2013 Vancouver, Howe Sound and Sunshine Coast Fishing Reports Thread.
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Captain PartyMarty
Crew Member
Nice fish FB, I was also out this weekend so here's my report.
We left the dock at about 5:30 and headed out of the south arm, there was so much wood in the water it felt like I was playing dodge ball with the boat. Once we left the river I headed north and drop the crab traps off in an area recommend by some forum members. We then turned west and crossed over the straight heading for thrasher rock. The water was calm and we ripped across at 30MPH. As we got close on the horizon all I could see where really dark clouds, almost looked like a storm coming. Dropped my prawn traps in my usual location on thrasher rock, I was surprised not to see a single other buoy out there, no commercial or sport buoy’s. At the time there where only a hand full of boats fishing, I decided to head north up to whale bone and entrance island with the plan to troll down to thrasher. Within a few minutes of putting the lines down all three rods went off at the same time it was obvious that two of them where small fish but of the rods was just peeling off line so I grabbed that one first and had a great battle with lots of deep long runs, and after 20min we boated a 12lb white spring! Over the next 4 hours I didn’t sit down for longer than 2 minutes between fish! Granted most where too small but we had few Coho on that fought like crazy and did some crazy acrobatic jumping behind the boat. We packed it in around 12:30 giving 4 fish a free boat ride, 3 springs and one Pacific Cod.
Mostly we fished green glow flashers with an Irish cream and kitchen sink spoons down around 120-150ft. All of our fish where caught off whale bone. I was also using herring + anises smelly jelly which really keep them biting all morning. We were pretty much alone as most of the boats were huddled around thrasher, there must have been 100 boats down there.
We pulled up our prawn traps and where rewarded with about 40 prawns not great but pretty good considering the commercial opening has been going on for weeks. Plenty for for dinner. The Ace puller worked awesome it was so nice to just sit back and watch it coil the rope while we enjoyed the view!
We then headed back across to pick up the crab traps and to my surprise after trying for weeks I finally caught some monster crabs! Prawn heads where the bait of choice!
Anyway I had an awesome Saturday, I would like to thank everybody who has provide advice to me over last few months, I think I am finally starting figuring out the Vancouver Fishery!
We left the dock at about 5:30 and headed out of the south arm, there was so much wood in the water it felt like I was playing dodge ball with the boat. Once we left the river I headed north and drop the crab traps off in an area recommend by some forum members. We then turned west and crossed over the straight heading for thrasher rock. The water was calm and we ripped across at 30MPH. As we got close on the horizon all I could see where really dark clouds, almost looked like a storm coming. Dropped my prawn traps in my usual location on thrasher rock, I was surprised not to see a single other buoy out there, no commercial or sport buoy’s. At the time there where only a hand full of boats fishing, I decided to head north up to whale bone and entrance island with the plan to troll down to thrasher. Within a few minutes of putting the lines down all three rods went off at the same time it was obvious that two of them where small fish but of the rods was just peeling off line so I grabbed that one first and had a great battle with lots of deep long runs, and after 20min we boated a 12lb white spring! Over the next 4 hours I didn’t sit down for longer than 2 minutes between fish! Granted most where too small but we had few Coho on that fought like crazy and did some crazy acrobatic jumping behind the boat. We packed it in around 12:30 giving 4 fish a free boat ride, 3 springs and one Pacific Cod.
Mostly we fished green glow flashers with an Irish cream and kitchen sink spoons down around 120-150ft. All of our fish where caught off whale bone. I was also using herring + anises smelly jelly which really keep them biting all morning. We were pretty much alone as most of the boats were huddled around thrasher, there must have been 100 boats down there.
We pulled up our prawn traps and where rewarded with about 40 prawns not great but pretty good considering the commercial opening has been going on for weeks. Plenty for for dinner. The Ace puller worked awesome it was so nice to just sit back and watch it coil the rope while we enjoyed the view!
