The current cold snap has kept a lot of fishermen at home. But for those hardy mariners that made it out fishing was good! It's often very calm and clear when we get this cold weather, so if you bundle up it can be a great time on he water.
Salt Water Report
French Creek and Nanaimo are reporting a slight improvement in bigger Chinook. There are still loads of 18-20" fish getting int he way, but most everybody is getting their keepers if they persist. If you are just catching undersized it can be wise to change location. Salmon often school up in sized based schools. So finding a different batch of fish in a different area is often the best bet. Larger spoons have been working well in the mid island area. The ones I've head mentioned this week have been the 4.0 Knot-E in No Bananas, and the 5.0 Big Eye in The Reelman pattern. The Knot-E is not on the website, so email me if you want one.
There are lot's of Chinook around Tent island, Sansum Narrows and all the way down to Saanich Inlet. This area has more squid than usual right now, so hoochies have been affective. The top hoochies have been Glow White (OGL 55R) and Glow Red Stripe Cop Car (OMW 60R) These are Opal squid and catching them for bait or food is easy to do. If you spot some light squiggly lines on your fish finder at 20-30ft it's probably squid. I like to daisy chain several squid jigs together, and add a lead minnow type jig to the bottom. Preferably a glow salmon jig. Then just drop into the school and start jigging.
Fresh Water Report
With the dry conditions water levels are all dropping, making for very fishable waters in most rivers. In these clear, and lower water conditions smaller presentations are a good idea. This week 15mm BnR Burr Beads in North West Steelheader has been the top Steelhead bead. For the trout 3/16 Blue Fox spinners in Rainbow Trout have worked well. Chandler staff used it for Cutthroat and Browns over the weekend and did great.
Tips up!
steve@harbourchandler.ca
