Winter Spring Time

Well, once again it is winter spring time. Six months of two and three year old ‘nursing’ chinook, feeding and fattening up before heading to the open ocean. Now is the time for the most consistent fishing of our season for 5- to 15-pound fish.

As with all springs, winter ones are structure related, meaning you won’t find one 100 feet deep in 700 feet of water. Instead, you will find them on the bottom, in back eddies behind islands or points of land or keeping close to lunch. Off the Victoria waterfront, for example, the fish are staying close to adult herring that stage in 200 feet of water for January and February before passing up the Inner Harbour to spawn in March and April.

Find the bait, and you find the springs. While fishing the 110- to 120- foot contour from the breakwater to east of Clover point is usually the best choice for trolling, the other pattern is fishing in 180- to 200-feet of ocean for fish as deep as 140 on the downrigger. These fish are not on the bottom, but herring are usually mid-water swimmers, so this influences these structure related predators.

One of the patterns off Sooke to Otter Point, is, again, to fish bottom contours, as this is also a flat, from Secretary Island west, though more quickly descending than in Victoria. Alternatively, on Constance Bank, it is the edges where most fish are caught. The flat gently slopes up from 150 feet over a mile or so from the east, and ends in several bumps of 60 feet, before dropping off the west end. Fish the 140-foot lip and the bumps extending west from the south west corner, too.

On the Oak Bay Flats and some of Sidney waters, the bottom is flat and so tackle is fished on the bottom. Both areas have predominantly needlefish that usually inhabit the bottom, or within several dozen feet of it.

 In herring areas, medium anchovy is the ticket, while in needlefish areas, small anchovy or Tiny Strip from Rhys Davis is the more common bait; this rod should be fished on the bottom and set up on the opposite side of the boat so the captain can see and attend to it first. It is the deepest rod of the spread, with others ten feet above bottom or higher.

Typically, bait catches more fish than artificial lures, so it makes sense to make it the port side rod, most easily seen by the boat handler. Since it is fished on the bottom, where possible, it is the one that most frequently needs adjusting as the level, bumps and points rise and fall under the boat. Bait is also the one most frequently brought up for a check – every twenty minutes – because it shreds or becomes misaligned much more frequently than other types of terminal tackle.

Go and check my column on wire-rigging teaserheads for bait: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2014/02/wire-rigging-teaserhead-feb-23-2014.html. Take a Saturday and rig up 25 of these, along with 6 foot leaders with a size 3 or 4 treble and trailing 3/0 to 5/0 single kirbed Octopus hook and, after assembling, add a ball bearing swivel, three to four feet above that attaches to the ball-bearing swivel on the bottom of the flasher. If the flasher does not have ball bearing swivels on both ends, add them.

As we fish deeper in winter, teasers with glow or UV properties are favoured. Some common ones are glow-green, my favourite, Pearl (aka, 602), Blood and Bones and so on. Purple Haze comes in more than one background, either silver or with clear Jellyfish colouring that changes to a cool light purple once it hits the water – this is an enticing colour for anglers because we all know that chinook have a purple tinge to their dorsal and shoulder regions.

In flashers, the Lemon Lime, Purple Onion, and Madi have been good the past year. But don’t throw out the old flashers and tackle. What caught fish for you in the past will catch fish today. An example of this is Army Truck in a plastic bait. We tend to forget this as Purple Haze and other hootchy colours came in and became more popular.

Some old colours that work well in Oak Bay are Mint Tulip, Irish Mist and J-79 squirts. And I throw out the old Hotspot glow green sometimes, along with the newer flashers, and it still catches fish in deep dark waters. And I have some flashers that came over on the Lusitania.

More next week.

Q and As - November

Tackle: If you are looking for winter spring tackle, here is some that works well in the Victoria area. Flashers: the Gibbs Lemon Lime, Madi and Purple Onion; from O’ki the Betsy/Super Betsy series that produces an electric current in saltwater to attract salmon. Bait: medium anchovy, and in needlefish areas, small anchovy or Tiny Strip from Rhys Davis. Teaserheads: Purple Haze, Bloody Nose, Blood and Bones, Pearl or 602, glow green. Spoons: G-Force No Bananas, Cop Car, Glow/Green, Irish Cream, Coho Killers in Spatterback, and all silver. Hootchies: Army Truck, Purple Haze, Glo Below. Squirts: Pistachio, Purple Haze, Glow white, Pickle green, J-79, Jellyfish, Electric Chair, Mint Tulip, Irish Mist, Jellyfish. Try to pick up tackle with glow and UV properties.

