2025 Nanaimo Reports

[finaddict]

Hit Thrasher yesterday for a mid day troll. Not a sniff and it looked like everyone else was having the same experience. Pulled up and headed to Entrance and ,managed to scratch up 3 hatchery coho out of 6 brought to the boat. Wild fish released in the water in good shape. All fish at 115 feet. Anchovies were the favourite.

 

[luka7930]

Heading to thetis island for the weekend and there is a boat setup there, any tips on where to do a couple morning/evening trolls relatively close by?

 

[dmack]

Heading to thetis island for the weekend and there is a boat setup there, any tips on where to do a couple morning/evening trolls relatively close by?

Not sure what side you're on, but Porlier isn't far from the back side or from the passage. Should be some coho out there, but check regs for chinook closures.

 

[luka7930]

Not sure what side you're on, but Porlier isn't far from the back side or from the passage. Should be some coho out there, but check regs for chinook closures.

Thank you.

 

[dmack]

Thank you.

No worries. Not sure what kind of boat you're going out in, but if it's something small be aware of currents and conditions when going through there to fish the outside. 10 knot current out + wind blowing in can make for a dicey situation when it happens.

 

[Grant_J]

My last 3 times out at the fingers over the last few weeks has been nothing but mega weeds every time I bring the gear up - how has fishing been down around Tent Island?

 

[darin359]

My last 3 times out at the fingers over the last few weeks has been nothing but mega weeds every time I bring the gear up - how has fishing been down around Tent Island?

Fished tent last week for afew hours. Tons of weeds there too oddly. Released afew undersized and lost what felt like a good one. Could’ve just been the tide line but there were weeds scattered all over which i usually don’t see there.

 

[Northdogboy]

Wether looks great for my Sunday.
Whats the word for around fingers / shack rock?
Theres was no bait last week so we never found any salmon. Smallboat so limited to close to shore

 

[Aces]

Wether looks great for my Sunday.
Whats the word for around fingers / shack rock?
Theres was no bait last week so we never found any salmon. Smallboat so limited to close to shore

Watch out for all the bath tubs, lol!

 

[Northdogboy]

Maybe itll keep the other boats away. Im normally not that far out and done by noon anyway.

 

[chille51]

Went out for a quick one this morning. Put a new prop on yesterday so main point was to test that out. Ran from Breckin to Winchelsea, then turned around and started trolling back. Very steady action on Coho and maybe some pinks (never got them close enough to boat to confirm). Was only fishing one rod and it was rarely down for more than 5 minutes without a hit. Lost most of them at the Boat as I wasn't netting them, just trying to grab the flasher. Eventually got 2 hatch Coho in the bag and end headed home. One of them was a pretty decent size, largest I've seen so far this year. Blue Mini flasher with a green needlefish hoochie, anywhere between 111-144 on the riggers in 200-300 FOW. Didn't try for springs as I have a trip to Esperanza coming up so saving room on the license for that.

Edit: first time trolling that far north of Neck Point, had the waters to myself!

 

[Aces]

Pretty good coho bite on the low slack today off the outer finger in the deep 90-120 ft. 50/50 on clipped fish. Small spoons

Chinooks…. 1 over and I - 65 cm released.

 

[Blue Hewes]

Fished 3:30-5:30 today off the fingers. 7 coho to the boat with 2 being hatchery. Caught 1 on a 3” plug the rest were on a skinny g that didn’t seem to hold up to the task at hand.

 

[MikePA]

Went to entrance yesterday and today. Tons of bait and Chinook around. Got a 4 person limit each day.

 

[Grant_J]

We drove up from Mill Bay and were out bright and early on Sunday to Five Fingers - with slack tide just after 7am I was expecting a bonanza but it wasn't - at least not for us with our gear and depth choices. Some other boats had fish on, but nothing crazy that I could see. 10-10:30 was a different story at 50' as the Coho bite came on hard. We had 4 to the boat, including one really big one which was jumping like crazy, it literally almost jumped into the boat and it would have been in but it hit the downrigger instead. It wasn't clipped so I gaff released it but he was clearly pretty dazed. My wife said "Keep it he's not going to make it" and I said "he probably won't but we can't". He did swim down and off, so maybe he survived. We had 1 clipped keeper.

 

[Unreel]

Fished 3:30-5:30 today off the fingers. 7 coho to the boat with 2 being hatchery. Caught 1 on a 3” plug the rest were on a skinny g that didn’t seem to hold up to the task at hand.

Pretty much any tackle nowadays asides from some small local brands is made in china by the cheapest crap possible. I've spent over $10 on spoons that have the paint fall off or pattern come off the first time in the water, absolute garbage.

 

[Tomfoolery]

Nice to see lots of fish around. Had a friend up and didn't got out to Fingers until 11 yesterday. We got tired of getting thrashed around outside in open water so tucked in close to Hudson rocks and had consistent action until we went in around three. Two springs and a coho in the boat, a number of cohos and undersized springs released and lost more than a few. The tubbing action was a bonus... man those guys take a beating!

 

[Tomfoolery]

Pretty much any tackle nowadays asides from some small local brands is made in china by the cheapest crap possible. I've spent over $10 on spoons that have the paint fall off or pattern come off the first time in the water, absolute garbage.

I have been fishing a Phat-E Halo West Coast Tackle spoon this year and probably taken 20 fish on it. It still looks like new. My other spoons not so much after a fraction of the fish. I think I am a convert!

 

[seachicken]

Got out to Thrasher area about 1630 yesterday, headed to flat top Island as it was a little lumpy still and got 4 undersize (mix of coho and spring) all on a small west coast tackle Phat-E jolly racher and Gibbs no bananas flasher. White West Coast Hoochie with Herring aid flasher got nothing. Pulled up and went to Thrasher after the water got flat and the Hoochie got a 68 cm spring and a hatchery coho in 100' of water, gear at 60-80'. Lots of bait.

 

[the force]

Went out for a quick one this morning. Put a new prop on yesterday so main point was to test that out. Ran from Breckin to Winchelsea, then turned around and started trolling back. Very steady action on Coho and maybe some pinks (never got them close enough to boat to confirm). Was only fishing one rod and it was rarely down for more than 5 minutes without a hit. Lost most of them at the Boat as I wasn't netting them, just trying to grab the flasher. Eventually got 2 hatch Coho in the bag and end headed home. One of them was a pretty decent size, largest I've seen so far this year. Blue Mini flasher with a green needlefish hoochie, anywhere between 111-144 on the riggers in 200-300 FOW. Didn't try for springs as I have a trip to Esperanza coming up so saving room on the license for that.

Edit: first time trolling that far north of Neck Point, had the waters to myself!

View attachment 118891

Thanks for the share, will be in town this weekend and a portion of next week fishing with a bunch of kids/inlaws… fewer boats and less stress is a good option as will be be mostly running gear and boat by myself, even if a few less fish.