Deepest you have fished at Haida Gwaii

[ILHG]

I have been doing a ton of digging on deep drop fishing at Haida Gwaii & have found nothing. I can only find a bit of info from Alaska.

This Christmas I got a new Diawa electric reel, loaded with 2800' of 80lb braid for the sole purpose of exploring the depths of the west side of Haida Gwaii. It's been almost 8 years that I have been dreaming of what I can catch (hopefully Sablefish) & at places that probably no one has tried yet.

I will be heading to Hippa Island mid June & can't wait to drop some bait.

If there is anyone who has some insight or story's I would Love to hear.

 

[sly_karma]

About the deepest I've gone for salmon up there is maaaaybe 50 ft, lol

 

[Dogbreath]

I've fished Hali out of Hippa to 200' but fishing was better in shallower water.

If it's deep dropping you're doing take a lot of Glo gear bottomfish there love anything Glo-as do Salmon Sharks.

 

[Aces]

We get our sablefish on the 600 ft drop offs

 

[Tugcapitan]

We fished quite deep in El Niño years out on the West coast of Charlottes, including off of Hippa.
I remember a week or two where 180 and 220 were my best downrigger numbers.
I also remember a couple of repeat annual guests who would bring all their own Hali gear, and would have studied the charts all winter knowing exactly which pinnacles and shelves they wanted to visit. They were pretty cool, and totally focused on Hali. I don't remember if they caught sablefish, I was never their guide. I know they fished a 600' pinnacle offshore where depths around were 1200'.

 

[bones]

We fished tartu point (Indians head) for hali and it was about 250-300' in Sept when hali went deeper for spawn.

 

[littlechucky]

Got hali at 350 - 400 ft at Hippa this past summer.

 

[Capt_Ed]

I ran Charlotte Queen Adventures at Hippa for a number of years and caught salmon down to 300' and hali's down to 400'. We had a few guest bring those electric reels over the years and most after the first attempt with them put them back in their bag

 

[ILHG]

Thanks for the replys guys! I like the idea of studying the charts before hand. I haven't been able to find much for charts. Any advice on were I can locate them?

Thanks agian

 

[ILHG]

I ran Charlotte Queen Adventures at Hippa for a number of years and caught salmon down to 300' and hali's down to 400'. We had a few guest bring those electric reels over the years and most after the first attempt with them put them back in their bag

When you were at QCA did you ever drop any prawn traps? Im thinking there may be some good prawning around there.

 

[Tugcapitan]

Thanks for the replys guys! I like the idea of studying the charts before hand. I haven't been able to find much for charts. Any advice on were I can locate them?

Thanks agian

Most marine supply places sell charts, about $20 each. Or a chart program like rose point (you'll pay $400 for the program and over $100 just for the charts but they'll have all the bc coast included). You can run it on a laptop or desktop computer, and you could take it with you with an added gps if your boat has a dry cabin with power.
The cheapest option buy the navionics or similar apps. The drawback of Navionics being that one is only able to see so much on a phone or iPad screen. I've always preferred paper charts myself.

 

[adanac]

Up out of Naden Harbour there were a few offshore pinnacles we would fish off Klashwun. Deepest I would fish on those was 280 for Hali and rockfish/ling, but for ***** and giggles a few times would venture out off the steep edges into 450 - 500. butt load of silver grey rockfish, long jaw ( Boccaccio) and the odd big slimy grey cod. Never saw a sablefish

 

[ILHG]

Up out of Naden Harbour there were a few offshore pinnacles we would fish off Klashwun. Deepest I would fish on those was 280 for Hali and rockfish/ling, but for ***** and giggles a few times would venture out off the steep edges into 450 - 500. butt load of silver grey rockfish, long jaw ( Boccaccio) and the odd big slimy grey cod. Never saw a sablefish

Very cool. Are the Grey cod also called the Pacific cod? I have wanted to catch some and try for eating. It would be nice to bring some more white meat home while leaving the rock fish alone. Did you catch the grey cod on Halibut gear?

I managed to catch a ~10 lb Boccaccio last year & had to keep it because of decompression. It was probably the worst table fish I have tried. The texture was odd & it didn't flake no matter how long you cooked it.

 

[TheBigGuy]

I have found good populations of grey/Pacific cod and Sablefish on the north island. Pacific cod around 200-300ft deep. Sablefish around 350-450 feet deep. Pacific cod are great deep fried and they have a very liberal limit. Sablefish are very good eating as well, but I usually prefer them for smoking as they are very oily.

 

[happy hooker]

Thanks for the replys guys! I like the idea of studying the charts before hand. I haven't been able to find much for charts. Any advice on were I can locate them?

Thanks agian

I have ordered a few of my paper charts from here http://www.maptown.com/Canadian_Hydrographic_Service_Nautical_Charts_s/1973.htm . Pretty good prices and fast delivery time.

 

[adanac]

Very cool. Are the Grey cod also called the Pacific cod? I have wanted to catch some and try for eating. It would be nice to bring some more white meat home while leaving the rock fish alone. Did you catch the grey cod on Halibut gear?

I managed to catch a ~10 lb Boccaccio last year & had to keep it because of decompression. It was probably the worst table fish I have tried. The texture was odd & it didn't flake no matter how long you cooked it.

By Grey Cod I mean pacific cod yes. Herring or salmon parts with glow skirts.

 

[hippaisland]

Had a guest up there years ago who had similar set up. He wanted to try out a deep drop so went and did it, not a lot of life down that deep I think you'll find. We dropped in approx. 1600 feet according to chart.

 

[tincan]

Thanks for the replys guys! I like the idea of studying the charts before hand. I haven't been able to find much for charts. Any advice on were I can locate them?

Thanks agian

Download "Navionics" app on your iphone/ipad/android and you can search for all sorts of potential good hali/black cod spots up in Haida Gwaii.

 

[tincan]

Download "Navionics" app on your iphone/ipad/android and you can search for all sorts of potential good hali/black cod spots up in Haida Gwaii.

Make sure you get the right Navionics app as well! I think it's the US&Canada one you need.

 

[ILHG]

Thanks so much guys!