Instructions for Wire-rigging a Teaserhead: The most popular post on my fishing blog is the instructions for wire-rigging a teaserhead: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2014/02/wire-rigging-teaserhead-feb-23-2014.html. There are two images of rigged ones at the bottom that show how they look finished – of use if the explanation in words leaves you wanting an image. You will note many of the teaserheads in the tackle section above. Rig up 25, for a whole year.

Base layer product: Every now and then I pick up a product that far exceeds my expectations. In a base layer product, try the Columbia, Omniheat, full, arm-length shirts. They have a mirror like finish on the inside, and fit snug to the body. I have found them terrific for warmth, passing through sweat, and since poly-ester has been thoroughly updated it seldom collects body odour as it did in the past. I walked six miles in all my fishing gear last week, and neither was cold – though it was 0 degrees at the start and my fingertips were some frozen – nor got sweaty later in the day.

Fly Fishing Gear and Books: Bill Langford, long time Haig-Brown Fly Fishing Association member is getting out of fishing. Attached are two lists of his stuff, interesting to read, and some good bargains. Email address not yet nailed down. Ask me for it, if you want it.

Watershed Watch Weekly Newsletter: You can get on the email list for this weekly newsletter. It covers salmon issues in Canada, the USA and other international links: Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

Sport Fishing Institute: On November 27^th, the Sport Fishing Institute will hold its Annual Industry Policy Conference at the Pacific Gateway Hotel in Richmond.  This event has become a key forum where elected officials, public servants and those in the sport fishing industry meet, share their perspectives on the issues facing the recreational fishery and receive updates on preliminary expectations for the forthcoming season. See: http://www.sportfishing.bc.ca/events/bigsplash.htm.

South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition: This is a group that all of us should join as the purpose is to support saltwater sport fishing in our area. Membership is $40 per year. The site is: http://anglerscoalition.com/. The newsletter from this group – connected to the SFAB process – is really worth reading and you can send them an email (on their site) to be put on the list. The Oct 26, 2015 issue of the Newsletter is attached.

One subject is increasing the chinook in our area for… killer whales, and other reasons, like, say, sport fishing. The SVIAC has now stick-handled the Sooke system toward those ends with 500,000 chinook going into net pens in Sooke Basin in 2016, with 100,000 of them marked and with coded wire tags to identify caught fish. DFO is on-side and the fish will come from the Nitinat Hatchery as those fish are part of the same gene pool, due to historical releases in the Sooke River for the enhancement society.

When the SVIAC comes asking for a donation, please consider doing so as it is the best outcome for local anglers in a long time, and deserves our support.

Halibut Season: Halibut season will continue in our area until Dec 31. In-season data had erroneously indicated that the season should have closed on Sept 21, and been 10,000 pounds over our total allowable catch. However, it turned out that west coast Haida Gwaii was double counted. Careful eyes representing sport interests noticed this discrepancy, and thus why we are still fishing in the Victoria area. We owe the reps our thanks.

Steve Vella: My girlfriend suggested I take her fishing. I have fished Muir Creek mouth but not up-river. What is the access like? I am looking to take her hiking and throwing a spinner for coho to pass the time

A: First things first: keep your hands on this girlfriend. She likes fishing and that is a good recommendation for any significant other – should be on her CV!

On Muir: go up the right bank from the bridge, and soon you will have to cross over, where there is a pool just above, opposite a small cliff. The issue is how high the tide is. The rest of the access above there is a bushwhack. 

The simpler thing to do would be a walk up the Sooke River, which has an easy, maintained trail. It is fly only though, with probably a few chum remaining.

Alternatively, if you want to go out to Harris Creek, try below the bridge for coho. Alternatively, the clear-cut section some clicks above on your left, gives access to a good pool which would have coho, too. It is above the canyon. And, since the Harris is open to gear fishing, you can toss spinners in both places.

Coho Time in Rivers – 2

Now, Coho Time in Rivers: To finish off some tackle considerations from last week, a bit more on lures and hooks. On lures, I have mentioned that every river has a progression of colours through the season. And each system has its colour preferences, for example, purple is a good Cowichan River colour. And blue is good early in the season on the Stamp. Every year, I try the Mepps white, glow spinners and some years they are the killer colour all season.

Also, try a few freshwater plugs like Wiggle Warts, Hot ‘N Tots and Heddon Clattertads, pink being the first colour on your list. The consideration here is a plug that is heavy enough to cast. Along with these, keep some of the heavy Gibbs spoons on hand, particularly for high, discoloured water days and blown days when large size is better. The heavier Ironhead, Kit-A-mat, Illusion and etc. for example, sink better than spinners in rapidly moving water and sink better in deep pools. Take a look at the colour plates in my book: Maximum Salmon, from Harbour, for the range of lures to try. There are also colour plates of flies.