We then headed back across to pick up the crab traps and to my surprise after trying for weeks I finally caught some monster crabs! Prawn heads where the bait of choice!
Anyway I had an awesome Saturday, I would like to thank everybody who has provide advice to me over last few months, I think I am finally starting figuring out the Vancouver Fishery!
cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Peahead and I needed more challenging fishing than Thrasher, so we decided to hit Howe Sound. ;-) We had a great day on the water for fishing with sunshine and not a lot of wind. Unfortunately the catching aspect of fishing was not happening. Our catch of the day was 2 sunken Crab traps on our downrigger cables. We pulled the traps up and obviously from the float and rope, they had been there a long time. The one rope was coated in mussels that were really thick. When we pulled it up we were not expecting to find anything in the traps. To our surprise the one trap with all the mussels on it had 8 crab in it and 5 big keepers. These crabs judging by the mussels on the rope, had to be in the trap for over 6 months. Amazing that they survived that long! It helped take the sting out of the fact the traps snapped our downrigger cable taking our ball and 2 clips with it.
I, too, heading out into Howe Sound as I had some work to do on north end of Gambier. Around noon I tied up at Douglas Bay and repaired my prawn trap. While on the end of the dock, not 50-60 ft in front of me, 2 grey whales blew and then went back under. Never saw them again. Anyway, trap repaired I went out and set it in 350 ft (+/-) and went in closer in a new area to try for crabs. Daisy-chained two traps 60 ft apart and dumped them in 90 ft. I went to do my work on the north end and saw Orcas at sunset. Really cool. Went fishing Sunday morning but never got a thing. Schools up and down the Gambier side and moreso on the mainland side from Hole-In-The-Wall northward. Lots of boats there but didn't see any one hooking up.
Went back over to Gambier to get my traps around 3 pm and the prawns were normal catch for that area (30) but the crab traps yielded 1 prawn and 1 spiney starfish. I have yet to find a place in Howe Sound for crabs.
I would REEEEAAAALLLYYY appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Not asking for your 'secret' spot but somewhere (ballpark) where it isn't too bad.
Anyone?
Hello?
Please?
or pm me if you don't want it broadcast to all.
Thanks.
Went back over to Gambier to get my traps around 3 pm and the prawns were normal catch for that area (30) but the crab traps yielded 1 prawn and 1 spiney starfish. I have yet to find a place in Howe Sound for crabs.
I would REEEEAAAALLLYYY appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Not asking for your 'secret' spot but somewhere (ballpark) where it isn't too bad.
Anyone?
Hello?
Please?
or pm me if you don't want it broadcast to all.
Thanks.
Last edited by a moderator:
getbent
Well-Known Member
All right, time to get the Summer thread going!
staying alive
Active Member
Anyone go out on Sunday ? Winder finder told me it would only be blowing 5-6mph Sunday morning marine radio said high winds 40kph when we got to launch. So much for using wind finder app for trip planning. Went to the mouth of north arm it looked like rollers coming so turned around and went up river and had a barbecue. Maybe next weekend.
GypsyKing
Member
So we finally brought it all together today on my boat! It started with a sunset crossing last night at 7pm. Flat calm with very little debris. It was flawless. 1 hour from River Rock to Thrasher Rock. Stayed the night at a friends place on one of the islands about 15 minutes from Thrasher. Was up early and had lines down off Grande in 900' of water @ 5:45am. It didn't take long for the fleet to arrive and it seemed everyone and their brotha was over at Thrasher. We heard of some good action that way from 6-9am but decided to stay and pay around Grande. We got a line on some action from GypsyKing who was in tighter to shore. Soon after, we hit a double header of shakers in the deep water, but following my gut (and the good tip) we decided leave the gear up and head in shallower. We gave a good effort for a couple of hours with not much to speak of...decided to push along the shore towards the northern mouth of Silva, and if nothing hit, we would continue to deeper water towards the fleet. Moments later, the sonar started chirping like crazy, and we stumbled on to the mother of all bait balls....
at that moment, the craziest 3 hours of salmon fishing began.
pass after pass we were into fish. Big fish. We counted 4 double headers with 4 more single hook-ups to add. The smallest was about 8 pounds. The biggest was a gem. Trendsetter, after his years of aggressive angling, managed to break his personal best of 19 lbs with this fat pig...
