Port Hardy / Winter Harbour / North Island Report - Spring and Summer 2011

[Halilogger]

Yes you bet Ken sounds goood.

 

[Halilogger]

Back from my trip. First day in we fished the light house in the evening and got 4 Coho. Next morning started fishing in the 300 line out from Lippy, took a little time but found the fish in the 280 line and fished at 180 and 200 feet with Anchovie and hearing boxed 6 Springs released 2 Coho, 1 about 10lbs.( no size to the Springs 18lbs) The next day fished the same area and bonked 4 Springs then fished the kelp and got four Coho. Sunday we went and trolled and jigged for bottom fish the North Westerly was wicked 1 Hali 10 Lings 12 Vermilion/yellow eye. Listening to the radio that day sounded like the Spring fishing really picked up and heard about some high 20's and some 30's.
Monday was going to be a quick trip to the 280 line needed 6 springs, first minute double header lost 1, from then on it took 1 hour and ten minutes to catch the other 5 very good fishing.
It was strange the skies were overcast and my buddy put on the purplehaze hootchie and that thing ROCKED!! 5 of the 6 Springs it was none stop. It never worked that well any other day, maybe it was that there were lots of fish or maybe it works better in overcast condition?
Was a great trip and Mike if your still going they are there.

 

[spring fever]

I'm going to have to pass-hurts like hell-but my step dad passed and I have to go to Kelowna for the funeral-maybe next week. If you think the haze rocked the UV LED's would've knocked their socks off. Mike

 

[fish stalker]

Thought I might put this in here as might have better luck then making new thread.

I am going to be camping for a few days up at Atluck or Anutz lake, past Woss. Any suggestions for hot spots or tips in those lakes or even better any river fishing spots for salmon? Also love shore casting if cohos come in close enough up there. I can do day trips out from the camp spot.

Any info on the area would be great! Thank you.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Fish stalker,, maybe try the fresh water thread???............BB

 

[Barnacle Bill]

SF, Mike sorry to hear about your loss, my thought and prayers for you. Drive carefully up that 4 lane hwy.

 

[spring fever]

Thanks BB appreciate it. Mike

 

[fish stalker]

Fish stalker,, maybe try the fresh water thread???............BB

not many freshys on this site. I was looking at a map and wondering about the nimpkish the most actually. You hear about the 'pinks in the campbell', wondering if there was anything like that up there. and not sure when our springs and hos come into our river systems? got some fly gear this year to try out as most rivers are fly only past the first bridge around big and little q, thought its prob the same up there. people seem pretty closed mouthed about everything understandably with snaggers reading these boards etc. I will still continute to try and figure things out myself and 'stalk the fish' but if anyone wants to at least point me in the right direction id love a pm. cheers

 

[Sitkaspruce]

FS, PM sent.

Cheers

SS

 

[lorneparker1]

Well if Sitka is pming you, you are gtg!! Have fun!

He is a man of great advice!

 

[Kramer]

WH out at the 300' line has been off the hook the past couple days. Easy limits on mid-20's springs and more coho than I've seen in a while. Go get 'em boys. We did well with apple core hootchie behind a UV flasher down 120'.

 

[spring fever]

Finally got all the family duties done-heading to WH on thurs til sun. -any reports even bad ones would be appreciated . Thanks

 

[Sangstercraft]

Finally got all the family duties done-heading to WH on thurs til sun. -any reports even bad ones would be appreciated . Thanks

Spring fever - so am I. Will be in an 18' sangstercraft, staying in port Alice. Do you keep your boat in French Creek? Thought I saw a boat docked a few down from mine with the same name, Spring Fever.

 

[spring fever]

No not me-Mine is in the shop in Comox. I will be staying on the hook somewhere outside of WH as close as I can to the action-depending on weather of course. Monitor ch 6-white and green Orca-call sign Spring Fever. Tight Lines and good luck. If you need any help with fish etc. give me a call-I share info -no codes!

 

[Heavyc]

Went for two days out of coal Harbour tues/weds. Limit on coho at Mcallister islet and 2 spring. Crabbing was good too. I hope your trip is good, it's supposed to get windy up there. Cliff pt was slow, we only saw 1 spring landed there by a q cove boat.

