Catching spiny dogfish in Vancouver in 2025

[RiverBoy]

Your thread is giving me a really good idea for a screenplay. I think I’m going to call it “ silence of the dogfish”
it rubs the lotion on the shark skin or it gets the hose again!

 

[Tinny]

Thanks. Definitely on my list of places to check. Absolutely will be trying barbless hooks - shark anatomy makes them much more of a hassle to unhook than most other fish. Is scenting bait in blood or fish guts recommended? I butcher fish pretty often so I can probably collect some refuse beforehand. I've skinned plenty of small sharks in the past thankfully because doing that for the first time was pain beyond cognition.

Any scent will draw them in. Even just a bit of smelly jelly that you can buy at a fishing store. They are not picky.

 

[CalCom]

As i understand, there was quite a fishery for dogfish in years past, mostly for the British market. Nothing like the dogfish migration to screw up your electronics.

 

[Howzer]

I'd be leery of eating anything caught in or near False Creek. You do know the history of the area?
I once dropped a Marinco power adapter overboard (the yellow ones) and 'fished it out 30 mins later, the yellow adapter was permanently dyed brown on the side where it lay on the bottom.

 

[teeth monolith]

Just got back from Granville Island public dock, lotta stuff biting at herring but nothing hooked on. I was using this old silicon false - cephalopod setup I had and this metal leader I just put together today. Definitely should've been camping just one rod instead of having several out. I've also had several pieces of herring stolen off my hook and this one half - herring that's bitten once again in half.


What I was running


Something took all the meat off this herring chunk, left only the vertebrae and ribs


Herring head that's been bitten(should've checked for lost teeth!)

 

[trophywife]

feed the hook through and zip tie the herring.. if you can get salmon parts from fish store you will not be spending good money on herring.

chunks of the head or a whole head work great and the small critters cant strip it off.

maybe sharks wont eat farmed salmon?

 

[Dogbreath]

Lots of small Crabs in False Creek that's what the River Otters live on.

 

[Pippen]

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought 28-8 was closed to fishing?

 

[teeth monolith]

feed the hook through and zip tie the herring.. if you can get salmon parts from fish store you will not be spending good money on herring.

chunks of the head or a whole head work great and the small critters cant strip it off.

maybe sharks wont eat farmed salmon?

Whole herring's way too big so that's why I'm using chunks. I could try some bigger hooks tomorrow(prom tonight), have some spare halibut rigs lying around. I actually had tried a whole head but some beast stole it off and they aren't in unlimited supply.

 

[teeth monolith]

Lots of small Crabs in False Creek that's what the River Otters live on.

Definitely felt those. Would some floats on the bait be good against them?

 

[teeth monolith]

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought 28-8 was closed to fishing?

Open to dogfish and salmon shark right now with limits of 4/1 respectively. Would like to go after salmon shark eventually but I know those pelagics rarely comes this close to shore.

 

[CBsqrd]

Open to dogfish and salmon shark right now with limits of 4/1 respectively. Would like to go after salmon shark eventually but I know those pelagics rarely comes this close to shore.

Incorrect, @Pippen is right and it was also mentioned elsewhere in this thread that 28-8 (False Creek) is closed to all fishing.

 

[teeth monolith]

Incorrect, @Pippen is right and it was also mentioned elsewhere in this thread that 28-8 (False Creek) is closed to all fishing.

View attachment 117652

Oh. I was reading this: https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/tidal-maree/a-s28-eng.html

is it not up to date?

 

[CBsqrd]

Oh. I was reading this: https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/tidal-maree/a-s28-eng.html

is it not up to date?

It’s up to date, but you have to also read the “Restrictions” section underneath the “Species Regulations”.

 

[trophywife]

Whole herring's way too big so that's why I'm using chunks. I could try some bigger hooks tomorrow(prom tonight), have some spare halibut rigs lying around. I actually had tried a whole head but some beast stole it off and they aren't in unlimited supply.

whole herring is not way too big. your sharks are too small.
a chunk of salmon with skin is far tougher. markets sell offal from salmon processing. you wont get bait robbed by smaller species, salmon skin is great hook holder.

 

[teeth monolith]

It’s up to date, but you have to also read the “Restrictions” section underneath the “Species Regulations”.

I thought navigational closure wouldn't apply if I was just fishing under the dock. It's out of reach of watercraft.

 

[teeth monolith]

whole herring is not way too big. your sharks are too small.
a chunk of salmon with skin is far tougher. markets sell offal from salmon processing. you wont get bait robbed by smaller species, salmon skin is great hook holder.

Noted. I have some salmon guts from butchering a salmon earlier this season, will hook that up. Normally I eat the whole salmon though. Tonight I'm trying vanier park, brought up three whole crabs last night at granville and they're all too small. If Vanier doesn't work, I'm going to try west stanley park.

 

[teeth monolith]

Is Jericho Pier good for dogfish? Haven't been there in years but I recall in 2018 someone caught a dogfish off it, dunno how common that is.

 

[adanac]

Is Jericho Pier good for dogfish? Haven't been there in years but I recall in 2018 someone caught a dogfish off it, dunno how common that is.

Literally anywhere in English bay with a bit of depth . We also used to crush em at ambelside peir , big wharf with lights aswell .