Salmon bait fish of BC

MRWood

Well-Known Member
I thought that it might be interesting and useful to know all of the BC bait fish that we imitate in order to catch salmon. Does anyone have a list with the names (all names as some have a few titles). Where and when are they most predominant and typical size for each time of year.

Most of the recent salmon I've caught in the Straight of Georgia (May-Jun) have been feeding on 4-5 inch herring. Out on the WC I hear they are all loaded up with needle fish.

Any info I'm sure would be of great interest to most on this site.
 
In the Campbell River area right now the main bait fish I have been noticing in my chinooks is the northern lantern fish. These deep water fish are silvery with glowing spots on their sides and have an under slung bottom jaw much like an anchovy. Most are between two and four inches in length and are very dark in appearance when half digested in a salmons stomach. The northern lantern fish is very common in the Straits of Georgia and inhabit very deep water from 200 feet to the bottom.

Bruce Aikman
 
I guess a 3.5 cop car coyote spoon would be the imitation for the lantern fish. Here is some info on the lantern fish.

Lanternfish
The lanternfish is very common in the deep
water. It lives where there is some light. It
has very large eyes. The lanternfish swims up
and down every day. It stays in the deep
water during the day. It moves closer to the
surface at night. Scientists think lanternfish
may move like this to feed. They are not sure.
Its photophores may help it find and
communicate with other lanternfish. It grows
to about 13cm in length.
 
I have often credited the success of the Cop Car spoon to the lantern fish and I also believe it is the reason why the Tiger Prawn hoochy is also so successful. During the winter months I have found tiny Shiner Sea Perch in many chinooks along with a fair number of small hake and grey cod. As the shiners move to shallower kelp beds and wharfs these fish are seldom found in salmon bellies in the summer, although small grey cod continue to be a prey source through out the year. Pipe fish which is also classified as a tube snout, a fish which is found in great numbers around floats are often taken by opportunistic chinooks.
 
Thx for the info Tyee.

I am a bit surprised that no one has really posted info on the various bait fish and their habits. Is it because we really don't have much knowledge about them and their movements and life cycle. I guess I have to research the hell out of it.
 
quote:Originally posted by MRWood
I am a bit surprised that no one has really posted info on the various bait fish and their habits. Is it because we really don't have much knowledge about them and their movements and life cycle.
Most people with an encyclopaedic knowledge of baitfish keep it to themselves-few are as generous as the noted Mt Aikman.

avatar1038543gif.jpg
 
I came across this research paper which is of interest to me only because I was a deckhand on four of the trips that gathered the data.
quote:Many juvenile lanternfishes(Stenobrachius leucopsarus) were found in three chinook salmon stomachs collected at one station off northern Washington in 1983.
http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/tr57opt.pdf

Mostly I remember biologists falling down a lot and meeting the locals in Neah Bay, Westport, Ilwaco, Astoria, Garibaldi, Newport, Bandon.
 
When cleaning salmon from the inside passage near the Campbell River area I often find various sizes of herring and needlefish, along with squid and krill/euphausiids and the already mentioned lanternfish.
 
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