We’ve been a little delinquent in filing- up- to- the- charter reports as we have been undergoing important preparations for the upcoming season which is now….HERE!

First off…let’s talk about this weather…we have been having a great February in Vancouver…the temperatures have been unseasonably mild, relatively dry, and not too windy! LOVE IT! Overall, there have been absolutely NO COMPLAINTS about the weather.

As for the Vancouver Salmon Fishing…. Chinook fishing has ranged from GOOD to EXCELLENT over the past week as several Chinook ranging from 7 to 15 pounds have been hitting our cleaning table and most charters are hitting a couple of ”legal” fish. However, over the past 4 days there have been a few trips where our guides are having success in hitting MULTIPLE NICE CHINOOK on each boat. Today, OAC Guide Andrew hit 7 Chinook Salmon of which they boated all of them. Unforunately, all were under the 24.5″ legal limit but they were scrappy fish.  The other day two charters departed from our docks and hit 5 legal Chinook each!  As for getting them in the boat, pesky seals have taken a few off our anglers and let’s just say that if this happens to you….well….there’s little we can do. But, it makes for a great story.

We’re finding fish close to Vancouver as well as in the lower portion of Howe Sound. Fishing bottom structure is KEY right now.

Last weekend Ocean Adventure Center Head Guide Andrew and Operations Manager Captain Preston headed out on the Seastar for an exploratory jaunt in open water to fish some current structure and in search of some large bait concentrations. It’s definitely early for fishing this area…..but never being the one to be “satisfied” with the usual…., Guide Andrew (the author of this report) decided he’d keep stacking rods on downriggers until he ran out of rods… and suddenly there were 8 rods out fishing all depths between 45 and 175 feet. Hey…what can I say…I was kinda bored! If I had more on board..I would have put them out too!  While we didn’t find any Chinook that day on the “3 hour troll”, we can tell you that any Chinook that was in sight of the gear would have hit it. I can’t wait for our open water fisheries to start…..bring it ON….I know we’ll be pulling fish as fast and furious as they want to hit the gear.  

CRABBING: Remains ABSOLUTELY FANASTIC for large Dungeness Crab. Guide Andrew had his guests out on the Seastar today and his guests kept 12 large Dungeness  from just 2 traps! If anyone wants to go on a Crab Feast, book one of these with us, and WE WILL GUARANTEE YOU CRABS. Crabbing is now ULTRA CONSISTENT. Just to give you an idea about the value of large Dungeness……a large live Dungeness retails at the market for about $20 per crab. YOU do the math! We drop Crab Traps on all Salmon Charters…and Harbour Cruises too! Crab Dinner anyone?

PRAWNING: IS VERY GOOD. We offer Prawning on our 8 hour fishing trips. Just one of these tasty morsels retails for about $1 each. The ones you buy in the market are not fresh, as fresh commercially caught Spot Prawns are not available until Summer. On a decent soak, we are finding that we are averaging as many as 100 per trap. So….you do the math again….

If you would like a SEAFOOD PARTY EXTRAVANGA of Chinook Salmon , Dungeness Crab and Pacific Spot Prawns to eat for dinner when you get home from our charter, book an 8 or 10 hour trip with us on the Seastar, the most comfortable fishing boat in Vancouver and let’s get cooking!

Until next time, standing ready…

OAC Head Guide Andrew.

The start of several hundred prawns and Dungeness Crab!

It’s time for an end-of-the-month fishing update! January 2012 has been an typical month for fishing in the Vancouver area. However, relatively speaking, us fishers haven’t been on the water much. This is because we’ve had a series of harsh weather systems which have now, thankfully, abated. The month started out windy and wet….and then it went into a cold snap with some chilly sub zero weather. Then we had about a week straight with wind, wind, and more wind!  Now we’re into fairly mild weather with daytime highs up to the 10 degrees Celcius mark. Yahoo! As I type this, the Krokuses and bulbs are now peeking out of the soil, the buds are ripening, as the trees are starting to come back to life…and you know what that means….our WEST COAST SPRING is coming soon!

