Fishing Campbell River

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nootkaguide

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Ok I have no Idea what I am doing wrong in campbell river. These tides are something else. I was out this am on the ebb tide and for the life of me I could not get my lines to fish right trolling from the hump to the lighthouse. I was fine trolling from lighthouse to hump but not the other way. Ok I would like to get this down. AS I was trolling towards the light house my lines would be going at a 45 + degree angle and quite an angle from port to starboard. There where 25 boats trolling in the same direction but I couldnt. I am using a 15lb cannon ball, do I need more weight??? This is irritating me because I have been fishing on the west coast for 15+ years and I never have these issues, I just catch fish. This is my first year fishing these inside crazy tidal waters. If anyone has suggestions please feel free to tell me..


dan
 
Welcome to the learning curve my friend.
Here's what I've learned. Such as it is.
Forget everything you've learned on the west coast.
Fifteen pounds is lots of weight (I use 10 pounds of weight but they are the ones shaped like a shark and run truer than the round connon balls...pancake ones work better than the round balls too)
First you have to remember that there is more than one current at play here...at different depths it runs different ways so even though you may be drifting towards the light (true north) you gear is likely tracking SSE.
Try to keep your gear at about the same depths...nothing like one rigger tracking the opposite way from the other.
On a ebb tide, start at the north end of the channel and point you boat towards discovery pier..this will make you side tack northward but also keep your gear behind you.
I have a 32" rig on my port side and run a 60" on the starboard side to compensate for the drift.
Be prepared to do a 360 deg turn to port if things get out of hand...turning to starboard will only get your gear tangled together, right quickly I might add.
Once you are near the lighthouse, pick up your gear and run to the starting point and do your next run...don't turn into the tide and expect to get anywhere or catch anything...just a waste of time and gas.
On flooding tides I would only fish the first thrust and then concentrate on the back eddies at the south end of Quandra, which is where the bait will be pushed.
You may think you're fishing in the salt water, but it's more like a river in the way the water moves here.
Good luck and watch out for the wind when it starts pushing against it...can get very nasty very quickly.
 
The last few weeks, since the Fraser has been in full flood, some of the passes on our side of the strait are running counter to normal. Lewis Channel for example has been flooding from the North and ebbing to the South which is counter to the norm. Some of the old timers in the area tell me this is not that uncommon when the Fraser runs hard as it counteracts the flood around the southern tip of the island letting the flood around the north push harder so the balance point between the two flows shifts to the south.

Just to make things even more confusing :D
 
Hey Blue where did you find those shark weights? The only place I can find them is on the East Coast and I don't really want to pay to have 45# of lead shipped across Canada if I can avoid it....
 
I was out there too today, FYI caught a nice 20 lb'er. Spent half the day fishing one rod until I was convinced I could get two down later in the am. Coming off the hump today, I was pointing more towards Tsa Kwa Luten Lodge, but pretty well drifting along the 180-200 ft line. Better to have control of 1 on the bottom than stress out with 2 rods. Caught the Spring when only 1 was in the water. Dymara version of the Cop Car right on the bottom.

I was using 15 lb balls as well. As blueorca said it is like a river, complete with backeddies, if you get into a eddy your lines go all over the place. The problem you descibed is more consistent when I use 12's.

As for pancake weights, I used to use them but found them the worst in cross currents. The may track straight going forward, but if the tide is running sideways look out. Only times I've tangled weights (several) is with Pancakes.

It's not a relaxing place to fish most days that's for sure.
 
I found the currents up there hell as well - unwrapping a few cannonballs from your prop turns you off real quick! I found I'd always look forward to early season (June) trying my luck around Willow Point, then late season, playing in the tyee pool and of course the great Chum run out of Browns Bay...depths where you don't have to worry about going stir crazy.

If you don't mind paying for the gas thou, maybe you need to consider north Quadra and greensea bay...often an outperformer to the south island, but a heckuva long haul.
 
Of course the likelihood of hitting the NW'ers increases two fold north of the Narrows. Chatham was reporting 15, but EWOS was 20 or 25 knots. I agree though, Greensea, Deepwater are way easier to fish. I was hoping to try Sentry Shoal today to avoid the big tides, even launched at Pacific Playgrouds, only to get 3/4's of the way there to decided that the rollers were too big and the whitecaps were 1-2 knots away from forming. So then I run all the way to the hump up the east coat of the island. So much for a shorter run. Note to self, we need some good weather and no more @#$%^*& wind.
 
I stopped using pancakes a couple years back.
I get them from Peter's Sports in Courtenay who get them from a fella, that I think lives in the Duncan area who makes them.
10, 12 and 15 pounders.
I use 10's and they track better than 15 pound rounds and aren't affected by cross currents like the pancakes.
Stacking one line is way smarter for sure.
 
Can I suggest something? First I have a question- are you guiding over here or is it just for fun? If it is for fun, and if you have a boat that can manuever in the rip-get the lead out and try Copper Bluffs or the Narrows. Drop a rod on any tide behind the boats and really feel what fishing can be like. The feeling of following the water and keeping your line where it should be. The satisfaction of getting bullied by locals yet holding your ground while not interfering and doing a damn good job of it. If you can do this....the next time you head to the hump/light you will have a much better FEELING of what to do.
2nd suggestion: There is a mix of every level of fisherman possible at the light/hump. What the boat looks like there is no indication of said boats fishing ability. Show up on the outskirts and do a couple drifts just observing carefully. Some of the best skilled fishermen will be setting their tact again and again. They won't be looking around at others, they'll be looking like you on the West Coast. Observe and follow a good distance behind. best of luck!
 
Can I suggest something? First I have a question- are you guiding over here or is it just for fun? If it is for fun, and if you have a boat that can manuever in the rip-get the lead out and try Copper Bluffs or the Narrows. Drop a rod on any tide behind the boats and really feel what fishing can be like. The feeling of following the water and keeping your line where it should be. The satisfaction of getting bullied by locals yet holding your ground while not interfering and doing a damn good job of it. If you can do this....the next time you head to the hump/light you will have a much better FEELING of what to do.
2nd suggestion: There is a mix of every level of fisherman possible at the light/hump. What the boat looks like there is no indication of said boats fishing ability. Show up on the outskirts and do a couple drifts just observing carefully. Some of the best skilled fishermen will be setting their tact again and again. They won't be looking around at others, they'll be looking like you on the West Coast. Observe and follow a good distance behind. best of luck!
 
Whats the distance from Browns to Greensea and Browns to Denham?
 
Blue;
Is the seas northwest of browns. I have never run further of browns as my boat was to small running from the cove on quadra.Now i have a boat that makes me smile
[8D]
 
Blue;
Is the seas northwest of browns. I have never run further of browns as my boat was to small running from the cove on quadra.Now i have a boat that makes me smile
[8D]
 
Green Sea area is located North of Browns Bay, on the West shore of Sanora Island just adjacent to Chatham Point. If you're fishing this area, do yourself a favour and do some exploring...lots of great spots to fish just up from Chatham and east of Green Sea.
 
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