Now…as for fishing CLOSE TO HOME….our half day and 8 hour fishing trips have been for the most part, successful at locating Chinook Salmon in the 11 to 17 pound range. Today, one of the OAC boats hit a triple header but failed to convert on landing any of them. However, redemption came on the 4 th bite and they landed a bright chrome 13 pound Chinook! Nice Work! Captain Eddie dropped onto an 11 and 14 pound Chinooks around the corner yesterday on a hot tip from one the local pros! Thanks JB!  In the offshore waters about 10 miles from our dock location a few nice Chinooks were boated by enthusiastic anglers as well. So…there you have it…there are opportunities EVERYWHERE. Right now, the best bet fishing charter remains an 8 hour charter.

Our crab traps have been loaded with LARGE DUNGENESS CRAB. When it comes to crabbing, this is the BEST crabbing of the year and you “can’t go wrong”. Yesterday the SEASTAR brought back a ridiculous number of extra large dungeness enough to fill anyone’s crab appetite! We drop crab traps on all our charters from now until mid-June.

So, if you’re coming to town, or in town looking for an adventure, call Preston at (604) 240 3474 and stake your claim on a crab feast and a salmon fishing adventure Ocean Adventure Center style! The weekends always fill up first..and we still have some availability!

Tight lines and Great Eating!

Capt. Andrew, Head Guide and Marketing Director

We have some...ahem...stowaways! Put 'em on ice!

Over the past few days we have been on the water lots and fishing has been ON FIRE on our GULF ISLANDS CHARTERS! Give us a call to stake your claim on a full day trip to the GULF ISLANDS!

Fishing close to home has not yielded similar results as the Fraser River is in full freshet. The largest fish closest to home this past weekend was a 29 lb Chinook taken in waters near to Vancouver. A minimum 8 hour charter is highly recommended for the best results so we can run the distance to the preferred offshore areas which are producing the best results.  This area is approximately a 13 to 15 mile run from Vancouver so we must invest time into running to this best area. The BEST option remains to make a full day of it and fish the GULF ISLANDS on a 10 hour charter. On the Seastar, we will stretch the trip to 11 plus hours…..call us for details!

This past weekend we landed Chinook Salmon ranging in size from 11 to 21 pounds and the SEASTAR returned to the dock on Saturday after a leisurely day of fishing with 15 SILVER BRIGHT CHROME Chinook in the cooler! Not withstanding that STELLAR result, we had many many more opportunities at fish but were unsuccessful at landing a LARGE NUMBER of fish on our Gulf Islands trips. These salmon were hungry, extremely energetic and FULL of FIGHT! WOW! Can you tell we’re excited?!

Our Sunday half day charters were not productive for salmon but did result in Dungeness Crab “all you can eat” feeds for our guests. This confirms that the fish are in offshore Vancouver waters requiring a longer charter. THE TIME IS NOW to book your GULF ISLANDS Adventure! We have boats from 23.5′ to 38′ ready, willing and available to take you to the BEST fishing of the year.

Guess I have some cleaning to do! Fishing in Vancouver

Prawning in Vancouver! Yummy!

Line 'em up! Wait! FISH ON!!!! We missed a BIG fish for this pic! LOL

Some very lucky anglers! Right on fellas! BIG CHINOOK BIG SMILES!

A TRIPLE HEADER! RED HOT FISHING in the GULF ISLANDS!

April 29: An absolutely smokin' day of fishing!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

It has a been a “ho hum” month of fishing…that phrase characterizes fishing in vancouver for April 2012…until today!  Earlier in the month I reported that “any day now” the fishing was going to turn on in a major way. Well….I was, I admit it, WRONG about the surrounding waters close to Vancouver…..UNTIL TODAY!  Let’s wait a few moments before I get to the REALLY GOOD STUFF.

So…a quick recap:

April 2012: Cooler than normal average temperatures with an unsettled typical rainfall and overcast days. Despite the lack of sunshine poking through the clouds, a massive and dense algae bloom has taken over the entire Southern Strait of Georgia. In addition, the Fraser River has started it’s massive freshet outpour in the Gulf. This has made for tough fishing conditions as visibility has been drastically cut down. Earlier in the month an average of 50% of our charters landed legal sized “it’s a keeper” Chinook Salmon. Over the last week that percentage dropped to just 25%. NOT GOOD! However, the good news is that we’re finding localized concentrations of fish in open waters over the last couple of days and if you’re successful in getting on them, you will catch fish.

