Catching spiny dogfish in Vancouver in 2025

T

teeth monolith

New Member
Hey. Upcoming in a few weeks I'll be out fishing with a friend, targeting pacific spiny dogfish(Squalus suckleyi). However, I've usually only caught them on boat in open water, primarily in Port Moody in the past, and have no experience with targeting dogfish from shore. I'd be grateful if anyone could help me find an optimal location to catch them from shore/pier/dock. Some bait and equipment advisory would be appreciated too, as I've historically caught them mostly on generic benthic fish setups with no specialization(I remember catching them on lures intended for flounder and rockfish and mackerel on large single hooks), but this time I'd like to maximize my shark harvest and avoid bycatch.
 
I’m interested in how you will prepare them to eat!

My sons used to catch them off the boat ramp in Brentwood. They used a lot of bait and patience!! The fish heads would be dropped on the ebb and seemed like as the flood came on the doggy’s would appear.
 
There are some easy 36"ers at Burrard Civic Marina. Not sure you'd want to eat anything caught out of False Creek though.
 
kingspring said:
I’m interested in how you will prepare them to eat!

My sons used to catch them off the boat ramp in Brentwood. They used a lot of bait and patience!! The fish heads would be dropped on the ebb and seemed like as the flood came on the doggy’s would appear.
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Rain City said:
There are some easy 36"ers at Burrard Civic Marina. Not sure you'd want to eat anything caught out of False Creek though.
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Thanks for the location information! What kind of distance should I be casting at here? I'm very bad at throwing bait out at long range and I'm honestly kinda considering buying a slingshot to make some distance.

I'm expecting to pick up 1 - 5 sexually mature animals. Planning to grab at least one for taxidermy, skin the rest(maybe I'll tan that into leather?), then deep fry the meat. I also want to do some home chemistry on the livers to extract squalene, but I'll be honest I doubt I have the equipment to do so in an efficient manner. I also just really like them.
 
teeth monolith said:
Thanks for the location information! What kind of distance should I be casting at here? I'm very bad at throwing bait out at long range and I'm honestly kinda considering buying a slingshot to make some distance.

I'm expecting to pick up 1 - 5 sexually mature animals. Planning to grab at least one for taxidermy, skin the rest(maybe I'll tan that into leather?), then deep fry the meat. I also want to do some home chemistry on the livers to extract squalene, but I'll be honest I doubt I have the equipment to do so in an efficient manner. I also just really like them.
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go fish off the rocks in vanier , 9 foot spinning rod , 2 oz sliding weight , couple feet of leader down to a peice of steel and a 5/0 hook . Anchovy or herring 8 pm to dark . You will be in buisness .

Now , care to elaborate on that chemistry / tanning / dogfish obsession
 
adanac said:
go fish off the rocks in vanier , 9 foot spinning rod , 2 oz sliding weight , couple feet of leader down to a peice of steel and a 5/0 hook . Anchovy or herring 8 pm to dark . You will be in buisness .

Now , care to elaborate on that chemistry / tanning / dogfish obsession
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Thanks a lot. Looks like the mouth of false creek is a hotspot for them? How deep do they usually go? Again I'm absolutely garbage at casting and that's kinda why I usually fish off a boat, won't have a boat with me this time though.

uh I just like sharks in general. It's just a thing. Fish, dinosaurs, molecular biology, arthropods, bioengineering, my kinda stuff.
 
Check the regs because I'm not sure if that area is open to fishing, but there's a path that runs between granville Island vanier park that leads you right into a section of rocky shore adjacent to the marina. One area is a little park directly under the bridge where you can climb down the rocks. You'd literally be flipping your bait into the marina no more than 10 feet. They're in shallow, usually right next to the cleaning station where dinner is served. I can't see them being that picky so any kind of cheap fish you can get will likely bring them in. Can't see it being the sportiest fishing though, they're scavengers.
 
Rain City said:
Check the regs because I'm not sure if that area is open to fishing, but there's a path that runs between granville Island vanier park that leads you right into a section of rocky shore adjacent to the marina. One area is a little park directly under the bridge where you can climb down the rocks. You'd literally be flipping your bait into the marina no more than 10 feet. They're in shallow, usually right next to the cleaning station where dinner is served. I can't see them being that picky so any kind of cheap fish you can get will likely bring them in. Can't see it being the sportiest fishing though, they're scavengers.
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Thanks. Current limit is 4 which I'm ok with. I actually find them to fight rather hard, but that's probably because I'm used to bringing them up deep and I'm a flailing whelp of a human being. Sharks do fight in a very different way to typical teleosts due to a lack of fully calcified bones and the lack of ribs though. Makes them far more flexible.
 
teeth monolith said:
I just want to catch some fish for use. Not sure what's confusing about it.
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My interpretation: Most folks on the forum aren't after them, so it's pretty novel. Dogfish are usually bycatch for this crowd. But oversll he (we) are pumped that you are so into it, and we really want you to succeed and tell us how it goes.
Seriously. Let us know how it goes.
 
TMan said:
My interpretation: Most folks on the forum aren't after them, so it's pretty novel. Dogfish are usually bycatch for this crowd. But oversll he (we) are pumped that you are so into it, and we really want you to succeed and tell us how it goes.
Seriously. Let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! We're going to be trying various spots around Downtown for the following 2 fridays. I'll post anything I catch here and on iNaturalist for posterity.
 
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