Help with where to start beach casting for fish

[Jonny Rambo]

Hi guys I've lived in the UK for 28 years and fished from every point and well experienced with shore fishing . Our baits would be crab ,rag worm, sand eels , lug worm frozen squid. Live baits were always better . Normally fishing for cod ,Whiting ,pouting, any Ray's, bull huss,dog fish etc . So I've come to live in beautiful bc and would love to carry on my hobby and to be honest I've been stopped in my tracks . It seems beach casting with live baits is pretty much non existent and I would love to know the laws . Also can u get live baits worms etc.. and if so where can I go to fish . Many thanks to everyone who is willing to help and maybe come down and have a fish one day

 

[MadJigga]

Where abouts are you located?

 

[Jonny Rambo]

Where abouts are you located?

I'm in the lower mainland maple ridge. If that helps buddy

 

[MadJigga]

I’m in Victoria. Can’t help with locations over there. Lots of possibilities though. Even more once lingcod and rock fish open back up in may! Weight and bait work. Drop shot rigs work great and aren’t costly to lose. We have rocky terrain on bottom so it’s different then surf casting in other locales. Lots of dog fish to catch!

 

[jim morrow]

there will be a Pink Salmon run this coming summer/fall. the lower Harrison river and the lower Chilliwack river might be open.
on Vancouver island there are a few people who travel around in the fall, looking and searching the river mouths and beaches for Coho salmon. cast and retrieve small spoons and spinners when and if they find them. long rods and small spinning reels.

 

[Dogbreath]

Maple Ditch is probably the worst possible place to live for what you want to do but there's always shore fishing the Fraser for Sturgeon-a simple ledger rig is all you need and fresh roe for bait-ask at local tackle stores.

Driving to the Sunshine Coast or better yet Vancouver Island means some options open up-cut dead Squid or Shrimp works as well as anything and 'Rock Salmon' aka Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias) are plentiful ; Howe Sound might look good but true 'marks' are few & far between you need stones, mud or gravel not just rock walls.

Garry Point Park in Richmond (Steveston village) is a place to check out but you need to be aware of the tides-info online and free parking.

 

[Jonny Rambo]

there will be a Pink Salmon run this coming summer/fall. the lower Harrison river and the lower Chilliwack river might be open.
on Vancouver island there are a few people who travel around in the fall, looking and searching the river mouths and beaches for Coho salmon. cast and retrieve small spoons and spinners when and if they find them. long rods and small spinning reels.

Thanks for the advice buddy

 

[Jonny Rambo]

Maple Ditch is probably the worst possible place to live for what you want to do but there's always shore fishing the Fraser for Sturgeon-a simple ledger rig is all you need and fresh roe for bait-ask at local tackle stores.

Driving to the Sunshine Coast or better yet Vancouver Island means some options open up-cut dead Squid or Shrimp works as well as anything and 'Rock Salmon' aka Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias) are plentiful ; Howe Sound might look good but true 'marks' are few & far between you need stones, mud or gravel not just rock walls.

Garry Point Park in Richmond (Steveston village) is a place to check out but you need to be aware of the tides-info online and free parking.

Thanks for your reply man . Yer I can see tbh a good drive I don't mind for what I love . Thanks for your help man and happy fishing brother

 

[Bueller]

Hey man
Maybe I can help you out a little. Moved here from England in 2007. You can dig lug from most sandy beaches and I've found a few harbour rag flipping stones on the edge of sandy areas. I'm on the island in Qualicum so not familiar with Vancouver area but I know they do catch flatties off the sea wall in Stanley park. You wont find the amount of species that you are used to. Flounder, greenling,lingcod and doggies will be your target species. The doggies are more like smoothound but they dont fight anything like smoothies! I've caught flatties off the beach using a 13ft feeder rod so if your using proper rods and reels to get the distance you will definitely get into em! Grew up fishing Chesil as I was born in Dorchester. Was more into match fishing than sea fishing. Hope this helps and anymore questions just ask and I will try and help you out.

 

[Original]

I would try White Rock beach and pier

 

[Bueller]

I'm guessing you brought your gear with you as you wont find century rods here. I've seen a few beach casting outfits but the rods are like broom sticks. You wont find much in the way of terminal tackle either. Shame it's never really caught on over here as the potential is there for sure. Maybe the next big thing with all the salmon closures

 

[Jonny Rambo]

Hey man
Maybe I can help you out a little. Moved here from England in 2007. You can dig lug from most sandy beaches and I've found a few harbour rag flipping stones on the edge of sandy areas. I'm on the island in Qualicum so not familiar with Vancouver area but I know they do catch flatties off the sea wall in Stanley park. You wont find the amount of species that you are used to. Flounder, greenling,lingcod and doggies will be your target species. The doggies are more like smoothound but they dont fight anything like smoothies! I've caught flatties off the beach using a 13ft feeder rod so if your using proper rods and reels to get the distance you will definitely get into em! Grew up fishing Chesil as I was born in Dorchester. Was more into match fishing than sea fishing. Hope this helps and anymore questions just ask and I will try and help you out.

Hahah chesil was where me and the old man and brother used to go 3 4 times a year . Great memories some big catches. Yer I brought all my gear and I think I'll have to go get some worms myself been a while haha . Absolute star mate great trip down memory lane and good to have someone who gets where I'm coming from top lad

 

[Englishman]

Hi, I am from England too but we came over in 1982. Back in the U.K. I did not do much beach fishing but on holidays I fished quite a bit using lures and spinners from steep rocky points in Scotland and Ireland for pollack, coalfish, wrasse and mackerel. I did bring my Abu Atlantic 484 beach casting rod over and tried it a couple of times, but I found that the numbers of crabs over here far exceeded that in U.K. so my bait was stolen all the time. So when I have fished from the shore I have stuck to my trusty rocky points and caught rockfish, ling cod (back in the day when they were legal) and the very rare salmon, using spoons and jigs of various kinds. Over here on Vancouver Island we have a few rocky points to try, but over there your nearest place would be Howe Sound. A challenge to get down to some of the spots from the road but it can be done. Check the Regs for what you can keep though and where you can go, as there are rockfish closures. I am an old guy now, so I don't fish from the shore any more and have joined everyone else and bought a boat and troll for salmon. More restful (sometimes) and easier on my knees! LOL
BTW there is style of shore fishing here they call bar fishing, especially in the Fraser River. No crabs and it is the nearest to the type of fishing you are used to, but the species caught are mostly salmon. Look it up on the Internet.

 

[Dogbreath]

....there is style of shore fishing here they call bar fishing, especially in the Fraser River. No crabs and it is the nearest to the type of fishing you are used to, but the species caught are mostly salmon. Look it up on the Internet.

The issue with bar fishing is that the Fraser is now Closed more than it's Open and that isn't going to change any time soon.

I won't get into the politics but that's why I didn't mention it earlier bar fishing is something of a dead end these days.

 

[Bueller]

Some good info being shared on these posts. The regs are usually the biggest hurdle. Dont know where you stand with multiple hook rigs with regards to bait. Wouldn't think you could get away with 3 hook clipped down rigs but never looked into it. Pennell rigs would probably be your best bet as I know you are allowed a bait holding hook as well as your main hook. Shame you're not on the island as the opportunities seem to be better. As a guy posted earlier there a few hardcore fellas that fish off the pier somewhere in Victoria so maybe they have a Facebook page or something? West coast of the island has surf perch which are good fun to catch. Hope this helps you out a bit as I share your passion! Didnt matter if I was catching 2 inch roach or 20lb salmon I love it!