Ok…now for the GOOD stuff. Fishing has picked up in a MAJOR way over the last 2 days and it’s now time to GO FISHING. One of our GUIDES lovingly called the “Rock Star” Guide made a seldom seen appearance on the Ocean Adventure Center docks today and gave all of us a high energy show because he smacked ‘em hard today. Please see the pictures below…and give us a call for more details..and let’s get ‘em!!!!

April 29 2012: One boat, 4 anglers, 1 ROCKSTAR GUIDE.

Outlook for May 2012: Stay Tuned! The FUTURE looks very bright indeed!!!! See below for some more cool photos we snapped on one of our harbour cruises on Saturday!

Deadliest Catch on the Seastar! Crab Dinner!

Look at what we snapped while on a harbour cruise!

The phone has been ringing a lot recently and as is the same story each year, the most popular days of the week are… Saturday and Sunday regardless of the month!  If you’re interested in going fishing this summer and have the “itch” to go fishing or cruising or whatever your pleasure…give us a call! We still have some availability near the end of the month for the Seastar. We still have some availability left in April on our Grady White fleet…..so give us a call if you would like to try your luck at a Vancouver Salmon Fishing Experience! Our boats are ready and waiting for you.  For more details, give us a call and reserve your boat today!

Chinook fishing since our last report can honestly and only be characterized as FAIR. What that means is that, if you’re in the right place at the right time,  you will be rewarded with a nice quality fish or 2 or 3! However, big ebb tides (putting fish off the bite and moving them around) and a dense algae bloom (cutting down on visibility) are definitely hampering our productivity on charters. We have been unsuccessful in putting a fish on the cleaning table on some of our recent trips.  Reports by our associates and personal conversations I have had with the other top guides in the Vancouver area indicate that many are coming back empty handed on some trips over the last couple of weeks. This is not because of lack of effort or trying! As usual, this year has been no exception and we are finding the larger concentrations of fish in offshore Vancouver waters.

The size of fish landed over the last few days ranges from 8 pounds up to 20 pounds being the largest and there have been a few days where we put some beautiful silver bars on the table!

The weather has warmed considerably since our last report and we recommend all our guests bring along their sunglasses and sunscreen as some of our guides already look like they have been to Hawaii on an extended vacation!

We still have some availability from now through to the end of April. If you would like some more information, please give us a call and we’ll be pleased to recommend a fishing charter which meets your needs!

Tight lines!

Just a quick note to update that a fellow Vancouver Pro Guide was out on the water today and boated a 16.5 and 21.5 pound Chinooks in the South Bowen area….approximately a 14 mile run from our downtown Vancouver area. Just like I said folks…THEY’RE HERE!

We’re out on the water the next few days and I’ll post a report of the results on a more frequent basis. At that time, I’ll also post what dates are booked. Sunny skies, warm weather and calm seas are forecast for this weekend…….TIME TO GO FISHING! The Seastar is booked this Sunday…but we do have Saturday still open at this time.

If you have any questions, please give us a call!

Tight lines!

A.

IT’S APRIL for the locals, you know what that means..it’s time to go FISHING! APRIL is the start of our South Bowen Island Fishery which is ideally fished on an 8 hour trip. The KEY to fishing this area is TIME AND EFFORT. This is a large area of open water where we focus on covering territory and “reading the water”. We have taken and hooked Chinook up to 25 pounds in this area each April over the last few years. Most of the fish in this area are from 12 to 14 pounds. In late April, there will be many days where it is not uncommon to hook up to a dozen nice legal Chinook Salmon!….SOOOO…with that said…we’re going to launch our APRIL PROMOTION. LADIES and GENTS….without further suspense….here it is:

APRIL SPECIAL: FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER…WE ARE OFFERING AN APRIL FISHING SPECIAL on the SEASTAR.

—–> FROM NOW UNTIL APRIL 30 2012<—–

8 HOUR SOUTH BOWEN SALMON FISHING TRIP INCLUDES CRABBING AND PRAWNING FOR $1200!!! FOR YOU AND up to 11 of your Friends! THE SOUTH BOWEN CHINOOK FISHERY IS NOW ON and it’s time to get out and fish it! We are fishing for Chinook Salmon averaging from 10 to 14 pounds in size. THERE IS THE ODD 20 pounder in the mix! SEVERAL SALMON in the have already been caught in this area! CRABBING FOR LARGE DUNGENESS IS A NO BRAINER and PRAWNING IS CURRENTLY VERY GOOD! CALL US AT 604- 240-3474 to book! THIS IS GOING TO BE A HOT PROMOTION!

