Pender Bluffs or Saturna Report?

[teamchachi]

Heading out from Sidney on Friday morning for a 3 day weekend. Looks like we're going to try Pender Bluffs and then possibly east point on Saturna. Has anybody been out that direction lately? What's working? Any info is greatly appreciated as this is a first time to either spot as we're new to these waters.

Thanks!

 

[Bodie]

We didn't fish, but we cruised by the Bluffs on Sunday about mid-day. No-one there, but then the forecast was pretty bad for the day. I did hear of someone limiting in the Sidney area over the weekend, but not precisely where. Since everything from Saanich Inlet and Cowichan Bay to Coal Island and Moresby Island (Fairfax Pt.) is closed to Chinook retention until October 15, that leaves the Bluffs, Hamley Pt. on Sidney Island and Sidney Channel as the only popular spots where they could have been fishing. My wife works at Van Isle, I'll see what she can find out...

I've never heard of anyone fishing East Point, probably because it's kinda 'out there' in Georgia Straight, and can be pretty lumpy at times. There's always lots of large traffic going through there - on Friday evening when we were heading to Saturna Island for the fall wine festival we saw an aircraft carrier cruising through. It left an 8 foot wake behind and when the waves hit the island it looked like we were out on the west coast. BTW, this ship was about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of a regular carrier - any idea what it was? There was no air wing on the deck, but my thought was that it might be some sort of Marine carrier, for STOL and rotary wing aircraft...

 

[teamchachi]

Hey, I'm not picky about where we go! Hamley Point is even better because thats only 5 miles from Canoe Cove. I'll go where the fish are!

Normally I just head over to Fairfax. I've had pretty good luck there so far this year.

Trying to find a decent report on the Sidney area is tough. The Island Outfitters site is pretty much the only source of info that I've found and they are way behind right now.

 

[Dirtdog67]

Bodie the carrier is part of a training excercise outta Nanoose. Was out at the beach in Lantzville last thurs. and they were back and forth doing excercises.-dirty

 

[Bodie]

teamchachi, check out Sidney Channel on your way to Hambley.

Start SW of the red can, in about 125' of water and troll SSE, towards the powder dock on James Island. Watch out for commercial crab lines as you get closer to the powder wharf, then troll along side the beach. When you get to the end of the long straight stretch of beach, turn out and troll back or raise your lines - I don't know what's down there, but I do know it's decorated with a fair amount of my hardware! Cop Car Coyotes and Tiny Teasers right on the bottom work.

Some people jig with good success around the powder wharf, although it's never worked for me.

At Hambley, there's a ledge that juts out SE from the point and we've always done well trolling from there NE along the island for a ways, then back, usually in about 90' of water. Cop Car and Green/Glow Coyotes at mid water levels are what we've caught all of our fish on here.

The docks should still be in place at Sidney Spit for 'family' breaks or overnighting. Usually they leave them until Thanksgiving weekend, but now that it's a federal parc, who knows?

dirty, thanks for the info on the mini-carrier. I'm going to see what else I can find out about it.

 

[teamchachi]

You would recommend fishing Sidney Channel and Hamley instead of heading over to Pender Bluffs?

Are locals fishing Hamley at this time of year? I suppose it should be good with all the Salmon swimming up Haro Strait on the way to the Fraser...

Which makes me wonder about Coho on Haro Strait. The Sooke fleet seems to be hitting Coho at 100' out in the middle of Juan de Fuca. I wonder if it'll be the same in Haro?

 

[Bodie]

Not neccessarily instead of, but they are definitely worth checking out. I think of Pender Bluffs as a late summer pink salmon hotspot, whereas Hamley Point and especially Sidney Channel are fished all winter long for feeder springs.

As I said on the other thread, I've never heard of anyone trolling for coho out in Haro Strait. However, until this year I'd never seen anyone fishing San Juan Point (known locally as East Point), and it was where we caught most of our springs when we were in Renfrew this year. Maybe no-one's caught coho out in Haro 'cause no-one's tried...