-Having done a dozen or more charters this spring, and all have fallen on days that have kept us in protected waters, often limiting where we fish and how productive and comfortable the experience has been. We've had some decent days on the Salmon, with nothing breaking 20 lbs so far, but for late March-early April its far better than being on the computer writing about it..
April 1st was a great day, with a new guest from Edmonton. Overall we had approx. 20 Salmon encounters of various sizes, with some Long Distance Releases and a few nice fish to the boat. Coho were a great surprise that day as well.
Offshore conditions were pushing 4-5 meters, so we were content to stay in protected waters, which ended up being a great option.
Wet and Windy conditions plagued us for most of the week after, until the past weekend which was beautiful and calm. I passed on a couple trips as I was committed to be away from the coast for the weekend with my son, while my Wife and Daughter went to the Canucks/Oilers game on Saturday.
Some decent Cold water Trout fishing for my Son and I, with a great Chironomid hatch that had some fat Rainbows active..
Yesterday...Finally a break in the weather to get offshore to search for some Spring Chinook and maybe a Halibut or two...
The Weather Forecast was for some SE wind and a little rain, but a spread out swell so it looked easily fishable on the computer at least. My 3 guests for the day normally fish with us in August, so I prepped them on early Spring fishing and how fishing can be fair to good and the weather nice to nasty...they were game for a good time regardless of fish. Once we travelled past the outer coastline and the first couple of deeper water contours, the tide slop and ground swell mellowed out to be very comfortable. Traveling another 15 minutes and we found our offshore destination Sunny and calm with less than 5 knots of wind...sweet!
Before I could get the gear down on both sides, the guys counted almost a dozen Grey Whales steaming past us heading north. We trolled right down on the carpet with a Spoon and a Needlefish Hoochie for almost and hour before getting hit by something that didn't stick.. Not seeing much bait on the screen due to the tides pushing hard, we stayed persistent as I felt there would be Chinook passing through this area heading to southern rivers and we should bump into one or two..Another hour and a couple gear changes later, we hit a good Salmon that peeled line like it was a 30 lb'r but I knew these ealry season fish are deceiving, as they battle hard for their size.
10-15 minutes later, a nice 12 lb Chinook in the boat and high fives from the boys...They were just starting to grab the camera, while I dumped one side back down to 145 feet and bumped my cannonballs on the bottom a few times. Perfect.
I was just about to grab the other rod to set it down to the same depth when the first one goes off again, hit off the DR clip and peeling line heading south. Perfect. 10 minutes and a bit of give and take at the boat, another 14 lbs of Chrome is in the boat. Now with two fish on deck and the bite on, I tell the guys to wait for the photo ops and ask them to stand back while I dump the gear quick..Both back down to the bottom this time, a quick turn to the head back to my contour line and just as we are straightening out, my inside rod goes off. Head shakes and then peels off 30-40 yards and gone...not quite perfect but comes with the territory. We all laughed at the same time because all at once, 8 eyes were fixed on the one rod still in the water, and we all say it get pounded. Next was even funnier..I wasn't grabbing the rod, so I am waiting for one of the guys to make their move..no one budged..then they all started to move for it at once, looked at each other laughed and then held off in courtesy. Almost like the three stooges with me having a hard time watching this rod pump away and start to peel line while it sits in the rod holder. Finally combatent #3 was on it, and he did a great job on the hardest fight of the day for the Smallest Salmon. Good times and high fives, three nice fish in the boat within 30 minutes, Calm seas and Sunshine..
We fished for another couple hours for another Long Distance release on a Salmon and one Chicken Halibut on the Spoon I was testing for Oki Tackle. When we decided to pull the gear and switch to Halibut, we missed another Salmon that hit half way up, almost a bonus last minute Chinook..
We travelled 10 minutes back towards the beach and dropped the spreader bars down on one of my common Halibut Spots. One Whole Herring, one half Herring and a White Power Bait was on the menu...We fished for almost about half an hour before we found another Chicken Halibut that preferred the whole Herring. Re-bait and re-set the gear to the bottom and no more than 10 minutes later, the half herring enticed a hard hit that drove the Rod tip in the water and 100 lb braided line peeling towards the bottom. One of the guys grabbed the rod after a bit of a struggle out of the holder, and tried to set the hook home, but the third Halibut of the day swam away.....After a couple of "Oh Well, Too bads.." we noticed one of the other rods thumping away with a tell tale sign of another Chicken Halibut. Number three Halibut joined us onboard after a short battle.
After a good deck cleaning to deal with Halibut blood and slime, we head for the harbour as the guys had a ferry to catch yet that night.
A couple quick pics on the dock and off to the procesor for a quick Vac Pac job..
We've seen bigger fish and we've seen better weather, but for this early in the season, we are happy to get on the water and feel the rod bend...not to mention some great eating. First fresh fish of the season always seems to taste the best...
Fishing only gets better from here....
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