Our good friend Kyle "Samsquanch" Milburn with the first Chinook Salmon of 2008
BON CHOVY FISHING CHARTERS VANCOUVER BC FISHING
Now that 2008 is almost all wrapped up, we thought we would take some time to summarize the year that was in in the local Vancouver saltchuck. This year we definately had some stretches of great fishing!
WINTER 2008
Winter chinook salmon fishing in Vancouver is typically one the most consistent salmon fisheries available in local waters This year was no exception. January and February 2008 were very consistent with good numbers of winter chinook salmon caught minutes from our dock location at the Westin Bayshore in downtown Vancouver. The winter chinook salmon that we were hitting were primarily in the 8-13 pound range with the odd bigger one thrown in the mix. I saw a mid-20’s fish picked up right beside me in early February off of Ambelside. Last winter in January and February we were often hooking 7-10 fish a charter. There was lots of bait kicking around English Bay last winter and it definately held the winter chinook. We fished West Van and the inner harbour tacs and hit fish on every trip we did in January and February. Fishing tapered off in early March and we had a month of tough fishing into early April. We primarily ran an assortment of coyote spoons over the winter last year fairly close to the bottom. We can only hope that the fishing this winter is as good as it was last year.
SPRING 2008
The first few weeks of Spring were extremely challenging for us in Vancouver Harbour. The bait moved off and so did the fish. It was not till the 2nd week of April that we started seeing some signs of life. By mid-April the south side of Bowen and the outer reaches of Vancouver Harbour were fishing well. On April 26 there was one of the best bites of the spring a little north of the QA marker. Quite a few boats hooked between 10-15 chinook salmon in the 10-20 pound range in a very short period of time. It was common to see a handful of boats hooked up at one time. The fishing continued to be quite good til the 3rd week of May. After that there were a few good pushes of fish but it was a little more hit and miss. Starting in May we typically start fishing the Gulf Islands as much as we can. From May through August fishing can be very consistent around the reefs of Gabriola Island especially. The spring of 2008 was a little more inconsistent over on the Gulf Islands than usual. We did have a few good days, but we also had a few real stinkers. The bait did not seem to hold over there as much last spring. Gabriola Island is only a 26 mile, 1 hour run in one of our Grady White’s, a little longer on our 38′ Uniflite, “The Seastar”. We did quite a few overnight charters this year to Gabriola Island where our guests would fish two full days and spend the night in a rustic waterfront cabin. It is a very afforadable option for a great fishing trip departing downtown Vancouver.
- YOUNG JAXON WITH A BEAUTY FROM THE HARBOUR IN AUG 2008
SUMMER 2008
Fishing in local Vancouver waters started off fairly slow last summer. The coho fishery that usually gets going in early July did not seem to materialize this past summer. So instead of spending our time fishing West Van in July we travelled a little further to find some salmon. Hole in the Wall, the QA, the Gulf Islands, and Vancouver Harbour all had a few chinooks to be caught. Nothing to spectacular though. This years coho run looks much better based on the number of Jacks the hatchery has seen over the last couple years. Fishing for chinooks really picked up during the first part of August. On August 10th there was a great bite off the Bell Buoy. A few boats hooked 8- 10 big chinook that morning. We landed our biggest fish of the year on BON CHOVY that morning. The 36.5 pound monster chinook was landed by a very happy 13 year old. Throughout August and early September waves of big chinook rolled into local waters providing consistent fishing on big fish. Aug 17th and 18th were great days as well. We had 7 big chinook back to the dock on the 17th from the Seastar and Bon Chovy. On Aug 18th, Bon Chovy landed 5 big chinook on the morning charter. . We shifted our focus to the Capilano Mouth in September. We had some really good days on 12-20 pound chinook through out September. We are looking forward to next year with continued good runs of Fraser and Capilano bound chinook as well as a promising forecast for local Capilano coho and of course the millions of pink salmon that will make their way back to the Fraser!! This year we should also see results from the hard work that the local guides association (BCSFGA) and the Capilano Hatchery have put in with the chinook net pens off West Vancouver.
Fall 2008
Late September through mid October are usually prime time for chinooks returning to the Capilano River. This year was a little bit different as there was a good push of fish early, but it seemed like the later component of the run did not show up like usual. By the 1stof October the fishery was basically over. We picked up the odd fish throughout the month, but they were mostly early winter chinook.(bonus!!) November was a tough month as well. We picked up a couple nice fish in Tunstall Bay but that was about it. So far the winter chinook season has started off a little slower than last year. The good news is the reports from Victoria and up towards Campbell River are really good so it should be a matter of time before they roll in towards Vancouver. We havr seen some better results over the last few days so it looks like things are pointing in the right direction for winter chinook this month!
PLEASE STAYED TUNED TO OUR NEW BLOG AS WE ARE GOING TO UPDATE IT WITH REPORTS, PICTURES, AND LOCAL FISHING NEWS!
A NICE CHINOOK TAKEN ON THE SEASTAR!!
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