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Happy Canada day! Only 14 more days until we can keep a Chinook salmon! This season we have to release any fish above 80cm or 31.5 inch long from July15-Aug31. This size is usually 17-18LB, I did have one fat fish last year that tipped the scales @ 20LB below the 80cm limit!! Sept1 our area opens up for any size and TWO per day! The first few weeks of Sept can produce some big fish before they hit the river as well as nice 7-12LB feeder Chinook! The fishing this year has been really good for Chinook all over the Salish sea! This should continue through July and August with big number days for all! The herring are stacked up thick around the Green can to the Red can in Campbell River and the Chinook are loving it! Coho fishing is hatchery only with 2 per day retention. There seems to be some fish showing up in shallow water (30-70ft) off the south end of Quadra Island now. Trolling any small spoons without a flasher is a great way to catch these fish! "Coho Killers" in any bright colors are a good choice. For Chinook fishing lately I have been sticking with hootchy's with some glow like the Army truck cuttlefish or a light green with glow belly. I like to squirt herring oil inside the hootchy as a bonus attractant for Lingcod and the allusive Halibut! Trolling right on the bottom in 160-260ft around Campbell River or Kitty Coleman hump will produce Springs, Lings and other things with this set up. Usually by mid July, I switch to large plugs and pick up the trolling speed. This helps to avoid the summer schools of Dogfish(shark) but also produces well on all other fish! Looking forward to the season even if its a short one this year! Tight lines.  With these recent nonsense Chinook closures thrown at us by DFO, there hasn't been much to talk about. But now we are days away from being able to retain ONE Chinook, better than nothing I guess! Although catch and release the last few months has been fun, it'll be nice to get some blood in the boat finally! The good news is the fishing is nothing short of fantastic, and has been for the last month! The ebb tide drift at the Campbell river hump has been on fire to say the least the last few weeks. Piles of herring are keeping these Chinook around from right on top of the hump 150ft down to 300ft, bait everywhere and springs! This area has also been fishing well on the beginning of the flood. The good old Blue Meanie hootchy has been unstoppable the last few weeks with the water being very clear. I have also been running big 6" Coyote spoons with no flasher with great success . Plugs in the 602 and 700 are great but I haven't been towing them around as the big siwash hooks cause to much damage to the fish when C&R fishing. The green can and Wilby ledge are the same story, if the bait is there, the Chinook are piled in thick! I fished Kitty Coleman for the first time in months yesterday and it was loaded full of nice fat Chinook to, it just doesn't get any better! I haven't caught any Halibut yet this year and the Lings seem to be hard to come by the last week. July15 is going to be great, see you out there! I still have space available ,so if you want to get a chance at this great fishing ,give me a call!   May has had awesome Chinook fishing in the northern strait of Georgia this season!
Some days it's non stop action with easy limits of nice chunky red springs. These fish are all feeding on medium to large herring. Big spoons have been a staple for these fish but running 6" Tomic plugs is working just as well or better some days! Rubber is also starting to work this last week. The "egg salad" in cuttlefish with a short 3' leader (3 wraps of the flasher) is putting fish in the box! There is some good numbers of Lings and Springs around the Red/Green can in Campbell River. Sentry shoals has been hot and cold. Kitty Coleman ( Bates Beach) has been fairly consistent although some days you need to put the time in and wait for the bite to come on. Further south at Coho point the fishing is heating up also! If May is an indicator ,June is going to be a lot of fun. June also brings some bigger fish with many over the 20 LB range! See you on the water!  Spring is finally here and the fishing and weather are great!