Pound it! 26.5 pounds!
On the next pass, it was my turn. My biggest fish of the year! I wont say much because I have a video that will say it all. It was a riot of a catch!! It was so far, my best day of the year. We continued our pursuit of happiness and finally found the fish. And they were stacked up thick and heavy for us! The last month has seen some long days with little results and in one 3 hour period it all melted away. I probably shouldn't be reviewing gas receipts any time soon though LOL.
We came back over @ around 4, the trophy catch and 3 smaller fish perfect for the Q. What a day.
Oh, Chovy n spoons was our ticket today. The fish had 4" needlefish in their guts, which is what I would guess the baitball was largely made up of. There were fresh kills in the chins bellys.
Cheers
Congrats on the well deserved day Nick!!! Fished the Grande Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon in tight no deeper than 300' of water..Moved over to the Rock Saturday evening. Pretty good action of the Grande sat morning and into the afternoon.. Bite seemed to die so moved to the rock for the evening. Fished from the Marker down to the red can and found again some decent action again.. Ended up with 6 fish from 12 to 20lbs. All reds.. All our fish came on white glow flasher and green splatter back turd... Made the trip home Sunday morning at it was just nasty!! Took us almost 2 1/2 hours... Heading back sat morning if the weather cooperates...
Word on the street is Finished Business couldn't get that action from Saturday out of his head and blazed work and heading back over this afternoon.
wildthing
Well-Known Member
yep Sunday was a gong show again with the wind
wanted to get out in the middle and had to fish cotton pt and went over to waterfall and then trolled down to hutt island done several trip's around hutt and then headed back to Gibsons
and weather looks like hit and miss till the weekend no two days the same....lol
wanted to get out in the middle and had to fish cotton pt and went over to waterfall and then trolled down to hutt island done several trip's around hutt and then headed back to Gibsons
and weather looks like hit and miss till the weekend no two days the same....lol
Top Rod
Member
Dropped the crap pot off jericho sunday, then headed for horeshoe bay to drop some prawn traps and fish the sound. Dropped 2 traps then started a tach from horseshoe to sunset. Seemed quiet so picked up and moved up the sound. Dropped the gear up towardsdefense and started marking bait and fish. Had a decent fish on in 15 minutes, popped of soon after.
Continued a tach for an hour and half. Coming back we hooked into a nice fish at 70'. The fight was on, after a 3 minute battleand a quick glimpse of a quality fish it soundedg like crazy, absolutely peeling line.10 minutes later
I noticed what turned out to be a seal with my fish 300' back froom the boat. $###&&** I started yarding on the rod harder than ever before. Ended up a full on brawn battle for my fish. After wrapping both cables and realeasing a re- latching three times we pulled aboard 14.5 lb of a 20lb est. Red spring.. craziest battle and I won!!
Had 1 other good hit around 11 that never stuck. Pretty sure one of my prawn traps was stripped as I Had 30 iin one and 3 in another close to each other. We pulled up to the traps with a ski boat with two pullers atatched right up on our markers.
Picked up 8 nice crabs loaded with the orange and white inside. .We will never forget that battle for our fish.. wow
Continued a tach for an hour and half. Coming back we hooked into a nice fish at 70'. The fight was on, after a 3 minute battleand a quick glimpse of a quality fish it soundedg like crazy, absolutely peeling line.10 minutes later
I noticed what turned out to be a seal with my fish 300' back froom the boat. $###&&** I started yarding on the rod harder than ever before. Ended up a full on brawn battle for my fish. After wrapping both cables and realeasing a re- latching three times we pulled aboard 14.5 lb of a 20lb est. Red spring.. craziest battle and I won!!
