Mav the fish killer
New Member
Hi there everyone I am wondering can you catch salmon from shore in the Nanaimo like at Neck point Or is Rocky point good yet
2024 Nanaimo Reports
- Thread starter SFBC
- Start date
There was a whack of springs weighed in for the derby. Guy helping at the scales said he weighed over 100 Chinook on Saturday
Went out yesterday afternoon hoping the marine reports were correct and it was going to be calm (spoiler: they weren't)
Started out looking for lings and picked up one around 70cm. Started trolling around neck point and had constant action but mostly shakers. Lost two chinook that looked like keepers near the boat and the bite turned off for me at around 7:30 so we packed it in.
The number of really small fish was frustrating. If a rod wasn't getting action for a little bit I would check it and sure enough a little guy on there. Is that an indication that I should go deeper or just something to deal with?
Started out looking for lings and picked up one around 70cm. Started trolling around neck point and had constant action but mostly shakers. Lost two chinook that looked like keepers near the boat and the bite turned off for me at around 7:30 so we packed it in.
The number of really small fish was frustrating. If a rod wasn't getting action for a little bit I would check it and sure enough a little guy on there. Is that an indication that I should go deeper or just something to deal with?
I would move so you don't kill the small fish!
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Move on... Agree
Upsizing your gear sometimes works
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Run some plugs.
Grace underfire
Active Member
I'd second this. It's my go-to now if I'm out by myself or hitting too many smalls. Like all gear it takes a bit to get confident in it, but sounds like conditions were right the other day if you knew there were quality fish around.
Run a little quicker and/ or buy 'tubbies' which do ok at slower (2.5-3 mph).
banger17
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Was in the same area for a couple of hours and only had one hit and it came into the boat. 63cm spring that’ll be just fine for the bbq.
90 feet of water off Neck and dragging bottom. Had higher hopes given the reports but didn’t see much happening at all.
As my previous report indicated - we caught our chinooks on plugs, and deeper near bottom. Also around Neck and closer over to Clarke Rock. But we also caught shakers on them too. Not an insane amount, but a few. Feisty little guys going after a plug that's probably 50% of their length!
Grace underfire
Active Member
I think a lot of the reports were for the Silva Bay derby and fish were mostly caught further South. Out front is getting spotty for sure.
Grace underfire
Active Member
Does anyone know if there are a whack of Jacks that come up the Nanaimo River? This year, once again off Neck in September there is a good supply of dark, fat chinooks right around 2 feet long. One of the 3 we caught tonight was over 62, so we whacked it and sure enough it was a mature male. I can't imagine these fish are far from spawning.
Also managed a nice silver (red) female 76 cm tonight.
Also managed a nice silver (red) female 76 cm tonight.
Hi all,
basically new to the forum.
I've been fishing my whole life, and moved to the Island in Nanaimo about 10 years ago. Done all the on-foot fly fishing ever imaginable, but I just got a 12ft aluminum boat with a 9.9hp motor, and I was planning to explore the near off-shore potential of the area. Interested mostly in bucktailing for coho (I heard there some real expert in this forum
) and casting to the occasional fish frenzy that might materialize, with some jigging as "plan B", just in case the fish are not cooperating on the fly.
I don't expect anyone to tell me their secret "honey hole" (is there such a thing in the ocean?), but any advice on technique, locations, timing, etc. will be greatly appreciated.
Tight lines
basically new to the forum.
I've been fishing my whole life, and moved to the Island in Nanaimo about 10 years ago. Done all the on-foot fly fishing ever imaginable, but I just got a 12ft aluminum boat with a 9.9hp motor, and I was planning to explore the near off-shore potential of the area. Interested mostly in bucktailing for coho (I heard there some real expert in this forum
) and casting to the occasional fish frenzy that might materialize, with some jigging as "plan B", just in case the fish are not cooperating on the fly.I don't expect anyone to tell me their secret "honey hole" (is there such a thing in the ocean?), but any advice on technique, locations, timing, etc. will be greatly appreciated.
Tight lines
Grace underfire
Active Member
Well, I'm far from an expert on coho; despite fishing chinook hard around here for the last 20 years it's only been the last 2 that I was finding enough clipped to make it worth it to target them. That said, since you don't seem to be getting other responses, so I'll tell you what I know.Hi all,
basically new to the forum.
I've been fishing my whole life, and moved to the Island in Nanaimo about 10 years ago. Done all the on-foot fly fishing ever imaginable, but I just got a 12ft aluminum boat with a 9.9hp motor, and I was planning to explore the near off-shore potential of the area. Interested mostly in bucktailing for coho (I heard there some real expert in this forum
I don't expect anyone to tell me their secret "honey hole" (is there such a thing in the ocean?), but any advice on technique, locations, timing, etc. will be greatly appreciated.
Tight lines
Fish fast and keep the leaders relatively short.
Keep moving; there are no 'honey holes' as you say. Fish can be tight to Hudson Rock or Neck Point one day and past the last Finger the next. Snake holds fish at times, despite almost nobody fishing there.
Clipped fish can be mixed in with unclipped or are sometimes in different locations or depths. If you want fish to bonk sometimes it's tricky to figure out how long to stay in one spot before you move away from good action with unclipped: for me usually 3-5 unclipped in succession.
Not sure if you have a sounder (I'd get one) but if you're seeing bait balls deeper than you can bucktail and not getting any, I'd move to plan B and try jigging.
Dawn, dusk, and tide changes are productive, though cohos through summer are less reliant on bite times. I'd suspect as they get closer to spawning in the fall this may change, but haven't tried enough to say for sure.
I have hit feeder chinook big enough to keep through Sep and Oct, so you may have a bit of good by-catch while you're out there.
Best of luck
Tomfoolery
Active Member
Still great fishing out there, and big numbers of fish still around. Caught a nice 85cm this morning at around 8:20 working the outside drop-off off the two humps off neck point. The wild coho along there, (some getting into northern territory now) were thick and every time I dropped the rigger the pin would pop at 117 on the way down and I would have to release another wild fish. After it slowed down off neck we trolled over to Fingers to get our last hatch coho along with another few wilds to release. We were fishing 120-185 and getting them at all levels. The hot ticket for coho was a white glow hootchie with a silver skirt in one of those jughead holders (I think that's what they are called) with about a 24" leader. That combo actually has been pretty killer this year. The big one came on a Westcoast Tackle Fish-E herring aid spoon.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Good.
Grace underfire
Active Member
What's anyone's experience on FOs getting worked up over transport regs? Given that pretty much every fishing resort I've been to completely ignores them and packages fish into 2-3 lb vacuum sealed bags that would be impossible to identify I can't imagine it's a high priority.
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