Fishing for Winter Chinook

The last two posts have been on the central role that structure plays in fishing for winter chinook. Now, let’s assume you are fishing, trolling with the current to find the fish. Typically, winter fish are keeping close to bait, the mid-water herring, and bottom-dwelling sandlance. Both will read on your depth sounder, so finding them quickly is the issue, then staying with them.

You fish with the tide to cover territory fast, expecting bait in back eddies and on the bottom. Herring will be moved as the tide progresses, so they are not always in back eddies for the whole tide. Similarly, when they stage in advance of spawning, they will be close to that spot, ripening. An example close by is in front of the Inner Harbour on the Victoria waterfront. These herring will spawn in the Gorge and so they are found in front of the Ogden Point breakwater, awaiting the signal to move forward.

The bait schools here in January and February and moves forward most often in March. People then catch them for food and bait off the Tillicum Bridge in town. Near the Breakwater, the pass is the 80-foot mark and into the Harbour to 60, where you turn and head to Macaulay Point on the Esquimalt shore, or simply back from the direction you came into the harbour. The herring tend to move on- and off-shore, and you may find them suspended in water up to 200 feet. Having said that, I have taken many fish on the 113-foot bottom in front of the Breakwater.

In deeper water, you will be fishing mid-water, say 140- to 180-feet on the downrigger; this pass along the waterfront is thus less related to structure and more to location of the chinook. Do both the 110-foot bottom pass and deeper water in the same morning. And remember to keep your binoculars out. When you see a boat that looks like they have a fish on, take a closer look. 

If the boat lands a fish, consider moving to fishing that depth. Once the fish is on the surface, binoculars are useful for figuring out what the successful fisher is using. A flasher usually indicates that the boat is using bait or hootchies. If there is no flasher, the likely lure is spoons, and less often bait. As we seldom use plugs anymore, this is a third but distant possibility. 

Because the water is clearer in winter, and winter chinook are more apt to chase at speed than in the summer, and as it is nicer to fish without flasher shear, not using a flasher comes into play more than other times of year. You are also fishing faster, which allows you to cover more territory in the same amount of time, then circle the hot spot, once you connect.

We now have a plethora of choices in quality spoons. In the past, Krippled Ks ruled the sport fishing scene – Clendan Stewarts in commercial fishing since 1923 – but then Radiant and Luhr Jensen came along. The Coyote and Army Truck colours reigned for a decade. Now we are spoiled with choice: Skinny Gs, AP Tackle, Coho Killers and so on. Spoon lines often have 10 different colours, and given their cost, you only want to buy ones that work. The best way to figure out currently working spoons is to read the Island Outfitters weekly column written by Tom Vaida. That narrows your choice. 

The Coho Killer people sent me their range, and as you can imagine, it took a year to fish them all and compare results, to arrive at the best ones: the white one, and the splatterback green are good in winter, with the latter, being a good bottom lure on the Oak Bay Flats. Also, the half and half silver and brass, which is the original colour from commercial trolling decades ago. (See Gibbs current take on the Clendon Stewarts: http://www.gibbsdelta.com/clendon-stewart). 

The other issue with this line, and any built for freshwater, is that the hook corrodes and needs change quickly. The lure itself may discolour, which can be dealt with using Brasso, or emery board. Just make sure to clean the smell of a liquid cleaner off the spoon. You will also have to change the hook. Try to find one that is roughly the same weight and with the same profile, as it makes for annoying fishing if you take a killer lure, change hook and it doesn’t work. Troll one of these lures beside the boat when right out of the package and memorize the tail wagging pattern. You want to retain this fishy movement, by using a non-corroding hook, that leaves action as it was before the hook was changed.

Turning now to leaders, because you are moving quicker, you can get away with longer leaders, just as you might for fishing coho in the summer at high speed. I use 34-inches for hootchies/spoons, and up to 4 feet for bait in winter. If you try using a spoon without a flasher, consider putting a dummy flasher down without a lure, but that is rotating within five feet of the spoon. It will attract fish from distance and hopefully the fish, in coming closer, sees the spoon.

We are also spoiled for flashers these days. There are a number of high-quality flashers on the market than there used to be. The Madi, Lemon Lime and those with Moon Jelly hue are winners, as are O’Ki’s Betsy/Super Betsy line. The latter uses electrical potential to lure chinook in to the lure, and while they discolour, they are still working because that is what the discolouration is showing you. 

And those old flashers that worked in the ‘olden’ days, still work today, so don’t throw out the Hotspot green, Army Truck and so on. Also, consider picking up a Farr Better flasher from Gibbs. 

They are rigged so that when the fish bites, the mono line disengages from the flasher’s trailing edge, leaving the fish to fight freely without shear, and also leaves the flasher still on the line to be re-rigged at the boat, prior to sending it down, once again. 

And, of course, you will wire-rig your bait teaserheads. Refresh your memory, looking at how this is done: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.com/2014/02/wire-rigging-teaserhead-feb-23-2014.html.

And one last thing about herring. We used to have herring spawning around the entire island and up the coast as well. Numbers have dropped drastically, and so in local waters, such spots are few and far between. Yes, the commercial herring roe fishery should be stopped, and then most species, particularly chinook, will rebound. You might want to tell our BC boy, Jonathan Wilkinson, now DFO minister, your views.