Good advise ... Been a couple of years since I fished that area, but I am planned to head up soon as the scenery alone is worth it!Lots of good point above reports. Also keep in mind the tide/rapids at Dent rapids(devils hole) between little Dent and Sonora as well and more importantly Aaran rapids between Stuart island and the main land. Both of these should be avoid on flood tides unless you have experience jumping the rip and definitely at max flood. Both can be very sketchy on big tides.
Rotational tack- the guides use a rotational tack that keeps things in order. Starboard(green) to the beach stay close to bottom as you can anywhere from 90 to 140 of cable once you finish your inside tack turn out and stay to outside drop your down deep make your way to the the start of the inside tack again. Wait your turn to get inside. It's a big circle but it works very well.
Denham bay on the flood tide especially end of flood.
Hall point on the Ebb tide and first push of flood tide.
Thurston bay on ebb tide first push of flood.
Hootchies and chovies work best go one and one see what the chinooks are into that day.
Hootchies - Blue meanie(blue green)Green hornet (green)Shower curtain (white opaque) are some of the staples up there.
Good luck it's a beautiful spot to fish pay attention to your tide chart.
Tight lines
not to mention the usual " right rod to shore" rule seems to be out the door at Chatham. had a well known OBMG guide telling me i was going the wrong way. ( Duane Mustard ) perhaps it changes on the ebb tide change? anyone care to weigh in on this? i don't wanna be that guy unknowingly pissing everybody offI usually fish up this way 1 or 2 days per year - can anyone advise where the "Pizza Hut" spot is? PM is certainly fine if you do not wish to share broadly.
Last year we had great luck at Thurston/Davis point late on the ebb with bait. Other years we have done quite well at Greensea late on flood on bait as well. Still haven't quite mastered Chatham and the tidal gong show there.
Thanks!
not to mention the usual " right rod to shore" rule seems to be out the door at Chatham. had a well known OBMG guide telling me i was going the wrong way. ( Duane Mustard ) perhaps it changes on the ebb tide change? anyone care to weigh in on this? i don't wanna be that guy unknowingly pissing everybody off
Most of the strongly tidal spots north of Campbell River the rule becomes that the boat running against the tide has the "shore side" right of way. This means that at Chatham Point or Browns Bay on the flood it is port rod to shore that has the right of way. This just makes sense because when the tide starts to push the boats coming with the tide are basically wrecking balls that only spend a brief moment in the 'hot spots' as they fly down current. Also they cannot fish close to the structure because if you hook up your balls going with the current you are hooped...