Had 1 other good hit around 11 that never stuck. Pretty sure one of my prawn traps was stripped as I Had 30 iin one and 3 in another close to each other. We pulled up to the traps with a ski boat with two pullers atatched right up on our markers.
Picked up 8 nice crabs loaded with the orange and white inside. .We will never forget that battle for our fish.. wow
Finished Business
Well-Known Member
Alas the waters were a little rougher than I expected this evening, and I didn't make it across. Did make a day of it with the prawn traps...man are they rinsed clean lol, cuz it seems the comms have done there deed.
It wasn't too snarly and the weather in the sky was beautiful, but with the dogs on board I didn't want to beat them up an hour each way...heard of some good fishing by a pod of orcas, I think they were off the hump, but hard to say where the chatter on the VHF is, unless someone voices a position.
Anyone out today know the whereabouts of the orcas?
It wasn't too snarly and the weather in the sky was beautiful, but with the dogs on board I didn't want to beat them up an hour each way...heard of some good fishing by a pod of orcas, I think they were off the hump, but hard to say where the chatter on the VHF is, unless someone voices a position.
Anyone out today know the whereabouts of the orcas?
tykkyt e blue
Well-Known Member
Fished Trasher today since the plan to get to Bamfield fell thru...
Lots of undersize, two nice coho but still wearing their 'tabs' so they're still swimming, and 2chinook about 10lb each
Lots of undersize, two nice coho but still wearing their 'tabs' so they're still swimming, and 2chinook about 10lb each
Glaciertim
Member
Fished Thrasher yesterday from 2:00 until 7:30. It was a stunning day to be on the water. The wind was very light and the water was flat. We got two undersized and one 13 pound Chinook on an Irish cream spoon at 153 feet in 500 feet of water. There were only about six boats out there in the evening. Strange thing...when we pulled up the rods at the end of the day to go home I discovered that the leader was broken on one rod and I lost the lure. I didn't notice a strike and the line didn't pop out of the clip. Wierd.
Beautiful afternoon and we made the crossing home at 30 mph. Will be back Thursday.
Beautiful afternoon and we made the crossing home at 30 mph. Will be back Thursday.
Hookin'up
Well-Known Member
LiquidGuides01
Member
Nice work guys those are beauties! Ill have to head up that way soon,
Its been pretty good offshore of White Isl past few weeks
Bone man
Member
Wht ilse's eh? I haven't fished there in years. Better give it a go soon. My bro picked up a nice spring at camp bing last nite! The details for "hook in up" ... There is a series of pinnacles just north of sangster near seal reef. Look for bait shallow (30-40') and drop a Mac deep into the middle of the bait. A cpl twitches and hang on! Good luck guys!
Glaciertim
Member
The wind Thursday morning is supposed to be light and there is a low tide somewhere around 10:30 AM. So since tomorrow is a day off I will be heading over to Thrasher to give it another go.
On another note, tonight I barbequed half of the 13 pound white I got last night. I cooked it on a cedar plank and rubbed in a mix of olive oil, brown sugar and a bunch of other spices. It was amazing! Well worth the $200 per pound it cost me to get that fish
No really, it was the best salmon I have ever had and I hope to get more tomorrow.
I will post from the boat if I can get a 3G connection while out there on my Rogers device.
Tim
On another note, tonight I barbequed half of the 13 pound white I got last night. I cooked it on a cedar plank and rubbed in a mix of olive oil, brown sugar and a bunch of other spices. It was amazing! Well worth the $200 per pound it cost me to get that fish
No really, it was the best salmon I have ever had and I hope to get more tomorrow. I will post from the boat if I can get a 3G connection while out there on my Rogers device.
Tim
Charter Tofino
Well-Known Member
Those pinnicales are closed for a Rockfish Conservation Area...
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/maps-cartes/rca-acs/areas-secteurs/14-eng.htm
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