2025 Nanaimo Reports

[Babyduck Industries]

Got out to take advantage of the mild winds with the wife yesterday with the idea of retaining some of the numerous pinks from the day before for smoking.
As with any good plan it got derailed when the first fish and only pink released itself behind the boat.
I wasn’t exactly disappointed though as I decided to give the Tomic plug in 602 a real go and ended up with a nice hatch coho and a beauty 80 cm white spring along with several unders in the 50-55cm range.
We topped the day off with a 65cm spring on an anchovy before we packed it in for the day.

Where were you? Entrance? Fish still deep? Heading out to entrance tomorrow or Saturday.

 

[Squire]

Where were you? Entrance? Fish still deep? Heading out to entrance tomorrow or Saturday.

Started at the Flat Tops but as the water started to lay down we ran over to Entrance where we caught the hatch coho and 80 cm spring at 150’ on the plug. I gave up on the anchovy at Entrance after three dogfish but when we moved to the Grande I put the chovy back on and caught the 65cm spring within minutes. We packed it in after that so not enough time to say if the Grande would have produced.

 

[Flywheel]

A great morning off Nanaimo fishing plugs. Usual spots worked great with plugs deep.

 

[outbeen]

Took an old friend out for the sundown fish last night and he nailed a 70cm red on the plug. 30' rigger in 50' FOW. 15 minutes after sunset

 

[Howzer]

Heading out next mid-week to Thrasher/Silva Bay and then south for a couple days to Saltspring for a visit. How has Thrasher and area been last couple days?

 

[PEETZcanada]

Good day out off Nanaimo waters with my buddy Joel. He's been helping me since last season fishing PEETZ and testing colours and profiles for me. He is well respected in the community. Lots of fish out there to play and hit the slot. Today the morning was best for us. Kept a few springs, released a number anlost a bunch too. Depths were 65 to 220. All on the HOMERUN trolling spoons.

 

[Tomfoolery]

Anyone out off Entrance today? I took a weekend cruise down to Prevost and on the way back there were quite a few what I can only assume were pinks making their way down the inside of Galiano. I pretty much ran over a jumper and an entire school at one point. There were only a few boats at Porlier and maybe ten at Entrance. And of course the closer to Nanaimo I got the rougher it became!

 

[Bearded wonder]

Got out at first light this morning. Parking lots had quite a few trailers already. Started close to Hudson Rocks and had action as soon we dropped the lines. Lots of wild coho, lost a decent spring, bonked a 65cm spring, quite a few unders. Bite died after tide change. Then trolled five fingers to neck point to Clark rock. Slow with a few wild coho and smalls. 5” plug and no bananas spoon were working.

Lots and lots of boats deep off the fingers. Think they going for pinks. No one fishing close to shore looking for springs.

Parking lot were packed at 11am when we came in. No parking. Never seen it that busy.

 

[WetShoes]

Got out at first light this morning. Parking lots had quite a few trailers already. Started close to Hudson Rocks and had action as soon we dropped the lines. Lots of wild coho, lost a decent spring, bonked a 65cm spring, quite a few unders. Bite died after tide change. Then trolled five fingers to neck point to Clark rock. Slow with a few wild coho and smalls. 5” plug and no bananas spoon were working.

Lots and lots of boats deep off the fingers. Think they going for pinks. No one fishing close to shore looking for springs.

Parking lot were packed at 11am when we came in. No parking. Never seen it that busy.

Nice one gettin a spring.
Only picked up a nice hatch coho today, around Clark. Not much action other than that, few undersized spring.
Was out at first light and mostly trolled from fingers to Clark.

 

[Tomfoolery]

Hit the reefs at Entrance mid morning to scoop up a few lings. I figured we could deal with the tide but the wind came up prematurely from the weather forecast. Promptly jigged up a few snags, lost about $25 in gear and in disgust put out the downriggers and salmon gear instead. Came in a few hours later with one hatch coho for the Q and released a few wilds. Not a sniff of nookie though.

 

[Flywheel]

Great fishing for springs at entrance in the wind this afternoon. Fished with bottle nose tied herring naked.

 

[chille51]

Similar report as others. Out at first light, started trolling shallow from Clark up to Rocky Point. Missed one hit, but that's about the extent of the action. Trolled over to Fingers and got into some Coho. Some really nice wilds released, couple hatch retained. Around lunch picked up and moved to Entrance. Same story there, only Coho. Never touched a Chinook all day. About 12 Cohonto the boat, 4 retained, some others lost. Tried plugs, spoons, Chovies, and herring.

 

[dmack]

Fished 3 to 7 tonight at Entrance. Struggled to find Chinook more than in past weeks, but that may have been due to reeling in one coho after another. I doubt either rod was actually fishing for more than half the time were out. Did eventually catch 3 springs including a double header of low 70s fish when we shallowed our gear to 120 + 135'.
If you actually want to catch springs out there I'd suggest whatever the most coho-proof lure is in the box.

 

[outbeen]

Broke my best plug (602) Sunday night. Repurposed the thrift store plug of yesteryear with kids glitter, glow powder, and epoxy.

Went for the night bite with my cousin l from out of town 630 to 830pm. Found the springs 30-50' over 40-60 fow @3.5-5mph on structure right as sun went down

 

[outbeen]

Great fishing for springs at entrance in the wind this afternoon. Fished with bottle nose tied herring naked.

Awesome! Do you have a picture of how to rig?

 

[Aces]

Broke my best plug (602) Sunday night. Repurposed the thrift store plug of yesteryear with kids glitter, glow powder, and epoxy.

Went for the night bite with my cousin l from out of town 630 to 830pm. Found the springs 30-50' over 40-60 fow @3.5-5mph on structure right as sun went down


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Me too!

 

[SpringVelocity]

NOOOO!

 

[Aces]

NOOOO!

Yes the retreiver crossed the rainbow bridge after catching hundreds of Chinooks over the last several years

 

[Tomfoolery]

Me too!

Damn, I have plugs that look pretty rough from teeth marks but have never broken a plug in half like that! It's that 1 in 100 plugs action that is killer regardless of colour I think. I had a killer white Tomic plug that I lent out to a guest out of mercy for their poor fish catching skills. I was young and naive. They went out and lost it to a kelp bed. As a guide at the time I used 95% bait but that one still hurt bad.

 

[WetShoes]

Fished 3 to 7 tonight at Entrance. Struggled to find Chinook more than in past weeks, but that may have been due to reeling in one coho after another. I doubt either rod was actually fishing for more than half the time were out. Did eventually catch 3 springs including a double header of low 70s fish when we shallowed our gear to 120 + 135'.
If you actually want to catch springs out there I'd suggest whatever the most coho-proof lure is in the box.

Do you/anyone that fishes hoochies much find you get more springs on em?
I don't use hoochies often but thinking I'll add them to the arsenal