Rain City
Crew Member
Boom! Rewarded
2025 OFFISHALL Vancouver- Howe Sound-Sechelt Fishing Reports Thread
- Thread starter fishin_magician
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Squire
Well-Known Member
I’ll say; sounds like it was earned.
Pineapple Express
Well-Known Member
Too windy for us yesterday. Running out of Howe Sound around 11:30am and once south of Point Atkinson it was breezy and choppy. Didn't think it would be fishable out at T10 so we tucked in on the east side of Bowen at Cowans. Quite a few boats working the area trying to stay outta the wind and chop.
We got three fish to the boat; all unclipped coho. The first one was easily the biggest coho I've encountered around here...maybe 8-10lbs?? My son had fun with that one on the rod while standing on the bow. At one point the rod was bent all the way to the gunnel!
We had very poor ratio of getting hits to stick. Probably missed 10+ hits that were on and then gone. Very frustrating. Even tucked in behind Bowen the winds were strong and boat handling wasn't the easiest. Fished anchovies on one side and two different flash flies on the other side (white/clear and blue/white). Similar rates of hits on both sides of the boat.
We eventually went to Bowen and played on a beach for an hour before heading home. Cleanup is a lot faster when you don't have any fish to deal with. Homemade pizza for dinner was a consolation prize.
We got three fish to the boat; all unclipped coho. The first one was easily the biggest coho I've encountered around here...maybe 8-10lbs?? My son had fun with that one on the rod while standing on the bow. At one point the rod was bent all the way to the gunnel!
We had very poor ratio of getting hits to stick. Probably missed 10+ hits that were on and then gone. Very frustrating. Even tucked in behind Bowen the winds were strong and boat handling wasn't the easiest. Fished anchovies on one side and two different flash flies on the other side (white/clear and blue/white). Similar rates of hits on both sides of the boat.
We eventually went to Bowen and played on a beach for an hour before heading home. Cleanup is a lot faster when you don't have any fish to deal with. Homemade pizza for dinner was a consolation prize.
capman
Well-Known Member
Had similar experience as you did. Stayed around Cowen away from the wind. Only hooked and lost one spring but hooked well over 20 coho within 5 hours fishing. Out of 20 or so coho, managed 4 clipped ones to the boat. One wild released must've been well over 12 lb. Used only white hootchie.
pescador
Well-Known Member
What did you guys get the ho’s on?
el.Pereh
Well-Known Member
Think it was a black hootchie
el.Pereh
Well-Known Member
I’m sorry I got in a lot of trouble at school
capman
Well-Known Member
Mostly white hootchie
Marco Polo
Active Member
SH from 11-5 today and it was the Ho show for sure. Managed to get one clipped one in the mix and a couple of decent marble chinook. White hootchies were the go early and then it turned to the bait show. Riggers set between 80' and 110'.
sherrett
Well-Known Member
Early bite at sandheads was strong. Lines down at 7:40. Solo limit of 2 chinooks at 8:04. So what do you do then?
Fished a bit more. Picked up a hatchery coho. Put back another 4 chinooks, including a low 20s chrome beauty. Tried some different tacks as the tide started to ebb.
Flat calm, warm, super fun morning on the water.
Fished a bit more. Picked up a hatchery coho. Put back another 4 chinooks, including a low 20s chrome beauty. Tried some different tacks as the tide started to ebb.
Flat calm, warm, super fun morning on the water.
I thought this was a fishing report thread? Lol
The season had been quiet, the kind where the logbook has little worth writing about. But all that changed today.
Met up with the crew at 6:00 AM, and we were pushing off from the marina by 6:30. We made our way out to Sandhead, arriving around 7:20—perfect timing to catch the high slack and the first light bite. The weather report was spot-on; it was flat calm, and unsurprisingly, a fleet of at least 30 boats had the same idea.
We set up in 260-300 feet of water. I started with a green hootchie on one side, while my buddies ran bait on the other. Our downriggers were set at 78 and 108 feet.
Just ten minutes in, my rod slammed down. After a good fight, I landed a beautiful high-teen white spring. That kicked off a steady, productive bite for the next two hours. My buddies quickly switched to hootchies after some feisty, wild cohos kept stealing their bait!
We pulled the lines at 10:00 AM with an incredible haul in the box: a massive 35-pounder, a 28, a 21, a 19, and a 13 lb spring—a mix of white and marble. It was, without a doubt, the best two hours of fishing I've experienced in a long, long time.
Back at the marina by 10:45, we iced and cleaned our prize catch. Grabbed a well-earned lunch, and now I'm heading to work with memories that will last a lifetime.
The fish are out there, folks. Get after them
Met up with the crew at 6:00 AM, and we were pushing off from the marina by 6:30. We made our way out to Sandhead, arriving around 7:20—perfect timing to catch the high slack and the first light bite. The weather report was spot-on; it was flat calm, and unsurprisingly, a fleet of at least 30 boats had the same idea.
We set up in 260-300 feet of water. I started with a green hootchie on one side, while my buddies ran bait on the other. Our downriggers were set at 78 and 108 feet.