Since our last report several nice quality fish have been hooked and landed in the Vancouver area. We’ve seen fish ranging in size from 8 to 17 pounds and the high mark this winter has been a 22 pounder taken by a very lucky angler about a 15 mile run from our docks. These fish are being taken anywhere from 2 to 15 miles from our dock locations and it’s just a question of going to where the fish are depending on how long you want to fish and how much adventure you want to experience! The fishery will only get better from here on in, there are more hours of daylight..and those salmon better be afraid….be very afraid…because we’re coming to get them!

Yesterday, we had guests out on a prawning and crab fishing expedition while we went for a scenic tour of Howe Sound. We let the traps soak for 3 hours while we trolled a few lines on an exploratory fishery. We weren’t actually trying to catch salmon…rather we just wanted to wait a little for the traps to fill up and we wanted to take a little shelter from a sharp wind which was funnelling up the sound. Imagine that…not actually trying to catch salmon…let’s just say it has been a long time since I did that!  So…with that we headed back to pick up the Prawn and Crab Traps to see what was for dinner and we pulled an awesome feast of several hundred prawns. We had a few stowaways… this is what we else we found from the Octopus’ Garden:

Caught then Released: A small Pacific Octopus stowed away in our Prawn Trap! We let this cool little guy go! He'll be a giant one day!

Another unusual Stowaway in our Prawn Traps: A Box Crab. Released Unharmed! These Crabs grow to be HUGE!

15 BIG Dungeness Crabs: Dinner is Served! Dinner for all on board!

Why is Neil smiling? He knows he's having Spot Prawns for Dinner!

 
Needless to say, big smiles from happy guests and full bellies made for a great day!

The Ocean Adventure Center provides guests the ultimate winter and spring fishing experience! The Seastar, our 38′ Uniflite, has a fully heated and enclosed cabin which more than takes the edge off the brisk winter weather.

If you would like more information on an early season fishing adventure, give us a call! See you soon!

Yesterday, January 5, OAC Guide Jason A. lost a real beauty in the 12-13 pound range right behind the boat and another angler in the same area had his prized salmon lunched on by a pesky harbour seal and Guide Dave K. hit a few undersize Chinook Salmon as well.

A few days prior Guide Jason T. was out on the water and found some undersize salmon close to home.

By all accounts, there is plenty of herring around and the fish are definitely hungry. It’s just a question of coming across the larger sized fish which you can land and take home.

Reviewing my fishing diary and log books, NOW is the time when fishing picks up considerably and you can have some fantastic days on the water. I would most definitely recommend that you consider going out on a fishing charter from this point on in January and February as the fishery will continue to build. We’re available on relatively short notice and I would definitely recommend getting out on the water and making your own fishing report instead of “waiting for the hot report” as oftentimes when you’re planning your trip, you really should be on the water. Fishing is like that sometimes!

So far, we’ve had some relatively warm weather this January and it makes for relatively comfortable trolling.

We’re hitting fish on a variety of gear but hoochies and spoons are the mainstay of our trolling gear.

Let’s go fishing!

Standing by,

Andrew
OAC Head Guide.

We have found and had reports of better quality sized fish in the lower-western portion of Howe Sound since our last report. Most of these fish are still well under the 24.5 inch legal size limit and must be released. If you are lucky, you may find areas where larger sized, legal salmon are in concentration on a longer charter. We recommend a longer trip to fish the lower-western portion of Howe Sound.

Crabbing remains fair at this time with only 1-2 legal sized crabs in each trap.

Prawning is fair as well with certain spots producing well.

Outlook for the next 2-3 weeks: We expect fishing to improve considerably in the Vancouver area during this time as larger fish move into the area chasing the increasing baitfish concentrations in the Vancouver area caused by the highest tides and relatively small ebb tides.

If you are interested in trying your luck over the next couple of weeks, we have a couple of trips booked and have some great tides available for fishing!

If you would like further information, give us a call !

Tight lines!