ALSO: UNTIL APRIL 30! WE ARE OFFERING A 3 HOUR HARBOUR CRUISE for up to 12 people on the SEASTAR for $400!!! YES! YOU READ THAT RIGHT! A 3 HOUR HARBOUR CRUISE ON THE SEASTAR FOR $400. GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER THAT’S LESS THAN $40 per person for a 3 hour Harbour Cruise on the SEASTAR! We depart at 4:30 or 5 pm each day! LADIES AND GENTS..YOU WON’T FIND A BETTER PRIVATE HARBOUR CRUISE DEAL IN VANCOUVER DURING THIS TIME! LIMITED AVAILABILITY>>>CALL 604 240 3474 to BOOK!

PRIME DATES AND TIMES WILL FILL UP. WE WILL HOLD DATES for a short time. FIRST COME FIRST SERVED. THE BEST TIMES WILL GO FAST.

Until next time, stay tuned and we’ll post pictures of our April SOUTH BOWEN SPRING CHINOOK FISHERY!

Got to go, I’ve got hooks to snell, leaders to tie, and preparation to do!

Tight Lines until next report!

Andrew, OAC HEAD GUIDE.

Outlook: With the onset of daylight savings time, we are fortunate that we have more hours to fish. This bodes well for you our guests. With the onset of spring, the tides are getting larger and this is definitely transitioning the fishery from a technical structure fishery to an open water based fishery. As a result, over the next 3 weeks, all of our charters from 5.5 to 10 hours will offer reasonable opportunities to catch fish. A key success factor during this time will be to book your charter around the slack tides and tide changes. Thus, it is highly advisable to have a little flexibility when scheduling your charter for the optimum chance of success. Of course, a longer charter is always a good idea, however, a good tide can do wonders for productivity. Until next time, here are a few pictures of our recent trips since our last report. Give us a call at (604) 240 3474  or (604) 803 8593 to inquire abour your fishing adventure! Tight Lines!

March 17: A new angler establishes a new personal best!

What tasty morsels these nice Pacific Spot Prawns be!

Yep...that's right...24 LARGE Dungeness Crab!

We're off to chase the bite...SEE YA!!!

If you have any questions at all about any of our fishing adventures, please call us at (604) 240 3474 or (604) 803 8593. We have just 2 days left in our popular March fishing special. Book by March 10 and get our $1200 special until March 31!

We’ll have our next report up as soon as we have a change in the fishery…which should be soon as the full moon was yesterday and that has put a blanket on the productivity we were enjoying.  

Until next time….keep your tip up and line tight!

A fabulous Spring day! March 9 2012. Gabriola and Valdez Island in the background.

A South Bowen Troll: Infamous Cowan Point

LOVE the clear and calm water! What a nice troll!

Vancouver, English Bay, Point Grey and UBC

The southern end of Howe Sound. Spring is here!

Crabbing: Our Crab Pots are producing an exceptional quality and quantity of large Dungeness Crab. On one trip recently we limited out 6 Anglers on Large Dungeness without much effort. Imagine that….a crab haul worth $300 at the local market! If you want a crab feast which is a nice bonus to your fishing adventure, this crab fishery will continue until early June!

Prawning: Again, not much has changed here either. Depending on the day, we’re finding that most of our Anglers are leaving our 8 hour and longer fishing trips with 100 or more prawns on the average.

Outlook for the next few weeks: The weather continues to improve and Vancouver spring like weather is now upon us. That means milder temperatures and showery weather with sunny breaks. Winds will be generally calm and make for pleasant trolling. With the onset of Spring, our ebb tides are getting larger and this will push fish off structure into open water and this will cause the fish to move around considerably so we’ll adjust our tactics to target fish in these fishing situations. That means I’ll be stacking more lines on the downriggers and putting “meat” into the water…and no..I’m not talking about chumming! As we get towards the end of the month, when fishing deeper waters, anglers on our charters should be ready for the possibility of larger fish into the low twenty pound range hitting our gear. My logs tell an interesting tale in this regards. I have a few fond memories of returning to the dock at this time of year with a couple of “slabs” and being accused of having bought those fish! At present time a 5.5 hour charter offers good fishing opportunities through to the end of the month. As we progress into April, I would HIGHLY recommend an 8 hour charter when we can seek the migrating and moving fish in offshore waters. Our $1200 8 hour special on the Seastar is almost over and we do have a couple of dates still open! 

When something changes in this regards, I’ll post a new report and be more diligent in taking and posting pictures of our charters results. Stay tuned and bookmark our reports page!

Here’s a pic of some “Chinook” Spring Salmon caught in Vancouver waters!

Brilliant examples of Spring Salmon!