Campbell River salmon fishing is in full swing now! The ebb tide at the hump trolling towards the lighthouse in 170-220ft of water is the place to be. Huge schools of herring near the bottom are keeping the chinook in the area. 5" spoons in chrome/blue and blue/green hootchy's are getting the job done! The Green can on the flood tide has slowed down the last week. Fishing off Shelter point trolling down to Salmon point on the flood tide in 200ft has produced some good fish. Grants reef has slowed down the last week,along with most spots on the east side of the straits. Kitty Coleman hump or "Bates Beach" is holding fish again! Lots of herring in the area so all the same gear is working well along with 5' plugs.Using plugs help keep the pacific Cod and Pollock off the lines! Time to get out for a fish! After an incredible May Chinook fishery,my guests went home with a total of 83 spring salmon for the month! I would guess we caught and released 4 times that as there is a lot of under size salmon around this year. The Campbell River hump produced well today on the ebb tide,as did Shelter point out in 250ft of water. There are huge schools of 6 inch herring around. The fish are hitting 4 inch spoons in glo/green behind a flasher and green/glo cuttle fish hootchy. The Green can to Francisco Pt has produced a few nice fish in the last week. Sentry Shoals has been hit and miss and is now closed till June 30th. Grants Reef has produced big numbers the last few weeks,I like to fish the NW corner of Grants from 100 feet out to 180. Kitty Coleman (Bates Beach) has been hit and miss this spring so far,it should light up soon as the big runs of chinook are showing up! June is my favorite month to fish the Northern Strait of Georgia,and with record numbers of chinook heading for the Fraser River,it should be great! The past few weeks has been great fishing for spring salmon,probably the best I have seen for early May! Most of the action has been on the east side of the strait of Georgia. The south end of Quadra Island to the green can, Sentry shoals,Grants reef and Coho point have produced well. The hump off Bates beach (Kitty Coleman) hasn't fished well the past few weeks but it has turned on in the last day or two,and usually gets really good later May! There are large schools of herring everywhere in the 5-6inch size.I have had lots of action on the 5 inch Tomic 500 plug, 4 inch Coyote in blue/silver and anchovies. The last few days fishing out in 200-250ft of water, I have been hitting a lot of fish while dropping the gear down on the rigger from 80 to 120 feet.So a lot of fish are up shallow feeding! I have been getting some nice Snapper and Lingcod also while trolling deep for chinooks,always a bonus! Good luck out there! It's mid April and the fishing is heating up from Campbell river down to Hornby Island.The mainland side is fishing well also,Grants reef to Coho Pt ! The usual spots off Campbell river are still producing nice fish! The Hump on the ebb tide and off Shelter Pt out into 240ft of water is the place to troll your Coyote spoons,anchovies and glo green needle fish hootchy's! Don't be afraid to shorten those leaders up,3ft behind the flasher with bait or spoons can be killer some days! Bates Beach,aka Kitty Coleman area has fished well the last week. Coho Killers in all colors,Army truck hootchy's,and glo/green needle fish hootchy's are the main producers! The crab fishing off Comox is excellent now,with Pacific Cod being my number one bait! The Killer Whales are enjoying all the salmon around this spring also.We are seeing them a few times a week now...fishing and whale watching! Time to get out there and enjoy the salt chuck!! The last few weeks around the hump,Shelter Pt down to Salmon Pt has produced good numbers and sized chinook. These fish have full belly's of Lantern fish from 1-4 inch long.Lantern fish are bright silver so small anchovies and small Coyote spoons behind a flasher have been working well! Time to get out for some fresh fish!!! Book your charter today! Campbell river winter chinook fishing is getting better after a slow January. Lots of small herring and needle fish are showing around Shelter Pt and the CR hump,small 3 " spoons and glo green squirt hootchy's have been working well! Lots of under size chinooks this winter. Yesterday (Feb8) ,in the warm sun,we released 10 under size before we kept a 10 pounder. The fishing should get better through the next few months and the good prawn fishing areas open in March. Great time to book that late winter trip! Visit and "like" my face book page,for more pictures and reports! Early November had some awesome chinook fishing until mother nature whipped up the winds! The first few weeks of December have been hit or miss for salmon. That said , this past week the fish have pushed in.There has been great reports from all ends and sides of Georgia strait! Last Thursday I was fishing around the mouth of Desolation Sound and managed to limit out the boat and release many other nice chinooks. Fished off Shelter Pt today for a few hours in 210-240ft, and released a few under size and boated a nice 14 pounder! With the water being so clear,anchovie without flasher has been working great along with Coyote (Kermit) in the 4" with or with out flasher. Happy holidays and tight lines! Chris Steinbach The first few weeks of September I spent on the west coast fishing halibut,giant Lings and awesome Albacore Tuna!
Now I'm back doing charters at home and I can't believe how many big hungry coho are around still! The last few days fishing charters have had well over 30 coho to the boat per trip!Double headers have been the usual! The water's off Bates Beach(Kitty Coleman) down to Lazo in the 180-300ft depths are full of bait(krill &herring) and full of hard hitting coho! I found today the 4 inch green/white TKO spoon fished without a flasher produced big time(non stop!) I'm on the water until Wednesday,then off to Bamfield for the big tuna shootout! Good luck out there! feel free to call for a report if you see me on the water,Ch 68 VHF(CrabbyChris)
Some happy guests with a 36 pound spring last week!
Its the third week of August now and the northern strait of Georgia is full of big hungry Coho.Yesterday we fished Wilby Shoals(south Quadra Island)and lost count after 20 fish! Today fishing Bates beach area we had well over a dozen coho and a 20lb chinook.Coho killer spoons and white hootchy's are working great for springs and coho! There is still some big springs coming through,we have had two over thirty pounds in the boat this week and expect it to get better with the local river's big chinook still to come!!! Check out and "LIKE" my facebook page for up to date pic's!
Charlie with a big feeder chinook!
The last few weeks of July were slower for chinook compared to last summer, but It looks like a new push of chinook are here now though! Limits of good size springs were taken yesterday at Bates Beach(Kitty Coleman), and the Campbell River Hump produced some nice ones also. Last week Grants Reef was full of good size "feeder" springs,we limited out with fish up to 22 pounds and released many 10-15 pounders.There is a mix of small and large herring around now, so changing around the gear is a good idea!Small spoons have worked well as have large Tubby plugs. Lots of coho around,so the big plugs and longer leaders on your hootchy's will help keep them off if you just want to target chinook... Check out and "like" my facebook page for lots of pics and info! https://www.facebook.com/CrabbysFishingCharters |
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