2024 OFFISHALL Vancouver-Howe Sound-Sechelt Reports Thread
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Aquaholic
Crew Member
Buddha
Crew Member
Pushed off at 7:30 and headed straight to Roger Curtis this morning for a short troll. Missed the high slack when we finally dropped lines and started working the tight contours off Roger Curtis with hoochies and spoons. Didn’t see any nets out or activity on the sounder so decided to drop bait and try to sniper off any lurking fish with a snack. Got squeezed in tight and cut off by another boat so moved out to the deeper water and worked the 330 to 380 contours and got our first hit. I was on the helm and turned my head to see our rookie third wheel standing behind the rod man holding the net frozen not knowing what to do. Man on the rod says it’s a big male coho. Big enough to see it’s a hatchery fish. I couldn’t watch what was about to happen and turned my head forward. Next thing I see is a monkey puke flasher fling by the starboard window. Fish is gone and the boat that cut us off earlier has now joined us in the deeper water….Worked our way through our tray of bait at all depths 35-70 feet. 2 unclipped boat side released, 2 clipped in the cooler, 1 lost by the boat, 2 missed bites picked up lines at 10:30. It’s weird to say since we only fished for a few hours and went through a tray of bait but felt like a slow day.
Nothing for me. Was lumpy in front of the Fraser. Lumpy getting to Bowen. Lumpy over by the hump. Rolly enough that I decided to go up the north arm and down to Ladner. I was taking a beating out there. One little coho release. Slow day. All the action was in the waves!
I saw that one too out by RC. Nice rig.
Pineapple Express
Well-Known Member
Sunday report: Fishing in the Cowans Point area 11:30-13:30. Shakers. Lots of shakers. No hits from anything big. So frustrating...any tips to avoid shakers?
Also...there was a paparazzi photographer out there. If he came any closer my crew would've soaked him with the washdown hose which is apparently the funniest thing ever!!
Also...there was a paparazzi photographer out there. If he came any closer my crew would've soaked him with the washdown hose which is apparently the funniest thing ever!!
Saltwedge
Active Member
Went out Sunday on buddy's boat. Halfway from McDonald boat ramp to Entrance, we changed our plans, as it was too lumpy; plan was to chase chinook and maybe lings (with coho South Bowen on the way back). Instead, we went to Gower/Gibsons hoping for a chinook or two. Fishing there was slow and lumpy... lots of tiny coho shakers... may have lost a fish. Towed one boat into Gibsons that had their one outboard die on them. Tried Gower again after the tow... no luck. Hit South Bowen... released a nice wild coho and bagged two clipped cohos... lost a pair of unseen fish. Weird/slow day. 2nd coho was on a bucktail on the top rod... 2 oz weight... top rod rarely delivers!
Aquaholic
Crew Member
Aluminum vs fiberglass. Aluminum always wins!
Saltwedge
Active Member
Oh... most decent bites were on a UV hoochy at 42' on the rigger.
QUESTION: Where are the rules allowing double hooks on hoochies? I've been running a single hook on my hoochies recently in order to [ideally] create less damage to wild coho and chinook, and to facilitate their release. That being said, I'm curious about adding a second hook to compare the success rate of landing fish. All I can find is this, which implies multiple hooks are only allowed for bait?
Salmon fishing information - BC sport fishing guide
Salmon fishing information - BC sport fishing guide.
I do run a barbless treble and single stinger for bait, but only when fishing to retain big chinook (and shakers, pinks are not around).
Saltwedge
Active Member
For sure... the stores sell so many pre-rigged hoochies with double hooks; just looking for the rules on that, as I think you can't use a Rapala-type plug with the two trebles, for example, even if you pinch the barbs... you can remove the trebles from a Rapala-type plug, and just have a single barbless hook at the back (or centre), but I don't think you can run two singles on a hard lure (but I can no longer find the language on that!)... I'm assuming this is why all the traditional PNW (Tomic-style) plugs have a single hook.
My current hoochy rig includes a Gamagatsu Big River hook on a snap, on a bead chain... then the hoochy... this leaves the hook at the end of the tentacles... I could add a 2nd single hook onto the top loop of the bead chain, resulting in a central location, but not sure of the hardware/rules implications... seems you can get away with 2 hooks on a hoochy because they are *tied* on?
Aquaholic
Crew Member
Just a quick observation here. One of my fishing partners has been out coho fishing with me a number of times. I troll fast for coho, he has been running a skinny G and flasher, and every trip he is out fishing my barrage of hoochie combinations. That’s a remarkable spoon design that seems to work great for chinook at lower speeds, and coho even with a steep cable angle. (18lb cannonballs).
Pewpster
Well-Known Member
I’ve been running hoochies on one side and spoons on the other and last month the hoochie side was out fishing the spoons by a wide margin. In the last few weeks it’s the inverse with spoons being more productive for me. Skinny g has been a top producer, but they seem to get trashed pretty easily with a gaff release, although it could be my technique. They do bend back into shape pretty easily. The lighthouse big eye spoons have been working well also, but seem to attract chinook even when trolled fast.
Saltwedge
Active Member
The shakers were loving the Skinny G yesterday... and some of these shakers were so small that you would not notice they're on, so you may not be fishing until you check your lure again. I think the smaller size of the spoon, combined with longer leader and predictable movement resulted in shaker bites. The hoochies, with a bigger profile and short leader (being wipped around lots), resulted in little to no shaker bites. Just one more thing to think about out there.
Aquaholic
Crew Member
Yes, that is a known entity with them, but they work well and are sure popular. Have you tried the Needle G version? It’s the same spoon shape and color combo, but it’s three times as thick. They might not be as easy to find, but they do make them. it might not flutter as well, so that remains to be seen.
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