2017 OFFISHALL Vancouver-Howe Sound-Sechelt Reports Thread

[Cpt.Campbell]

Good overnigter in the sound fished Saturday afternoon and Sunday lots of bait

 

[ElectricDyck]

Took a Saturday stroll down the wall on way to get prawn traps; caught an undersize; 100' water Pesca. No luck yesterday but only fished 45 minutes. Will try again this morning. Last two days have been calmer than I've seen in quite a while.
Prawning has been average. I'm having troubles organizing my traps and weight. I have two lines; one with two traps and the other three. Can anyone comment or share how they set? The guy at Pacific Net and Twine suggested from bottom of line: weight, trap, trap, trap, weight but when I do this it all gets tangled and caught up on the way up. So then I decided to ditch the weight figuring that three traps was enough weight. Will pull that today but setting multiple traps on a line has been a challenge for me. Thoughts?

I was getting tangles and solved it by two things thanks to some help on here..i changed my bottom line from lead to poly which has way less memory and wont coil by itself..and started putting a bit of tension on the rope while idling away letting it out to keep it all in line...i do a 10lb trap, 50 ft poly, 10 lb trap, 25 ft poly then 10lb lead weight, then 200' poly, then 250' lead...been workin well.

Like was said above, more than 2 traps and you need a float line on both ends to a max of four traps..

 

[the fog ducker]

Just pulled into howe sound, dead calm , gulls are slamming bait fish on the surface everywhere !!

Fd

 

[SteelyDan]

Just pulled into the howe sound, dead calm , gulls are slamming bait fish on the surface everywhere !!

Fd

Wow the ducker fishing local. Must be good out there lol

 

[the fog ducker]

LOL not quite just getting off the ferry from the West Coast

 

[Old Blue]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/points/shellgear-eng.html

Thx, and apologies. Used to be 2 per float prawns, 1 for crabs.

 

[Pippen]

Quiet for us today in Tunstall and up to Hutt.

 

[walleyes]

Some nice fish pics boys, good stuff.

 

[Rain City]

Just pulled into the howe sound, dead calm , gulls are slamming bait fish on the surface everywhere !!

Fd

Hah! I couldn't even read your post. I was laughing too hard at your name! lol

 

[Teja]

the lines for a couple hours this afternoon at Porlier on the way back from Salt Spring. One keeper and 12 released that were between 20 inches and just shy of keeper size. A lot of fish over there but no where near the feed as in the harbour and around Howe Sound ... pretty interesting as the undersized are pretty lean on that side and pretty fat on the mainland side.

Best part of the trip back was an awesome whale show off the North Arm ... we drifted for 20 minutes and watched a pod circle a sea lion and continuously toss it around. They didn't physically damage it but they emotionally terrorized it. If you look in the centre you may see a brown body bob up and down on occasion. Fascinating to watch the whales just circle and to watch the young whales being taught the ropes. Much better half had the iPhone video going most of the time so I will see if I can link a short snippet via Vimeo (apologies ... the Vimeo link may be a little grainy whereas the original wasn't).

 

[apprentice]

Cool video. Thanks

 

[Matthias]

If anyone fished near Hutt island on Sunday, you may have seen a boat struggling with rigger cables in the main prop.
Here's what happened <yes, it was me > Light wind, around 1:30pm, with an outgoing flow. Trolling South, and make a starboard turn. Next thing I know, the cable is at a steep angle under the boat and isn't correcting, indicating that it's caught around the main engine leg (not running but in neutral so prop is free to spin. Using 9.9 as kicker). After poking around and jumping in trying to free the cable, efforts were unsuccessful and we ended up needing a tow to thunderbird marina to have the cable removed.
I really don't know how this could have happened, as I've definitely been in stronger currents and made much sharper turns in the past (Cap mouth gong show). So my thoughts are that maybe i slowed down on the turn, allowing the current My thoughts for next time are:
1. Trim main leg all the way up
2. Extend downrigger booms all the way
3. Put main engine in gear so prop can't spin

Would be great to hear some of your thoughts, and input on how to avoid/react if this happens.

Matt

 

[Pippen]

1. Trim main leg all the way up
2. Extend downrigger booms all the way
3. Put main engine in gear so prop can't spin

I wouldn't trim the leg all the way up when trolling as you'll see a notable difference in the handling of your boat at trolling speed. The main acts as a pretty good rudder to help with steering on the kicker.

Is there any chance if you were fishing right along bottom that the ball may have got hung up as you made your turn?

