Island Tides & Currents – January 2011

Looking ahead to the 2011 season

2011 promises to be another fantastic year for fishing enthusiasts heading for the Westside of Vancouver Island with all predictions and forecasts and high ocean survival for excellent returns of Chinook and Coho salmon migrating down the west side of Vancouver Island in 2011. As well as great salmon fishing, all indications are for great bottom fishing for Halibut and Lingcod in 2011. So it promises to be a good year to be fishing on the West Coast of Vancouver Island with lots of action and plenty of big smiles.

Looking back: Saltwater Fishing 2010

2010 was another great year for saltwater fishing on the Westside of Vancouver Island, with good numbers of nice Chinook Salmon starting to roll through our area in the middle of June with most of the fish we were catching in June in the mid teens to the mid twenty pound rage which are very nice fish. As we moved into July the numbers of both Chinook and Coho salmon increased as did the average size with lots of Chinook salmon in the 20 to 35 pound range showing up right through to the end of August.The Coho started showing up a little later than normal this year around the middle of July but when they did show up, there were plenty of them the average size was a little bigger than normal.

The bottom fishing for Halibut was fantastic again this past year and it seems to get better every year, with lots of nice Halibut in the 25 to 50 pound range be boated. We also found a new Halibut fishing hotspot this past season which was closer to shore than our usual hot spot and we were only fishing in 135 feet of water which made it a lot easier to reel in once you hooked into a good size Halibut versus the 225 feet we have been fishing at on a regular basis and this new hotspot produced plenty of nice Halibut into the 100 pound range.

Looking back: Freshwater River Fishing 2010

We had a fantastic fall freshwater river fishing season in 2010, with lot’s of ocean bright Coho and Chum showing in up in many of our local rivers along with plenty of Sockeye and even the occasional summer run steelhead, so it was a lot of fun with plenty of action. And again as in past years some of our best fishing was on our local river within sight of the lodge. The largest Coho salmon landed on the fly this past fall was in the 17 pound range and we definitely hooked and lost a few fish in the 20 pound range as well. We did discover some new runs this past fall that really produced some nice fish as well as tying some new flies that worked really well. Definitely World class fly-fishing adventures!

Sockeye! Sockeye! Sockeye!

I think the biggest fish story of 2010 was the incredible numbers of Sockeye salmon that showed up all along the B.C coast this summer with a record setting 35 million plus Sockeye salmon swimming their way to the Fraser River and their final destination of the Adams River / Shuswap watersheds. There were so many sockeye at times coming down the East and West sides of the Island that anglers were able to catch them on just about anything they had on their line at the time, including plugs, spoons and bait, and even down to depths of 80 and 90 feet. Needless to say that a good number of anglers were able to take a few sockeye home along with their Chinook and Coho this past August.

Unfortunately, 2010 was a bust for our small volunteer hatchery in Zeballos as we were unable to do a Chinook egg take on the Zeballos River due to a huge rain storm that washed out not only the river but some bridges and the road into Zeballos in several places through the week that we had planned on doing the egg take. But we are already making plans for next year and we will make sure that we get our egg take done in 2011.

Finally The big one that did not get away!

We were fishing just off of Magic Rock at Ferrer Point on the morning June 18th when on our first pass by the rock Dr Eugene Chan from Vancouver hooked and landed a 51.5 pound Chinook salmon which was caught on a cop car coyote spoon trolling at 24 feet on the downrigger and fishing in 55 feet of water. What a surprise and what a beautiful fish. This was the largest Chinook salmon caught in our area in 2011, the day before (June 17th) had also produced limits of very nice fish in the 16 to 24 pound range and we had lost a few bigger fish but nothing like this one.

As there were plenty of chum salmon spawning in the river in front of the lodge this past fall it became a regular snack bar for most of the bears in the valley, which made for some great entertainment and picture taking as we were able to watch the bears fishing for salmon on a regular basis from the deck of the lodge. This past year was also a great year to see the Humpback Whales that frequent the waters around Nootka Island and Esperanza Inlet as we would see them on a regular basis on our way to and from the fishing grounds and our area has also become home for hundreds of sea otters that are always fun to observe and are seen on a regular basis.

Over the past few years we have seen an increase in family fishing trips, with father son, father daughter couples as well as family groups coming out to experience the West Coast fishing adventures that we offer. And with great fishing, awesome scenery, first class lodging and meals along with great company these fishing adventures make for a great way to spend some quality time together. We will be offering our Kid’s packages again for 2011 with two for the price of one for kids and teens up to 18 years of age. (Based on triple occupancy per room and boat.)

To Prepare Salmon:
Combine marinade ingredients, mix well and pour over salmon. Marinate 4 to six hours in refrigerator. When ready to grill, remove salmon from marinade pat the skin side with paper towel to remove any marinade and oil and place skin side down on a hot Barbecue, cook at medium heat until flesh is opaque and flakes easily.

If anybody would like to get out on the water early this year, we are offering some fantastic specials with our Spring Fever Fishing Packages starting in early May through to June 17th, these packages offer guests great bottom fishing for Halibut, Lingcod, Snapper, fantastic Prawning and early season Chinook Salmon We also have our popular Fall Favourite fishing packages on through September, with great bottom fishing for Halibut, Lingcod, Snapper, Prawning with the added bonus of big northern Coho Salmon on light tackle.
All of these packages offer great action, lots of fun and are great value

Our bookings are coming along really well for the 2011 season and we have a limited amount of dates still available through our prime time season of July and August, so if you are thinking of doing a fishing trip this season and you have a time frame in mind, it may be best to contact us as soon as you can in regards to securing your dates.

We can be contacted at:
Toll-free: 1.888.934.6999
Email: sshelley@telus.net
Website: http://www.fishingvancouverisland.ca