Hi All
It’s been a while since my last update. No I didn’t quit fishing (even though at times I felt I should…), nor did I up and move to another lodge and area. I did, however, take a few days off and made my way to Tofino for a bit of a break. And yes… fishing was equally tough further north. However people, enough doom and gloom. It seems we have turned the corner and fishing has definitely picked up.
The last four or five days we have started to see our Somass fish start to show and folks some of them are very big! I fully expect the fishing to be as we expect in early August or even better.
I just finished up with the Morgan group. On day one we fished Kirby on the early morning bite. Ten minutes in we had a violent take and Brendan jumped on the rod. The big spring took an anchovy in a bloody nose teaser head behind a glow green flasher at 33 feet on the rigger. The first run was a beauty and I was concerned I needed to chase it. It stopped and thrashed some on the surface and it was then I saw the tail and knew we were into a good fish. Ten minutes later we netted what turned out to be my first Tyee of the season at 32 lbs. Super fish to start the trip!
We hooked into another decent fish an hour later. Brendan’s wife Andrea was on the rod and did a great job getting the fish to the boat. Unfortunately the Captain blew it! I didn’t lift the down rigger high enough out of the water and sure enough the fish wrapped around the ball and broke us off. Operator error! I should know better. It did, however, spur me on with even more energy to get Andrea a big spring!
We moved on to Swale for the afternoon bite and hooked into another beauty. Alas we lost that one too and it began to start a disturbing trend.
The next day we headed to Seabird Island to see if we could scare up some ling cod. We managed to boat one but everyone had a blast playing black rockfish. They are eager to bite and provide a good tug. Just the therapy for a group wanting to have some light line fun.
After playing at Seabird we headed back into the Sound for the high tide change bite. We stopped into Little Beale and set the gear with anchovies at 33 and 35 feet.
Over the course of the next two and a half hours we had 9 fish on and 7 to the back of the boat. We only boated two which albeit was somewhat frustrating but this was just the way it was. The fish were large, aggressive and not willing to come to the boat. It was, however, so good to see a real bite on with quality fish.
The last few days we have seen fish taken at Beale, Swale, Austin and Cree. It seems to be that running bait is now the ticket. I am a shallow guy, as in how I like to fish. I keep my gear basically between 30 and 40 feet. I know others go deeper, 50 – 65 on the riggers. I just like to go shallower and it seems to work for me.
White bloody nose teaser heads and chrome bloody nose teaser heads have been working the best for us. Keep your leaders on the long side, 6 to 7 feet minimum.
Offshore has been very productive. Hali fishing has been nothing short of spectacular and the coho offshore have been ridiculous. It’s almost impossible to touch a spring while fishing offshore as ravenous coho attack your gear before you can get it down to fish. When this happens people don’t fight it. Go with it. Get out your buzz bombs, MacDeeps or whatever jig you like. Drift. I typically get my guests to go anywhere from 5 to 20 pulls. That’s all you need. You will love it. So much fun. Yesterday while hali fishing we caught and released dozens of gorgeous coho including limiting out on our hatchery fish. I got my flyrod out and landed half a dozen. Just had a blast!
As for hali fishing? Salmon bellies and herring on spreader bars have been effective. I have also had great luck using an Amundsen 14oz paddle tail jig in glow green. It’s been crazy effective for halibut.
Our bubble slots are full this weekend. That means we have crews bubbled in both suites, our upstairs rooms, and the bunkhouse. The docks are also full with self contained boaters. It should be a busy yet productive weekend. We may have room for late bookers going forward. Email Aussie John at requests@harboursidelodge.com. Johno will get back to asap.
In the meantime and in between time, keep your bait salted, your lines shallow and your passion for this amazing place flourishing…
Coach… (aka Jonathan)