What weight of balls were you running? We experienced some pretty good current along there yesterday too but the 15's tracked well through turns.

I would definitely have the booms extended, it can also make a difference as to where your riggers are mounted; right at the rear or forward a bit?

 

[jdv]

I was getting tangles and solved it by two things thanks to some help on here..i changed my bottom line from lead to poly which has way less memory and wont coil by itself..and started putting a bit of tension on the rope while idling away letting it out to keep it all in line...i do a 10lb trap, 50 ft poly, 10 lb trap, 25 ft poly then 10lb lead weight, then 200' poly, then 250' lead...been workin well.

Like was said above, more than 2 traps and you need a float line on both ends to a max of four traps..

Thanks to all who responded re: prawn trap question. I note that more than two traps requires two floats. Makes sense; this is what the commercial guys do. Before reading this I did pop the triple trap line down without weight (figuring that three traps is enough weight on its own) and the haul was a lot better. Anyhow, I'll keep fiddling around with it. Cheers.

 

[Matthias]

I wouldn't trim the leg all the way up when trolling as you'll see a notable difference in the handling of your boat at trolling speed. The main acts as a pretty good rudder to help with steering on the kicker.

Is there any chance if you were fishing right along bottom that the ball may have got hung up as you made your turn?

What weight of balls were you running? We experienced some pretty good current along there yesterday too but the 15's tracked well through turns.

I would definitely have the booms extended, it can also make a difference as to where your riggers are mounted; right at the rear or forward a bit?

Thanks Pippen. The main (inboard/outboard motor) doesn't steer with the kicker, so its basically in one position all the time. I was definitely fishing the bottom, and it's possible we were bouncing bottom on the turn. Didn't think about that!
Using 15lb cannon balls, and our riggers are about 5 feet from the stern. See pic

 

[Matthias]

On a report related note, we did get one keeper before the tangle, and were surprised to see the contents of its stomach, which was so tightly packed i'm not sure how it would've fit my hootiche in there..

 

[Pippen]

Thanks Pippen. The main (inboard/outboard motor) doesn't steer with the kicker, so its basically in one position all the time. I was definitely fishing the bottom, and it's possible we were bouncing bottom on the turn. Didn't think about that!
Using 15lb cannon balls, and our riggers are about 5 feet from the stern. See pic

Ah....didn't realize you were running an inboard. At 1:30 you shouldn't have been much past slack water as for Gibson's it was low slack at 12:45 and starting on a flood. In saying that you likely had a bit of current pushing the ball but you were pretty darn close to slack and with 15's I wouldn't have expected that much pull on them.. I am thinking it was too tight of a turn or perhaps you just got hung up at the right time in your turn as there are some depth changes in that area between Hutt and Bowen.

 

[Matthias]

Ah....didn't realize you were running an inboard. At 1:30 you shouldn't have been much past slack water as for Gibson's it was low slack at 12:45 and starting on a flood. In saying that you likely had a bit of current pushing the ball but you were pretty darn close to slack and with 15's I wouldn't have expected that much pull on them.. I am thinking it was too tight of a turn or perhaps you just got hung up at the right time in your turn as there are some depth changes in that area between Hutt and Bowen.

Cheers Pippen. I'll be more careful on my turns, and make sure I'm not bouncing when I do. Thanks!

 

[reeltordarius]

Out at HITW yesterday from ~1-3:30, no hits. Nice haul of prawn on the way back. Finally starting to feel like I'm getting better at setting and hauling up the traps....mostly because of info here (and of course that hands free Ace line). I've been using a hose reel for the rope and it's been working great, I can get both sets of rope (~750') wound on. Takes up a bit more space in the boat than I'd like, but being free from tangles is worth it.

 

[Reel Time]

the lines for a couple hours this afternoon at Porlier on the way back from Salt Spring. One keeper and 12 released that were between 20 inches and just shy of keeper size. A lot of fish over there but no where near the feed as in the harbour and around Howe Sound ... pretty interesting as the undersized are pretty lean on that side and pretty fat on the mainland side.

Best part of the trip back was an awesome whale show off the North Arm ... we drifted for 20 minutes and watched a pod circle a sea lion and continuously toss it around. They didn't physically damage it but they emotionally terrorized it. If you look in the centre you may see a brown body bob up and down on occasion. Fascinating to watch the whales just circle and to watch the young whales being taught the ropes. Much better half had the iPhone video going most of the time so I will see if I can link a short snippet via Vimeo (apologies ... the Vimeo link may be a little grainy whereas the original wasn't).

Amazing! Great show