2025 Gulf Island Reports

hey guys, once again, I’m chiming in looking for a little help- heading out of Cowichan Bay on where I might be able to find some crab and or prawns. I will be taking some guests out 27th and 28th and would like to attempt to get some fresh seafood crab prawn. Ling and salmon would be the holy Grail on the two days.-thanks for those that have posted
 
hey guys, once again, I’m chiming in looking for a little help- heading out of Cowichan Bay on where I might be able to find some crab and or prawns. I will be taking some guests out 27th and 28th and would like to attempt to get some fresh seafood crab prawn. Ling and salmon would be the holy Grail on the two days.-thanks for those that have posted
Drop the carb traps at bare point in Chemainus and the prawn traps near tent island. Then head out to porlier for lings and chinook. Good numbers of chinook out there and should be coho around.
 
Drop the carb traps at bare point in Chemainus and the prawn traps near tent island. Then head out to porlier for lings and chinook. Good numbers of chinook out there and should be coho around.
Thanks- appreciate that- again at Porlier do you recommend fishing the outside of Galliano or inside waters? I may just look at dropping the boat in at chemainus then would be a shorter run.-also I know I’m really digging here but any tips on where to try for links? I’m really not too experience with the links. I do have the gear but my expertise all my life has been hard-core salmon.
 
Hahaha, we can tell you're not too experienced with the "Links" cod... ;) Use your chart and watch your sounder while travelling in an area, look for heavily variable structure, aka lots of places to hide. The missing links will be there somewhere. They will be a little picked over at this time of year. I'd suggest checking out spots on the outside of Porlier for both salmon and ling. You can also try slowing your salmon trolling gear down and dropping it closer to some structure, and occasionally that will work for lings as well.
 
Thanks- appreciate that- again at Porlier do you recommend fishing the outside of Galliano or inside waters? I may just look at dropping the boat in at chemainus then would be a shorter run.-also I know I’m really digging here but any tips on where to try for links? I’m really not too experience with the links. I do have the gear but my expertise all my life has been hard-core salmon.
Head outside of the pass and fish along galiano island. Coho should be fairly shallow. If you time the currents right try jigging the pinnacles in the pass or troll some swim baits on the bottom
 
Hahaha, we can tell you're not too experienced with the "Links" cod... ;) Use your chart and watch your sounder while travelling in an area, look for heavily variable structure, aka lots of places to hide. The missing links will be there somewhere. They will be a little picked over at this time of year. I'd suggest checking out spots on the outside of Porlier for both salmon and ling. You can also try slowing your salmon trolling gear down and dropping it closer to some structure, and occasionally that will work for lings as well.
Lol- thanks- have def caught them dragging bottom but not so much jigging- talmon on the other hand…
 
I think my buddy set some sort of record yesterday morning by catching 2 lures off the bottom while we were ling fishing at Porlier. One of the benefits of running 80 lb braid I guess.
Tried salmon for a bit, and the only 2 fish of note were coho, one unclipped and one clipped that I'd put in the 8-9 lb range. Didn't see any of the few other boats into anything of size. Probably better places to fish on this side for those still primarily targetting salmon.
 
Well, I found some great crabbing - unbelievable actually-north of crofton- prawning west of Tent Island was tough- 40 prawns- 2 traps- 2 days- I heard somewhere closer to crofton and the narrows was much better at loading traps- coordinates please lol- link cod was nil for us- lost a couple $30 jigs in porlier- salmon fishing porlier Saturday am was gross on the outside so we tacked the inside north end of galiano across the pass with no success- when the easterly let up we managed to fish the outside for a couple hours and it was busy- but lots of undersize and some wild coho- still fun for the guests- some big wild coho as well- today was nice outside porlier but all smalls no quality- worked hard- caught lots but all smalls- tried a bit for lings over a couple humps and in a hole- no love I felt a little like Stevie Wonder in a dark cave with a wet box of matches, not knowing or having experience in the area…..
 

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Well, I found some great crabbing - unbelievable actually-north of crofton- prawning west of Tent Island was tough- 40 prawns- 2 traps- 2 days- I heard somewhere closer to crofton and the narrows was much better at loading traps- coordinates please lol- link cod was nil for us- lost a couple $30 jigs in porlier- salmon fishing porlier Saturday am was gross on the outside so we tacked the inside north end of galiano across the pass with no success- when the easterly let up we managed to fish the outside for a couple hours and it was busy- but lots of undersize and some wild coho- still fun for the guests- some big wild coho as well- today was nice outside porlier but all smalls no quality- worked hard- caught lots but all smalls- tried a bit for lings over a couple humps and in a hole- no love I felt a little like Stevie Wonder in a dark cave with a wet box of matches, not knowing or having experience in the area…..
Sounds like a couple good days overall. Porlier is a tough spot to figure out. Been fishing there for years and some days leaves me questioning everything I know lol. So don’t beat yourself up over it too much. Some days the lings are abundant and if you time it right with the currents it can be super productive. I don’t jig very often for them anymore, just troll swim baits in 80-100ft of water along some structure and I usually find em pretty quick. As for salmon on the outside of the pass just try heading south abit past the point and drop your gear right to the bottom. 100-150ft in the sand and use plugs or bigger spoons. Usually some feeder springs around in the keeper size range. Glad to see you found some crab though! Lots of big dungees this year the best I’ve seen.
 
fished a couple hours cherry point to mill bay,also wain rock for a look
no luck.a few trailers at the ramp still…coal isle?sydney ?would be good to hear.
approx 150 to 200 sea lions in cow bay…ironically lovey was very pleased great photo op
 
Agree with all of this. The only other thing is that the inside on the South side can be good if the current is running in though the pass (which to make it even more confusing is on an Ebb).
We sure saw a lot of bait out there (outside) during the last 3 weekends of September that produced very few fish, with the exception of hordes of tiny ones.
 
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