Predator's Pen - Saltwater Fishing Report - February 16th, 2015
Last edited on: Feb 16, 2015 06:21:12 PM by Predator Charters
Hello Fellow Anglers

This year's winter Chinook fishery has been one of the better ones in recent years.....when the weather cooperates. The early 2015 action over off Porlier Pass and Thrasher Rock was very good during January, and it continues to produce into February, though it hasn't been as hot as it was earlier in the year. The Coal Ports have also produced very well again this winter, though again, it seemed to be hotter earlier in the year.

In recent weeks we have seen our local Howe Sound and Vancouver Harbour winter fishery start perking up. Anglers are regularily landing prime winter Chinook weighing into the "teens" in Howe Sound as well as some of the typical smaller legal fish (up to 10 lbs or so). In addition to these legal sized fish, there finally seems to be some decent numbers of underisized fish thrown into the mix, and anglers are releasing several of them on some days. This bodes very well for the future fishing later this year as these fish will become legal sized in the coming months. I look back on the "good old days" of the local winter fishery when we would typically boat 2 or 3 legal fish as well as release a half dozen or so undersized fish on an average "good" day.....lately, we seem to be getting close to these kinds of numbers on some of the better days, so this is very encouraging.

I would expect to see similar results through the rest of this winter's fishery (for about another month or so), then we will get into our "springtime" Chinook fishery off South Bowen. Hopefully we will see some decent fishing in this area during April. Back in the 90's when this fishery was very strong, it followed a strong winter fishery, so my fingers are crossed that this winter's strong fishery will translate into good fishing off Bowen in April.

By late April we will begin to see good numbers of Chinook starting to show up around Porlier Pass again, and Thrasher Rock should get hot during the last few days of April and/or by May 1st as it does every year. The Lingcod season also opens on May 1st in the Gulf Islands, so that is the time to start travelling over to there on a regular basis when weather allows. Remember, trips over there require a minimum 8 hours. This is also the time of year that I begin to get booked up, so if you are thinking of doing one of these trips it is always a good idea to start looking at dates. For trips booked specifically to fish over at the Gulf Islands we do need relatively calm water, so postponing your trip if it is too rough is something that we may have to do.

At present, Prawns remain closed in Area 28 (Howe Sound....my usual prawn fishing location), but they will open up on April 1st. In the meantime, I have set my traps out in Area 29 on occasion, and we have done OK, though I don't leave them there overnight, so catches are definitely less than they would be with the longer soak.





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