 

[Busterbrown]

I just returned from another go at winter harbour, Weather was ok ,rained like a bugger for two days but the water was good. Lots of springs at the RCA corner, between 160 and 220 ft, Biggest was 38 but everything else was 18-20 . fishing near the bottom on the troll was very good for small lings 10-12 lbs
as I limited on 2 days and released a bunch of them. Tiger prawn and purple haze were the most productive. Coho was spotty for me , but did find some in Grants bay and on the outside of the lighthouse. One nice one around 12 lb the rest were 7-8 . The guides at the Outpost did very well out at the RCA corner as well. Good luck to everyone headed out there

 

[spring fever]

Hit WH the afternoon of the 23-stopped in at Qualicum Rivers for a delivery-nice set-up Met fishyboy 99 -Rob. Headed out to the lighthouse in rain squalls-put in a non-productive evening inside and just off-shore of the LH-slooow!! Dawn saw us off Lippy point in 270 ft of water with a 6ft+ swell under leaden skies-it looked and felt like The Last Run to Murmansk!! Too rough for chovie's-put down a Pearl Glow Wench with a double flash UV LED and a purple haze with a Pirates Den double Flash LED. The LED haze went off at 130 ft with a very decentSpring and as I brought the Wench up through 130 it became a double header. We stayed busy for the next 3 hours-releasing what we could and keeping those that wouldn't make it. The sun gradually broke through and the waters began to gentle. We were passed by numerous boats going to the "hotspot" at the outside corner of the RCA off of TopKnot-couldn't see the sense of going any further as the action was excellent and we were releasing more than we kept anyway. We switched to a Tomic Pilchard spoon and also the Gibbs version of the same thing-with no flasher-became a little easier to release fish with the gaff. These Springs were up to 22lbs with the majority running to 14 to 16lbs. Despite Gravol and all the best advice, one of the crew succumbed to the less than gentle seas. He toughed it out for awhile-the sun helped a bit but we decided to give him a break and put in to Grants bay-clean fish and let him sleep for a couple of hours. We resumed the battle in the early afternoon and finished our limit by 5 pm. The Water was getting very fishable and the day had turned gorgeous. The 25th saw us at the same spot a little earlier-right at Dawn and as the day before the LED Wench proved the ticket-these fish were aggressive feeders-we started at 130 ft and as the sun came up we gradually got down to 180 ft of wire. Nothing huge but still very nice fish and as before we basically bonked only those that wouldn't have survived a release. We were finished SPrings by the slack so tried a little bit of Hali action for as long as I can stand it!! Got a small one and 4 snappers and then I saw a lot of bird activity on a huge bait school. That was the end of Hali fishing!!! We needed 4 coho-so we put down a silver horde purple haze spoon with 6 oz wt as a centre rod-Left rigger with a coho killer at 30 and a 3.5 watermellon coyote at 60 ft-best fishing fun I've had in years-we circled the bait and I don't really know how many we had on before we landed 4 but it didn't take long. A fabulous day-calm water and blue skies-doesn't get much better than that. Crabbing was superb-even though we had a trap poached!! Be careful of this report-we had a great time but while I"m going back this thurs I can't help think that these fish are transient -the eggs were undeveloped and a couple of Springs were clipped.There were very few signs of fish inside. The fish further out a supposedly bigger and may be local. Met Barnacle Bill and Sangstercraft-pleasure guys. Tight Lines

 

[Sangstercraft]

put down a Pearl Glow Wench with a double flash UV LED and a purple haze with a Pirates Den double Flash LED.

Good meeting you as well, Mike. That is one capable looking boat you've got. We took your advice and went out to Lippy, for limits of coho, and a few springs. Thanks for the tip! My friend's girlfriend was a chummer, so after 6 hrs we headed back in to drop her off on shore.

I used one of the Pirate Den LEDs in an army truck cuttlefish with good results. The springs were caught on a big cop car spoon.

I'm surprised you fished the Pearl Glow Wench for springs! I've got a few (compliments of Michael - amazing customer service from Pirate's Den) but haven't fished them yet as I thought they were too big. I'll try 'em tomorrow. Question - how do you fit the LED in the purple haze hoochie? Are you using an extra large size hoochie?

 

[spring fever]

I guess I should be more specific-I use cuttlefish-so if I mention a purple Haze or blood &bones hoochy in connection with an LED it really is a cuttlefish. The Pearl Glow wench has proved very capable-I use a double set of 5/0 Gammi's with whatever normal tie you use for springs. There is also enough room in the nose to put a tiny piece of sponge which you can inject scent into. The Wench is also a Ling cod magnet -you will be surprised.. Mike

 

[Sangstercraft]

The Pearl Glow wench has proved very capable-I use a double set of 5/0 Gammi's with whatever normal tie you use for springs.

Because of it's size and weight with the LED, do you use a shorter leader (eg 30") to give it more action, or just keep it at the usual 34" or so?