. Irish cream spoon 95 feet down. I've managed to scrape a few fish up recently but its a bit of a grind out there right now. Its sure nice out there when the wind dies down though. My brother is up from Texas and here he is with his fish.