The last few weeks around Campbell River we have seen some good spring salmon action with fish weighing into the teens! The south end of Quadra Island and Shelter Pt is a sure bet. Sentry Shoals is hot or cold but worth a few tacks. We had some nice limits from there recently! Spring time is spoon time in these parts. Silver Hordes in 3.5" are a good bet along with the new North King spoons available at Gone fishin' tackle shop in Courtenay are working great! This week the fish have moved south down to Bates beach (Kitty Coleman) area. These fish are following the herring and are hungry for spoons! I have had some success on hootchy's in Army truck cuddle fish patterns but spoons out produce the rubber! Prawn fishing remains good all over. Nothing beats fresh prawns after a good day of salmon fishing! Crabbing is slow for now but should pick up soon! May first is the start for Ling cod! I can't wait to start whacking these fish as they are so tasty!!! Only a few more weeks available for the "Spring Special" Salmon and prawns for $699!! The 2018 salmon season has started! The boat went through a major refit over the winter, New fuel tank, wiring and a bunch of smaller improvements. The new 200HP Evinrude Etec G2's have been installed by Parker Marine in Courtenay B.C. and are performing perfectly! The herring spawn has started around Denman and Hornby Islands attracting thousands of seals, sea lions and birds of all sorts. The herring spawn around Comox is an incredible sight for wildlife viewing. There has been some decent chinook fishing throughout the winter, but things start to pick up now with size and numbers of fish! The prawn season is in full swing and seems to have bounced back from the last few years of low numbers. Boats are reporting better than average prawn sets! Halibut is open now but we have to wait until May 1 for Lingcod and rockfish to open around Campbell River and Comox. I have got my hands on some GibbsDelta Power Paddle lures for the up coming Ling cod season. These will be killer! Looking forward to some nice spring weather and some great fishing!  2017 summer in the Northern Strait of Georgia was a good season for Chinook. This will make a solid 6 years of consistent Spring fishing! Not so good for coho though, but there seems to be more and more Halibut getting caught every season! I had a late start this season do to boat re-power taking longer than expected. Didn't get going until mid May. We had some decent fishing but things really got going early June with big numbers of springs! South end of Quadra Island had incredible amounts of herring all season. In June the bite came at random times but as long as you were around the bait it was worth the wait! I was running large 6" spoon's a lot early season with great success. South Quadra is a very consistent area to fish. The Light house/Hump on the later part of the ebb tide can be alive with springs, lings and some nice Halibut! Green can, between the red/green cans and up to Fransisco Pt and Dogfish bay all hold nice fish. If your willing to battle the tides and watch your sounder for bait, the fish will come! The southern reefs, Grants and Bates, were off and on throughout June and July, but for the second year in a row we had some awesome mid/late August action in these areas! The Chinook season seemed to run strong until the second week of Sept this year! Late season in these areas I like to run a glow cuttlefish hoochy and either a green gater or blue meenie type non glow on the other side in the morning then switch out to plugs late morning and afternoon. Halibut....I seem to get more and more hally's every season. All these fish are taken trolling with a majority of these fish taken on plugs trolling fast on the bottom. Next season, before the millions of Dogfish show up, I plan on spending some quality time on the anchor "targeting" Halibut. 2018 season I will be on the reports much more frequently staring in April. As always, thank you to all my new and long time guests for coming out and making 2017 a fun a and successful season! Have a great winter!  The northern strait of Georgia is the place to be right now! Huge schools of large herring are keeping the salmon well fed. I was watching 6 Humpback whales feeding last week around Campbell River, it takes a lot of herring to keep them happy! The fishing last week was a little slower do to the big tides, but if you were patient and fished around the tide changes it was good. The Campbell River hump to the light house tack an hour before and after tide change has been really good lately. The deeper water, 200ft plus, around the Green can has produced well also. A few halibut from these areas are coming in too. I put a 38LB on the boat recently and my buddy had a 50LB just trolling deep for salmon! Still a lot of legal Ling Cod to be had in this area to. Trolling hootchy's in green/glow or 6" spoons in the same colors is the ticket! Bates beach or "Kitty Coleman Hump" has been fairly consistent this season for springs. Fishing the 200ft contour and finding schools of herring is the program. Later in the day the deeper water to the east 220-250Ft is a good place to find fish. Grants Reef is another really consistent spot this year so far. Most boats fish the mid to south reef on the west side and have been filling the tubs. All gear seems to work here when the baits in. Hootchy's, plugs, spoons and no dog fish yet so anchovies are a solid bet! See you on the water this weekend!  Good June day in Campbell River!