And take care with those individual lures that become killers. You want to snip the leader and retie the Palomar knot every few fish. You don’t want to ever lose one of the lures in your box that far out-fishes other lures, even ones of the identical model, size and so on. I have one heavily beat up orange-backed Kit-A-Mat in my box, that, as decrepit as it is, far out-fishes other spoons in my box. And the heavier weight makes them a breeze to cast, particularly when you are up to your sleeves in the water.

I will be giving the new Blue Fox UV spinners a try this year. They should be attractive on dark days and in shade where coho preferentially fin quietly, waiting for rain and high water.

Now, a bit more on hooks. I said that black hooks should replace the silver hooks that lures come with, as they are invisible and the fish bites the lure ahead of them instead of farther back, on the hook, thus the hook is already in their mouths.

Eagle Claw black Steehead hooks, model L194 F in 1/0 size and larger are useful, but short hooks. Try three black split rings in a row before attaching the hook. But there are other, larger hooks available in near-black. Mustad has a near-black Open Eye Siwash hook that makes sense. In sizes 1 to 4/0 you have a range of medium to large size hooks. Large is better when coho are not gear shy, and in rainy weather when they bite more freely. Both are kirbed.

Vibrax Blue Fox lures now come with a brass treble hook mounted and with a near-black straight Siwash. As before, introduce a kirb by taking hold of the hook sideways from shank to point in pliers and bend down for a 20 degree kirb. This gives the hook more purchase on a jawbone.

Let’s turn to fishing. The first thing is that when you know there are coho where you are fishing, it is important to cast once or twice, then change your position or the side your rod tip is on so the lure moves in a different trajectory. I don’t know how many fish I have taken over the years by taking one step and casting again. You move up or down, or back or forward, and work the spot. Coho prefer a lure moving directly up current or across and up. That means in back eddies, and most pools have back eddies, that once you have moved down fishing across the eddy, that you then, from the bottom of the pool, cast upstream, but down current, in the eddy of the pool.

The coho line up into the current, and on rare sunny days where you can stand high enough above the pool you are fishing to see the fish in the entire pool, you will find that they line up in a complete circle around the back eddy. This gives proof that the fish are, indeed, facing up current, and a lure that goes with the current rockets right past them and they don’t chase. Coho prefer a lure to slowly move up from behind or across and then pass in front of them going up current.

And coho prefer a spinner moving slowly. Reel just fast enough for the spinner to spin, its beat seen and felt on your rod tip each revolution. No faster. It is the flash that triggers the curiosity bite. The coho follows, and finally just can’t control itself and whacks the lure, sometimes after following 30 feet. If you feel the spinner lose its drag, it could either be bottom, or in many cases, its coho that nip the end, collapsing the drag. If so, make the same cast right back and bring the spinner through again. Or try the same cast at a different angle. Change things up.

If you have worked a pool with porpoising coho – the behaviour that spells turned on fish – and not taken a fish, change lure colour. Decide before you go out the four or five colours you are going to give a try that day. You will be surprised some days that one particular colour will take all sorts of coho, but another, equally appealing lure to human eyes receives not a whiff.

Don’t leave bitey fish to find bitey fish. Just change your approach, angle, colour until you find the right tactic. Sometimes it is nothing until you are down-stream but casting up-stream but down-current in a back eddy that will take the most fish. Keep changing until you understand the drill.

Finally, the tactic of ‘managing the school’. This is what you do with a school of salmon to get the most fish to bite out of the school. In the case of coho, as the bitiest of them all, you aren’t moving the school around like you can chum, pink and chinook. Instead, you are selectively taking ‘new’ fish or ‘forgotten’ fish. Here is an example: start fishing down the inside of the school. Once bites drop off, then sequentially run your casts farther down the inside to the tail end of the school. All of these are new fish: fish that haven’t seen the lure before.

Then you cast to the outside of the school and do the same as you have for the inside, sequentially down to the end of the school. When the bites drop, then cast in the middle of the school. All the fish, so far have been ‘new’ fish in that they have not seen the lure.

Now, once you have worked the entire school, you move back to the inside. These are ‘forgotten’ fish, meaning: they have forgotten that there are lures about, and react as though they have not yet seen one. Fish memory is seldom more than a half hour – I am not talking about being spooked, that is a different matter – and you will be surprised by methodically working a school through time, that by adopting this approach you will catch fish that had already seen a lure, or one of their good buddies disappear.

When you add the other two tactics: changing lure colour, and casting position to managing a school, you can receive far more cumulative bites than if you creamed off the first biter and moved on. Don’t’ move on from bity fish, until they have stopped responding to your tactics and managing.

I will give you three examples of varying technique for in-river coho next week, before moving on to the start of the salmon calendar in saltwater: winter chinook.