Just ten minutes in, my rod slammed down. After a good fight, I landed a beautiful high-teen white spring. That kicked off a steady, productive bite for the next two hours. My buddies quickly switched to hootchies after some feisty, wild cohos kept stealing their bait!
We pulled the lines at 10:00 AM with an incredible haul in the box: a massive 35-pounder, a 28, a 21, a 19, and a 13 lb spring—a mix of white and marble. It was, without a doubt, the best two hours of fishing I've experienced in a long, long time.
Back at the marina by 10:45, we iced and cleaned our prize catch. Grabbed a well-earned lunch, and now I'm heading to work with memories that will last a lifetime.
The fish are out there, folks. Get after them
Attachments
sweettjim
Well-Known Member
nice coho
pescador
Well-Known Member
Is it just me or is a ratio of 1 Spring brought on board for every 3 I hook up with the norm at SH? I’m losing more than I’m catching for sure. And it’s not poor rod management. Now…… I’m no longer using trailing hooks and use mostly single hooks on spoons. I lost 2 spectacular fish today in 300 fow that almost spooled me.
el.Pereh
Well-Known Member
I lose more fish at the sandheads than any other place…
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High Time
Crew Member
I can relate to that, last week with a guest, we started early at SH and were immediately into fish with a nice 20 lb.red but followed by a series of long line releases that were driving me crazy. Most seemed to happen when, in typical Chinook fashion, they started to pace side to side at a distance,and when reversing course I guess they got a little slack and changed the angle of hookup, even though we thought we had a lot of tension on them.Finished the morning with a couple more high teen marbles and a nice hatch coho so my guest was thrilled and it was a fitting end to my season with a full freezer and three medium reds at the smokehouse. An excellent end to another September of combat fishing at SH
Cheers
the force
Crew Member
Oh man, sounds like we just missed it. We fished Friday, Sat, Sunday and it was a grind. We caught fish everyday but struggled to get keepers in the box, more small and undersize then I have seen in prior years. Brought home 6 springs and 5 coho between the 4 of us. After easy limits the last 3 years I decide not to bring any bait, didn’t really see the need for it… still not sure it would have made a difference this year but the few anchovies I had did work well and I’ll have a pack or two next year just in case it is tough.
Tried something new this year, running dipsey diver on my third rod. I used to stack when it was slow but find it is too much effort adjusting both reels when switching depths, or it always being the deep one that’s gets bit and spending time resettting. So I ran a magnum diver with a naked spoon or plug, running about 40-50’ down on side setting 1 to pull it out just a bit from the edge of the boat. Took a bit to get the tension set properly to release and set it without tangles but seemed to work well enough. It didn’t catch as many as a 11” flasher off the rigger but it did catch a couple fish, including the one just over 30 that my son brought in. Funny enough that big spring came on a little naked 3” AP sandlance at around 40’.
Anyway lessons learned was to plan our trip around a more favourable morning flood tide if it works so we can just get straight to it when coming out from Steveston and perhaps a little earlier in the year. And pack bait. If we can make it work with tides, plan lunch back at the dock to break it up for the boys and capitalize on first and last light windows (often having better wind conditions) vs grinding it out for 13hrs. We fished mostly 50-90’ down and tried down to 140, though we never caught anything deeper than 110, despite marking a fair amount of deeper activity and sandheads. We marked way more bait near T10, and had better luck targeting that zone and fishing deeper (90-110). Also caught quite a few fish when the chart was totally blank, just out cruising in 300’ of water.
As per usual we quite enjoyed a boys weekend away and a secondary highlight for my son is bumming around steveston village getting mini- donuts, sushi, Lee’s donuts etc. It’s a great little place.
Tried something new this year, running dipsey diver on my third rod. I used to stack when it was slow but find it is too much effort adjusting both reels when switching depths, or it always being the deep one that’s gets bit and spending time resettting. So I ran a magnum diver with a naked spoon or plug, running about 40-50’ down on side setting 1 to pull it out just a bit from the edge of the boat. Took a bit to get the tension set properly to release and set it without tangles but seemed to work well enough. It didn’t catch as many as a 11” flasher off the rigger but it did catch a couple fish, including the one just over 30 that my son brought in. Funny enough that big spring came on a little naked 3” AP sandlance at around 40’.
Anyway lessons learned was to plan our trip around a more favourable morning flood tide if it works so we can just get straight to it when coming out from Steveston and perhaps a little earlier in the year. And pack bait. If we can make it work with tides, plan lunch back at the dock to break it up for the boys and capitalize on first and last light windows (often having better wind conditions) vs grinding it out for 13hrs. We fished mostly 50-90’ down and tried down to 140, though we never caught anything deeper than 110, despite marking a fair amount of deeper activity and sandheads. We marked way more bait near T10, and had better luck targeting that zone and fishing deeper (90-110). Also caught quite a few fish when the chart was totally blank, just out cruising in 300’ of water.
As per usual we quite enjoyed a boys weekend away and a secondary highlight for my son is bumming around steveston village getting mini- donuts, sushi, Lee’s donuts etc. It’s a great little place.
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