Busterbrown
Active Member
Very nice fish, well done, however perhaps your reprimand of us "lazy fishermen" should be re-thought. I hope you were not trying to make friends here.
I had a member pm me last night asking for bottom fishing information for the Telegraph Cove area. As I think this is pertinent to the area reports I will post it here. I have no problem sharing areas I fish for Halibut, so I would prefer to share the information for other members rather than sending it in a PM.
Most of the areas are not a secret. The backside of Malcolm Island is probably the best known and heaviest fished. I have found decent numbers, but not much size when I've worked that area. Stubbs Island, well known for producing big Hali. I avoid Stubbs though as I just got tired of the amount of gear you lose there. It is a tackle graveyard, and probably one of the snaggiest bottoms you can possibly find. Mitchel Bay, more well known for Salmon, but I've picked up Hali there as well. The SE end of Hanson Island, not big numbers but I've found good size Hali there. There is of course George's Bank as well, but that is a bit of a run from Telegraph Cove. I am far from an expert on the area, but I have no problem sharing information that I do not think will harm the resource if posted on the Internet.
The member also requested Ling & Yellow Eye locations in the area. I will not post those on the Internet as the populations are resident and can be easily over fished. I will PM him some locations for Ling. I do not target Red Snapper. I will have to check the current RCA's in the area as I know some of the locations I used to fish are now closed, and I'm not sure if new ones have been added since I was there last.
This is not current fishing info from this season, but most Hali locations remain consistent over time. I hope the information is useful to anyone heading to the area. Good luck up there.
Correct me if I'm wrong but Stubbs Is.
has been a RCA for yrs..
Neighbour picked up a nice 27 lb hali yesterday off the legal side of Stubbs during the morning slack yesterday. You do need to be careful over there. Don't want to use a spreader bar. A mud raker type of rig with a very short leader is preferable - but nothing is going to work if the current is running.You can fish the east side of Stubbs but as mentioned above I don't think it would be worth it with the tide and snaggy bottom.
We also did good on those two days , July 9,10 seemed like a few fish were hanging around but after that it was horrible! Doesn't mean you guys are rock stars! I know many guides who work damn hard in that area, and for you to call them lazy is way out of line!Fished telegraph cove for the first time last Sunday the 10th and Monday the 11th.. We asked a few guys at the government dock at alert bay where we might find springs.. Back-side of Malcolm was what we were told so tried Bere point first, struck out there, moved south to lizard/donegal. Only fished the evening on the Sunday and managed to pick up an 8 pound white spring and a scrappy 18 red. Headed back there Monday morning, tea party from lizard to donegal, slow morning but managed one nice 16.. Decided to try Hali but just lost all our gear on the rocks with the tide rips. Headed back to the tea party and fished hard! We threw it all at them and our efforts paid off.. Anchovy was the ticket, uv purple haze teaser, green and glo flasher. Finished Sunday with a 25 and 26er. Pics are from Monday, too many sociables on Sunday to operate a camera lol. Didn't see any other fish caught either day.. Just a friendly reminder to those who have fished these historically epic fisheries this time of year.. Quit being lazy fishermen... Just because you've always done good on the same gear there the last 15 years on the SAME TACK at the same depth, doesn't mean it'll work this year. When the fishing is good you can throw a sock down there and catch fish, when it slows, guys say "there are just no fish, it's terrible". There are always fish out there and you can get your limits with a solid effort.
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Great report thanks for sharing! A ten day period offers a more realistic picture of what is happening as opposed to a two day get lucky weekend warrior experience.View attachment 28626 View attachment 28627
We also did good on those two days , July 9,10 seemed like a few fish were hanging around but after that it was horrible! Doesn't mean you guys are rock stars! I know many guides who work damn hard in that area, and for you to call them lazy is way out of line!
I have been fishing this area steady for the last 10 years and this is the hardest year to catch fish! We put in 12 hour days running every hook on the boat and running up to four rods to cover all depths and we were striking out big time!
Seemed like you would find a pocket of fish here and there and may get lucky to get a strike during the morning or evening!
Our total for 10 days of hard fishing Is 9 springs, 4 pinks, I coho and 2 chum and three halibut. Pretty brutal for my standards for three people fishing 12-14 hours a day!
Wow - that's a great haul under the circumstances, Tidal Shot. Wish I could report similar results. I've pretty much run out of stuff in my tackle box to get wet. I'm heading home for a week for a bit of a family reunion but will be back up at the end of the month for another month. Hopefully things will improve.