Photo: Hatchery Coho season is open, and very productive. Joe Wallace, and Billy Boyte each with their two fish limit.
Bob Meyer
June was the windiest I’ve seen in my 55 years here. It just blew, and blew, and blew. After all my years of chartering, I was feeling genuine angst for my friend, Joe Wallace. I know how it feels to be booked with clients, and do the pacing act, waiting for the wind to drop. This report was delayed also, as I wanted to accompany it with Coho photos.
Coho fishing has been very strong since the June 1st opener. It is the same old trick of finding hatchery stock amongst the many wild fish for retention. One day we caught 7 Coho, 6 were of hatchery origin. I talked to a fisher at Page’s, and he’d caught 23 Coho, and kept 1 hatchery fish. I would make a very strong case for at least being able to keep one wild Coho per day, in addition to one hatchery Coho. Coho are more fragile than Chinook, and I think you would actually have a lower mortality rate by quickly keeping a two fish limit, rather than releasing multiple fish. Thrasher, The Flat Tops, Entrance, and the Fingers/Hudson Rock are all good places to pursue Coho. Small spoons behind a mini flasher at 45 to 110 feet is the best method. The hatchery fish tend to school together. So, if you catch one, turn around.
Ling fishing has been surprisingly durable at Gabriola and Entrance Reefs. Oddly, there have been very few undersized and oversized (over 15 pounds) Ling taken. They are mostly in the “target zone” of 8 to 12 pounds. Medium herring on sliding sinkers fished on pinnacles in 25 to 65 feet has been the best method for Ling. Again, please only retain what you need for the occasional meal. Ling and Rockfish stocks are fragile, and we don’t want to overfish them!
Commercial prawn season was the shortest ever, 29 days. The stocks off Nanaimo got very depleted in that time period. The prawning off The Flat Tops is decent to good, expect 75 per trap.
These are a mix of large, mediums, and small. It is probably best to release the small ones, and let them grow. Depths range from 300 to 375 feet, with a mix of tuna cat food/pellets/fish meal being the best bait.
Good fishing!
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