smatson

Hi everyone.

I have a boat at the base of Malaspina Strait, just north of Vancouver. I've been fishing a dozen times over the summer, about 5 hours each time. In those dozen trips, representing 60+ hours of fishing, i've caught *1* small Chinook salmon. I did a trip with a local guide last summer to get up to speed on the local technique, so i'm doing everything right as far as I can tell -- fishing across tide changes, keeping my downriggers as close to the bottom as possible, correct color of flashers/hootchies, etc. I think there just aren't many fish around these parts.

In the late 80's / early 90's, I did about 10 trips to fish out of Campbell River and Brown's Bay, and we'd get 10-15 coho and 2-3 chinooks on any given day.

Does fishing like that still happen at Campbell River, or anywhere else on the east side of the island? I'd like to make a trip to find some of that awesome fishing of years past, but I don't think i'm experienced enough to take my boat to the west side of the island. Thanks everyone.

bc22

Yes there are plenty of fish on the east side -- but you do have to know when and where they will be.
Millions of salmon come thru the inside east side and most destined to the Fraser River which received all 5 species.
yes, Chinooks and coho can be caught in wide open waters in the middle of seemingly nowhere, but the majority are caught in high percentage areas--areas which attract bait or hold bait consistently. These areas change with tide actions (one side of a rock may significantly be better than the other during which direction the current is moving).
In the summer, the fish are frequently on the top side of the water column (i'd say the top 65 feet and not much deeper, so i'd set up and troll 25-65' in any given depth).

IMO the inside fishing is decent and rarely hot.
for consistent good to hot action you should consider the west coast.
From mid july to fall, usually alot of the fish have pushed inside or are available in the near offshore banks (5-7 NM's out).
i see folks in some pretty small boats out in bamfield, uckey, and even port renfrew; ok for nice days and not going very far, but definitely not recommended for worse conditions.

what kinda boat you got? (better have a GPS/plotter, VHF, compass and all safety gear for west side and be prepared for fog)

smatson

Hi bc22 thx for the reply. I'm just across the water from you in Sechelt. I fish in secret cove, off epsom point, and bjerre shoals. I try to pay attention to the tide (ie. fish the side of structure that is sheltered from the tide). I have a 32' boat, so i'm sure it's big enough for the west side of the island. The problem is my inexperience in big water, and the BIG problem is the fact that i'd have to motor all the way around the island to get there.

I find the 25' - 65' depth really interesting. Is that for springs? or coho + other species? I'll give it a shot.

How is the fishing around Nanaimo? Do you ever get 10-15 fish/day as I mentioned in my first post, or is that a thing of the past on the inside?

bc22

i don't do much fishing on the inside (usually just day boating like taking friends and family to a neighboring island for eats and being touristy). west coast fishing spoilled me so i kinda feel like it's a waste of time to fish inside, but there's definitely days that fishing can be worth while on the inside, and in late july and aug. with both springs and coho kicking around between the 2 you probably would average 10-15+ bites and hope to get at least half of those in the boat. in comparison, i just took 6 days in early aug to fish bamfield (barkley sound) and on nice weather days (on 2 kinds bad days) when i went to 5 and 7 mile bank averaged no less than 20+ bites and pretty much took home limits with countless releases of coho which averaged 4-8 pounds with a few larger 9-10 pounders. on the last day i stayed on the 7 mile bank hump where i found the largest mass of bait and for about 3+ hours i fished like a mad man with rods constantly going off and endless double headers which made it tough as i was fishing by myself that day. it was exhaustingly blissfull
with that said, that final day was stone dead bad fishing for all for the bulk of the day and i didn't hook the first fish until after 1pm. only after 2 did things get crazy. sometimes it's just like that. i knew the fish were there i just didn't see any bait on the sounder until i found the large mass at the pinnacle, then it was none stop.

when you are trolling, pay close attention to your sounder and watch for bait (more important to see bait on sounder than to try and mark fish) bait will often tell you at what depth the fish are and if they are around. if you're trolling and are getting no bites and haven't marked any significant amount of bait on the sounder, then i would defintely seek a differnt spot to try.

have you tried N to pender harbour? makes a nice trip and the fishing can be pretty good up there.
they got good places for oysters, bottom fish, prawning, and salmon fishing too.
i spent some time there a couple years ago exploring with my buddies in my little 14' livingston catamaran back then.

Oh, in regards to the 25-65 depth, that's the area of the water column to fish but the depth could be anything from 75-300+ feet, both species can be had. usually the coho like the top water more than the springs, but about half of the springs i caught on the last trip were take in 20-50' (depth was in 175-250' waters).