We were taught to fish Port McNeill years ago by Mike Roberts when his 'Lucky Jigs' were king. We started in a 14' Western (a really bloody boat and worked well there!) and eventually progressed to a 17' Whaler. We would meet at Alder Bay and we only planed around and fished Neap TIdes and their 2-3 hour CURRENT slacks. Both high and low. That's all we fished Halibut. Trolling Salmon everywhere and jigging the Kelp Beads with MacDeeps, at the head of Malcom, the rest of the time. That way we could bounce the bottom with his 1# jigs, in even the 400' water on the east side of Stubbs, straight up and down. My advice to you would be to get a good Tides and Currents program, study it well, and use the Pearce Passage/Cormorant Island reporting station for your Current values. Tides mean nothing. They are way off. Fish the 4 days surrounding the Neap (quarter moon) with the softest exchanges. By the way, we never anchored. We slowly drifted and bounced the bottom with those Lucky Jigs (Mike's were much better than the Gibbs Mudraker knock offs you see now). We eventually developed our own modified versions and tipped them with a cucumber slice of fresh Octopus on one of the treble barbs. When we couldn't lift it, it was 'fish on'. We fished the area from Malcom to Cracroft and loved our success there, until DFO changed the possession limits where we thought it just too far to travel for one slot fish. We miss the incredible beauty and nature there and had experiences we will remember and cherish the rest of our lives.
By the way, when the slacks end, the winds start. BE PREPARED. We had a day where we were fishing the mouth of Parson's Bay, in our 14' boat, and waited a few minutes too long to land that limit fish. On the run back to Alder Bay, the wind just kept increasing until we reached the end of Pearce and where we crossed Johnstone Straight. From a dead flat 'lake' when we left, we found 6' breaking waves and wind chop on our return, 3 hours later. Luckily, the little Western was wide, very stable, and had a great bilge pump. Almost 45 minutes to cross Johnstone later, we were home. We never did that again.
I do have a list of numbers we used that Mike gave us in confidence, but since he is no longer with us and we don't fish there anymore, I might be willing to share
Understanding and appreciating the current charts are much more important though.
Be Safe on the Water. jc Tuna Maru
