As the salmon finish up spawning in the local rivers, us steelheaders are patiently awaiting for another river fishing season… Winter Steelhead. We should be swinging into our first winter run steelhead sometime near the end of Movember (if your lucky) but more likely in December.
We will be bouncing around floating and hiking a few systems which hold earlier runs of fish (Nov-Feb). As the season progress’s we will be moving around to a few systems which start producing chromers in early Febuary and tail off in April. So if you are looking to book a trip in “prime time” it really depends on how you prefer fish. Since there is a variety of rivers which will be holding winter steel, we put together our trips to suit your needs. We recommend booking mid Dec to April so there is no disappointments.
On Vancouver Island we’re blessed with mild winters and we see much more rain than we do cold temperatures or snow. Water levels are higher than fall flows and can be unstable when hit with large amounts of rain. We do have smaller rivers which come up and drop fast and larger rivers which take time to swell and slow to drain. Unfortunately there is no cfm meter’s in this remote area so local knowledge will definetly benefit an angler in all water situations. Depending on what style you prefer to fish there is a river that will fit your needs. Don`t hold out on what could be your trip of a lifetime!
We are finishing our last couple weeks of charters for the 2011 ocean fishing season. I would like to thank everyone who helped make the the 2011 season a huge success. Great runs of fish, calm seas, healthy halibut numbers and strong arms contributed to another great year, and a “Skunk Free!” season.
Here are a few happy fisherman and fisherchick pictures from this season…
Our runs of Chinook salmon have been very consistent over the years, producing a few fish in the 60 lb range and dozens in the 50’s to a few lucky anglers every season. Halibut can be caught both in-shore and off shore. Your catch can be quite impressive. Bring some strong arms for the halibut and a little finesse for the salmon. We’ll take care of the rest…
We’re into July and the salmon fishing has been consistently producing smiles. Hard hitting slabs are making these Islander reels scream so loud the boat beside you knows that it’s not a coho your playing.
There is no shortage of halibut either. They have been hungry and sometimes easy to find more than a couple off one “hump”. Between jigging Pacific Eagle jigs or fishing spreader bars with bait, one is sure to produce an arm burning sensation called a halibut.
Here’s a few pics of the last few charters…
You will find me at the Filomi Days Fishing Derby in Port Hardy this weekend. We took first place last year with the largest Chinook salmon of the weekend long derby. I’d sure like to win it two years in a row! Ya just never know…
This is one way to catch halibut on Vancouver Island. Jigging works, but so does trolling and anchoring! Be sure to book your halibut fishing trip before the coast wide closure. Halibut will be closed either July 15th, August 1st or August 15th. Make sure your freezer if full before these dates.
We are into June and since it’s early in the season we have only bigger and better things to look forward too! There has been a few fish in the 30 lb range (and now one in the 40’s) which have been brought to the cleaning station.
Hardy Bouys is open for custom processing so your catch can be custom smoked, flash frozen and vacuum packed for world wide transportation. They do a great Indian candy.
The Vancouver Island fishing charter season is upon us and there is now fish being caught on both the inshore and offshore fishing tacks. Here are a few more smiles from the month of May.
