ECVI French creek-Nanoose-nanaimo reports

backatit it was real 6-7 ft chop no exageration. My 14fter would have been sunk in seconds. We took my friends boat its a 22fter and it was just crawling through that stuff while takin waves over the bow. It was the north side of sangster about 6 boats workin the area with success. My neighbour limted with 2 fish in less than 20 min. Pics are bad i could only get them after the fish sat a long time and i didnt take a good pic with size reference. The fish are all mid to high teens. Man oh man. The one fish had a few herring but one was packed FULL with at least 10-15 5 inch herring and large shiner. Ill be at ballenas in the morn for the bite
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Great catch kelly, must have been fun in all that slop.
lots of those fish were hatchery im guessing?

fished the grande today, got a 11 on a copcar.
there were at least 7 fish being cleaned at the dock today.
over 20 boats fishing the grande for derby day.

all the fish were mid teens to low twentys
 
Hey Kelly I was at Sangster this morning too, what a blast!!! Was home by 9 with limit( 10 & 12). My buddies in another boat got three, biggest 18. Cheers
 
what boat were you guys running? greg, peter? you got outta there just before she blew up at 10-1030. they were all wild i think. just the camera angle/ ill check tmmorow when i take them out of the freezer. winds/tides look good for the morning
 
3 wild one hatch just checked. Greg did you lose any? thought i saw you play a few. I think i lost that one beside you. We were in the 22ft hardtop.
 
Got out this morning fished solo at ballenas. Battery was dead so had to fish blind. Set rods 140-160 with cop cars and tried to follow where i thought the 180ft contour was. 5 min in on the first pass i hit an 8lber which while netting i decided to release. Reached down and popped him off. Next pass hit a small 4lber which when i released got grabbed by an eagle. Next hour all i hit was some dogfish then had a soft hit and thought it was another doggy. The next 10 min were an absolute gongshow. I popped it off the clip and caught up to the fish and to my suprise it took off. I managed to play the fish and reel the downrigger up from 140feet. With a 6ft leader and being alone it made netting danm hard. I got him in the net and he rolled out and the hook caught on the edge. I dropped the rod and net and grabbed the leader. Luckily when he gave one last kick the leader held and i grabbed him by the gills. In all this commotion i droped the net in the water and it was gone. *&^%, Called it a day and headed in. Was pulling up the engine at the dock and my phone fell out of my pocket into the drink @%#@%. 300$ morning should have just hired a guide to do it for me.
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16-17ish
 
nice fish, congratulations! Ballenas? This area once to have had best coho fishing in March-Oct about two decades ago that I fished with my father in a little 12 foot metal tin boat. Looks like chinook salmonfishing has improved dramatically this year in that area.
 
Nice Fish, I'm heading over there right now. It might be a bit windy for Sangster, I'll let you know later how we made out.
 
Fishspoon its been about 4-5 years since there has been a significant amount of coho. Maybe this year will be an improvment. Greg when i came in at 9 i thought your boat wasnt there? It is windy might be bumpy. Friend i was out wih yesterday limited out on fish over 20 today at sangster[:0]
 
Heck of a fish story kelly :D :D :D loved it but hey,,, atleast you didn't get skunked...
 
Glad you took a picture Kelly, I'd forgotten what a coho looked like. Been 4 years since I've seen a coho where you got that one[xx(]
 
Do you mean I should take a CLOSER look[:I]? Good Heavens! [:I][:I]:D For that matter I've only managed one Chinook in that area over the last couple of years. I'm more accustomed to seeing MUCH bigger springs:D

Tom
 
It does have the blue coho tinge but not many 16lb coho around right now. Rvp only one area is open as there is a RCA. They kept the good salmon fishing area open and everyone fishes the lighthouse on the north tip. No hali although in the late 1990s a 67lber was caught at ballenas from our marina.Saw pics
 
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