I got out this morning for the high slack and the weather was quite mild (about 8 degrees Celcius) and the water was flat calm. I joined a few other boats who had already zoned in on the preferred area. I was unsuccessful at putting any fish in the box. I was “skunked”. Well, you can’t blame me for trying! Sometimes hot, sometimes not. Word from the other boats was that it wasn’t like the fish were jumping in the boat.

As expected, fishing for winter chinook has not been consistent this winter and it has been slow for keeper sized fish. We’ve been in contact with all the guides around the Vancouver area and the consensus is that it has been a typical winter fishery so far. Translation: Slow. Like previous years, the fishing is just getting going.  

While I had the good fortune of fishing with my colleague the other day and the “bite” was on, it’s more “off” than “on” in recent weeks. I have fished most of the areas and there aren’t a lot of legal sized fish around right close to Vancouver. If the fish are there at this time of year, chances are, you’re going to catch them.   Now that we’re into the back half of December, we expect fishing to build moving forward and we’ll continue to fish a wide variety of winter Chinook salmon haunts seeking these fish out.

Give us a call if you’d like to try your hand at a day’s fishing!

Conservation Tip: For the local fishers reading this report: if you’re hooking small fish, pick up your gear, move and avoid that area and/or use larger lures to avoid hooking the little ones. Hook wounds can be very detrimental to an undersized salmon’s survival and the large fish generally aren’t in with the nursery of small ones.  Small spoons in glow with greens and blues and even the odd small anchovy or herring are the producers at this time of year. Fish deep with 30 feet of the bottom for best results.

Until next time, best fishes and Season’s Greetings!

A.

NO MATTER WHAT THE OCCASION, FISHING IS A GREAT GIFT!

A fishing trip is definitely a memorable and rewarding experience. It’s not just “another gift”; a Vancouver Fishing Charter is a special, thoughtful and creative way to express yourself.

Purchase any future dated fishing gift certificate from us for a 2012 Vancouver Salmon Charter and receive 10% off the regular value of the charter!

Birthdays, Parties, Christmas, Reunions, whichever the occasion, FISHING is a GREAT GIFT!

Call Andrew at 604 803 8593 or Preston @ 604 240 2474

Yes, we’re on Facebook (Ocean Adventure Center) and Twitter (@VancouverFishin).

Over the last few days fishing has been slow as La Nina has brought very cold waters to the surrounding Vancouver area. Salmon typically like somewhat warmer waters to be “in the bite zone”.  We have also had a full moon and clear overnight skies and this typically puts winter Chinook “off the bite”.  However, good amounts of baitfish now abound in Vancouver area waters and this bodes well for when the Chinook do migrate into the area.

Stay tuned for more reports as they come available!

You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Twitter: @VancouverFishin

Ocean Adventure Center

Promote Your Page Too

A big hello to all of our fishing report regulars! If you’re just stopping in, be sure to bookmark this page and check back regularly to follow our reports and developing fisheries throughout the year.

One word we use to describe fishing at this time of year is “OFF SEASON”. It’s definitely the off season. Make no mistake, it’s “chilly”, sometimes “wet” and a winter breeze can make you shiver. From about Mid October to early December, for whatever the reason, Vancouver fishing seems to “take a breather” and the slowest fishing of the year (for legal size fish approximately 8 lbs and up) occurs in Vancouver waters. Since our last report, we have been on the water on a few occasions and we’ve had nothing but Dungeness Crab and Spot Prawns to put on the cleaning table. Legal size fish have eluded us.

Most of the “action” includes scrappy “undersize” winter Chinook in the 17-20 inch range (legal is 24.5 inches). Guides and Anglers are having success hooking these fish in the southern part of Howe Sound. This is a long distance to run from Vancouver harbour (15 miles) and thus a longer trip is required. Call us for details on this EXTRA SPECIAL winter promotion we have on right now!  On these longer trips, we will drop Prawn Traps and Crab Traps and hopefully at the least you’ll head home with seafood dinner! In addition, it is not underheard of that Anglers who do “try their luck” can have a “hot day of fishing” when other trips haven’t been productive. You never know.

