Chinook Fishing
Fishing has been great. If you have a small boat the Chinook have been around the harbour mouth, Beg, Food Islets, Great Bear, Sail and Cree.
All spots have been good. Bait seems to be plentiful.
The herring and needlefish are only a couple inches long so small spoons work better.
If you put down a larger Skinny G or similar you may wait longer for a bite but you may also get some larger Chinook.
You can also put down hutchies. Both glow and white hutchies are the ticket down.
Some days Cuddlefish works better and some days the regular hutchies work better.
If you are looking for the “hot” lure I would try using a glow hutchie with a leader from 40-42 inches behind a glow flasher. Everyone has their favorites. Some like blue, some red, some green and some black.
If you use the guide pro series use the ones with glow on the inside of the flasher. Most should have this already.
Above is an example of the guide series vs non guide series. You will probably catch more salmon with the guide series.
Coho fishing tips
Right now there are Coho inside which means you can keep 1 clipped and 1 non-clipped. Beg, Food Islets, Chrowe and Alley Rock all have had Coho recently and would be good areas to target for Coho. Cree also should have Coho and you could catch both Chinook and Coho while fishing them so just be ready for a larger fish because you just never know when the Chinook come up shallow.
Halibut fishing tips
For halibut you don’t necessarily need to go very far. Inside Lighthouse, Inside South, Barkley Sound and just outside Mara are all spots you can catch halibut without going to far out. Early morning is the best time for catching halibut regardless of tide so if you can be at your halibut spot by 5:30 or 6 am it would be better. Often by 7 am things start to slow down at the inside spots.
Give the halibut options. Having something different on each hook is best. Herring on one, Gug on another, meat on another. Doubling up baits can work too. Putting a skirt on can work as well. Keep experiementing and you will get better. Make sure you use a long spreder bar as that will also help your chances.
Below are some photos from our last couple of weeks with guests.
We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and we are stewards of this amazing place. Please fish responsibly and bonk the fish when it comes in the boat instead of letting it die on its own.
See you on the water and tight lines!
Sam Vandervalk
