TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
The newbies guide to finding the right spot to fish this season..
I'm no pro, but for you guys that are just starting out, I've got a few words of advice for you to help you find the right location. There's one group on the water that almost always knows where the fish are at, and that is the "pros". Regardless of what the hot tip of the day is, if you arrive at that spot and there's already a flotilla there and a good number of those boats aren't guide boats you're probably in the wrong spot.
If you have fished though a tide change in a large group of boats, and you've only seen the odd fish taken, and there's no guide boats there, your in the wrong spot. I know this might seem so obvious that you'd figure why even bother posting it. The reason I'm posting it is because we as humans still have this instinct that where there's a huge group of boats there must be a correspondingly huge number of fish. While that may sometimes be true, it is not always the case. If their is a large group of boats at the supposedly "hot" location and your not seeing a fair number of boats hooked up (and there are no guide boats there), change your location.
Not every guide boat is prominently lettered up. So, if you're new to the water, and don't know all the guide boats by sight, bring binoculars. If you don't know the guide boats yet, you can easily identify the "pros" by their registration numbers. Most legitimate professional guide boats these days have a "C" prefix before their boats number. They do not use the common "K" or "BC" registration numbers. Use your binoculars to scan the other boats in the area if you are not having any luck. If there are fish being landed regularly on other boats in the vicinity, then stick where you are at. Perhaps you simply need to adjust your depth, gear, or leader lengths to get into fish like others in the vicinity. However, (and I can't stress this enough) if you are not seeing fish caught regularly around you and the guide boats are not there, move.
Where to move to is the question. Tides play a huge part in some locations productivity, so moving is a difficult decision sometimes. I am not suggesting anyone tail the guide boats out of port in the morning, far from it. But, if the guide boats are all heading North, and your going South, you might want to rethink your fishing strategy for the day. Then how are you to determine what is the best area to fish if your new on the water, if you have no personal knowledge of the area. Research is how, it's all on the forum for you if you take the time to search past posts. Many members are kind enough to post the time and location they caught their fish. Cross-reference the time with a local online tide database and you should be able to figure out patterns if you don't know them already.
I'll give you a few shortcuts if your unfamiliar with fishing around Vancouver and want a general start. The North Van shore is best fished on the incoming tide, with the best bite near the high slack. Pt. Atkinson sees it's best bite directly on the tide change. The North Arm/Bell Buoy bite usually starts 2 hours before the high tide. I don't know if others may disagree with some of those conclusions, but that has been my experience in my years of fishing those areas. Hope some of this helps guys just getting into fishing on the chuck.
I'm no pro, but for you guys that are just starting out, I've got a few words of advice for you to help you find the right location. There's one group on the water that almost always knows where the fish are at, and that is the "pros". Regardless of what the hot tip of the day is, if you arrive at that spot and there's already a flotilla there and a good number of those boats aren't guide boats you're probably in the wrong spot.
If you have fished though a tide change in a large group of boats, and you've only seen the odd fish taken, and there's no guide boats there, your in the wrong spot. I know this might seem so obvious that you'd figure why even bother posting it. The reason I'm posting it is because we as humans still have this instinct that where there's a huge group of boats there must be a correspondingly huge number of fish. While that may sometimes be true, it is not always the case. If their is a large group of boats at the supposedly "hot" location and your not seeing a fair number of boats hooked up (and there are no guide boats there), change your location.
Not every guide boat is prominently lettered up. So, if you're new to the water, and don't know all the guide boats by sight, bring binoculars. If you don't know the guide boats yet, you can easily identify the "pros" by their registration numbers. Most legitimate professional guide boats these days have a "C" prefix before their boats number. They do not use the common "K" or "BC" registration numbers. Use your binoculars to scan the other boats in the area if you are not having any luck. If there are fish being landed regularly on other boats in the vicinity, then stick where you are at. Perhaps you simply need to adjust your depth, gear, or leader lengths to get into fish like others in the vicinity. However, (and I can't stress this enough) if you are not seeing fish caught regularly around you and the guide boats are not there, move.
Where to move to is the question. Tides play a huge part in some locations productivity, so moving is a difficult decision sometimes. I am not suggesting anyone tail the guide boats out of port in the morning, far from it. But, if the guide boats are all heading North, and your going South, you might want to rethink your fishing strategy for the day. Then how are you to determine what is the best area to fish if your new on the water, if you have no personal knowledge of the area. Research is how, it's all on the forum for you if you take the time to search past posts. Many members are kind enough to post the time and location they caught their fish. Cross-reference the time with a local online tide database and you should be able to figure out patterns if you don't know them already.
I'll give you a few shortcuts if your unfamiliar with fishing around Vancouver and want a general start. The North Van shore is best fished on the incoming tide, with the best bite near the high slack. Pt. Atkinson sees it's best bite directly on the tide change. The North Arm/Bell Buoy bite usually starts 2 hours before the high tide. I don't know if others may disagree with some of those conclusions, but that has been my experience in my years of fishing those areas. Hope some of this helps guys just getting into fishing on the chuck.