December Outlook

Starting at the End of the first week of December you have to be prepared for just about anything in the waters around Vancouver. The Vancouver area experiences the highest tides of the year and typically large amounts of baitfish start to abound in local waters. This creates very favorable conditions and gives Chinook reason to stay and feed. As with all our charters in winter, spring and early summer, we drop Crab Traps. In December, we’ll do a few charters and try to focus our efforts on lower Howe Sound on 8 hour days. High pressure weather systems seem to produce well during this time and offer some of the better fishing days.

We have the Seastar fully outfitted and waiting! The SEASTAR offers YOU the best winter fishing experience in Vancouver. She’s warm, comfortable and fishy…and great for relaxing during a day on the water!

From December 15 to December 31 we typically have a few bookings…primarily during the weekends and during the holidays as a few people need a “fishing fix” and families come together and choose to spend a day together on the water. The BEST bet is to start thinking about the day you may want to go and stake your claim on it by calling well ahead to avoid the disappointment if we are unavailable on that day.

Stay tuned for a follow up post in the coming days with a list of suggested dates and charter durations which should provide you a greater chance of hooking a prized Chinook Salmon!

Until next time, enjoy this picture of yours truly with a nice Vancouver winter Chinook caught in lower Howe Sound!  

Tight lines!

Andrew, OAC Head Guide

17 pounds of prime Vancouver Chinook Salmon

Unquestionably, it’s November.  There’s a crispness to the air, and a sharpness to the wind. When the sun is out, it’s quite nice, however, when it’s cloudy, who cares?! The anticipation of a strike makes all seem so trivial! We have not been on the water much since our last report as many of the fishing fanatics opt to take a break from the action.  When it comes to legal sized fish, these are generally few and far in between at this time of year. However, every now and then someone gets out at this time of year and has a real eye opener of a fishing trip and comes back to the dock with 3 to 4 nice Chinook Salmon in the 10 to 15 pound range!

English Bay/Vancouver Harbour: We haven’t had any real success in this area recently. The area seems devoid of any bait concentrations and as a result this area is not holding fish YET. It will take a little time for this fishery to develop.

Lower Howe Sound/Backside of Bowen (8 hour trip required) : Some days active/some not. This is an area which offers hot ‘n cold fishing. If this area has bait, then look out, it can offer some decent action!

Gulf Islands (minimum 8 hour trip required) : So far there have been consistent reports of action  by a couple of our boats and our associates boats. Most have been undersized fish in the 18 to 24 inch range and if you “weed through them” so to speak, you may find a few keepers in the mix. Due to limited fishing effort in this area and the majority of people being “fair weather fishers” in open boats and consequently a resulting “low effort” coefficient;  there is no way to get an ultra accurate read on just how productive the fishing is at this time of year.  We know that for guests who have opted to head over that they have hit between 8 and 15 fish per trip. All have been undersize, however, we do know that one of the boats managed to find 3 nice fish in the 10-12 pound range on one trip. This area seems to be holding a lot of bait and consequently there is salmon around to feed on them!

Crabbing: We have had excellent results in our traps recently however most are “just shy” of the legal mark. One pot we did put down had 6 nice large Dungeness though. That’s a nice feed of crabs!

Prawning: Prawning has been reasonably productive at so far this fall and we’re averaging about 100 medium spot prawns per trap on a good soak. These tasty guys average about $1 each at the local market and there’s nothing comparable to fresh, never frozen spot prawns!

Give us a call and book an 8 or 10 hour day with us on our Winter Salmon fishing machine–the Seastar! She has a fully enclosed and heated cabin, a fridge, a microwave and amenties to make your Winter Fishing Adventure comfortable. The coffee is always on! We have an EXTRA SPECIAL winter rate available for our 5, 8 and 10 hour trips on the Seastar this winter. The rates are SO GOOD that we don’t post them out of respect for our competitors so you’ll just have to call us at (604) 240 3474!