Its mid May and things are looking good for another busy season! I was out yesterday (May17) just to target Lingcod which opened up May 1 in our area. One of the best spots around here for Lings is the south end of Campbell River. I like to slow troll the hump to the Lighthouse the last hour before slack tide. I run a large glow cuttlefish hootchie with a short 3' leader, I tie up a leader of 60LB test with tandom 6/0 hooks, leaving the trailing hook a inch back from the end of the hootchie.This combo is irresistible for lings, and you can pick up the odd spring like we did yesterday! The last few weeks have been a bit of a battle with weather and algae blooms in the Strait of Georgia. A few nice springs have been coming in off the south end of Quadra and Cortez Islands. Sentry Shoals has been fishing well on the south end of the reef in 160-200Ft of water. The fish have full belly's of large herring so 5" spoons and large green spatter back hootchies are the ticket! Bates beach is fairly consistent this year so far. Running standard gear on the bottom and an anchovie 40' off bottom works well. Grants reef has been another good spot this spring. I like fishing the west side in 140-180Ft working the contours north to south. Grants has a mix of different bait fish around so mixing up your gear and colors is a good idea! The weather is finally looking good, just in time for the long weekend! See you on the water!   Happy youngster June 30th Happy Canada Day!!!
June ended with some fantastic fishing all over the northern strait of Georgia. Yesterday, June 30th was non stop Chinook action off the Green can in Campbell River! The bait (extra large herring) was over 100ft thick on the sonar in places! Fishing the bottom under the bait with plugs or BIG spoons is the way to get them. Early morning the bait is closer to the surface and in shallower water. Green hootchy's and spoons work best then. The Ling cod around the Campbell River hump are plentiful this year and some really good size as well. Last week my guests hooked a double header in 180ft of water on Gibbs Delta Tackle Purple Onion flashers with glow hootchy's, ended up being a 20LB Ling and 60LB Halibut! Bates Beach/Kitty Coleman hump is producing well the last few weeks with Chinook in the 8-20 pound range hitting all gear including flasher/hoochy's in green and white/glow. Plugs in all colors are working well also. Spoons like the Silver Horde and Gold Star Fishing Lures KingFisher 940 are working well for Coho. Coho is open for hatchery marked fish! Grants reef is always a good bet this time of year also! I like the North West end of the reef trolling the 160-220 FT contours. The same gear we use around Bates beach works well here . Up in the shallows of the reef you will find a lot of coho feeding, these fish are very easy to catch and great for beginners! A few nice halibut have been trolled up lately on Grants to! July is shaping up to be another great Chinook month in our waters. Larger fish are starting to come through now and should only get better with time! You can follow my Facebook for daily short reports, https://www.facebook.com/CrabbysFishingCharters/ Happy fishing! We are in the second week of May and things are looking good for 2016 salmon season! I am excited to be part of the Pro-Staff team with Gibbs Delta tackle again for the 2016 season! Great tackle and company along with an awesome network of guides! The south end of Campbell River starting with the "Hump" has had a lot of bait and some decent fishing on the slower ebb tides. 4" Silver Horde spoons with a short 42" leader behind the flasher have been working well. Wilby Shoals between the red and green can in the 180-220ft contours are also worth trying right now. Shelter point down to Salmon point is also a productive tack. Again the spoon including my favorite Gibbs Skinny G gold nugget with a short leader will do the trick. Spring is also a good time for towing around bait, I use 5-6" anchovies with a 4-6ft leader behind the Gibbs Purple Onion flasher. I usually run my bait 40ft or more off the bottom to avoid rock fish/P-cod and the rest! Sentry Shoals and Grants reef have had some good fishing the last month, but the fish seem to move fast from these spots, good one day, slow the next! Kitty Coleman (Bates beach) has had some good fishing the last few weeks. Lots of bait stacks up on the flood tides and the springs follow it in. I have had some nice fish caught on Yamishita hootchies in the OGL239R color, but changing around the gear is a must. I have had a few days this week when fish are on the hootchies for a few hours then nothing, switch to a spoon and bang, fish on! Also with the thick plankton bloom this week, the bait and fish have been higher up in the water column, most of the fish have been caught in the 120-140ft when fishing in 200-220ft Hornby Island to the south has been producing some nice fish into the 20 lb range the last week! Fishing the 160-200ft contours on the west side of Norris rock with the spoons mentioned above and anchovies behind a Gibbs Purple Onion or any Glow/moon jelly flasher have been producing well. keep track of fishing and get short reports by following my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CrabbysFishingCharters/ Chris Steinbach  |
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