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 – 3

To close out this series of articles on fishing for coho in freshwater, I’d like to tell you a few stories that taught me a lot. The point is to think about what happens while you are fishing and remember it for subsequent years.

I assembled Colorado blades in my early fishing – because they were inexpensive – by buying the blades, clevises, hooks, and so on, and attaching them on two- to four-foot leaders. The top end was attached to the main line at a swivel. To the four inch tag end of the mainline, a piece of pencil lead was attached as the weight, crimpled only tight enough to not come off in casting or fighting a fish, but that would slip off on a bottom/log snag. Depending on the depth and speed of the water, a dink float was sometimes put on the mainline before the swivel, and slid up or down so the blade was at the right depth.

One day in the rain, I caught a beautiful, new 20-pound coho in a narrow seam. I few minutes after the release I caught another 20-pound beautiful coho and released it. At the time, I did not think anything other than it was amazing to catch two identical fish from the same run, along with another fish or two. Many years later, I realized that, yes, indeed, I had caught the same fish twice, evidence of just how turned on coho get in heavy rain and rising water. Typically fish will not bite twice.

The day that changed my mind occurred at the Falls Pool on the Stamp River just below the provincial campground. This is a well-fished pool because it is a choke point with high velocity falling water, a spot where fish stop in the pool before trying to get over it.

And it is where Beaver Creek enters the Stamp – a side stream in which coho spawn. It rained more than two inches as we fished. I fished the pool with the plan I mentioned last time of managing a school, standing in the middle of the flow of Beaver Creek. I had forgotten my box of spinners and scrounged a spoon out of a 1960s box in the clutter of the trunk. Blue and nubby silver. (We often forget that blue is a prime coho colour; after all, Haig-Brown’s iconic fly is the Coho Blue).

It was a beat-up, ancient lure that I had no confidence in, but it was all I had. I decided that I would retie the lure every second fish. Then I began to plumb the water on the near side, then far down the near side, then the other side, then far down the other side, then back to the middle and far down middle. And so on, changing rod tip position to amend the retrieve angle through the same zone.

And the creek began to fill, first from ankle deep, then calf, then knee and finally almost waist deep. I found I caught fish everywhere I cast, and was getting bites right in front of other anglers’ feet. At least a half dozen other guys were there in the rain, but I had picked the best spot: right in the middle of the side stream, that, once deep enough, the coho would all pass up.

I caught a large female with an identifiable mark on her snout. As the day wore on, I caught her four times. The same fish. That is proof that coho intensity rises dramatically the higher the water level, meaning the taste of rain, and that they are programmed to get active about moving forward to spawn.

I also caught another fish – a hook-nosed male – with a cut on its flank, and then caught it four times as the afternoon progressed. Same explanation. And I retied that lure 26 times, far out fishing everyone else, just because I had sense enough to put myself in the best spot as the water rose, and to manage the school.

As you can imagine, the other anglers, in the wrong spots, and not methodically 3-D identifying where the fish would be and where to cast, and where to cast to in the progression, became good and pissed off. Had I been in their shoes, I would have felt the same.

And that lure was so ugly, I doubt it would ever catch another self-respecting fish, until the same extreme conditions reoccurred  By the time I left, Beaver Creek was so high that in getting out of it I was almost swept away. But it became etched in my brain that the heaviest rainfall produces the most coho.

On final comment on this story is that animal rights activists often say that fishing and catch and release should be abolished because fish feel pain and are terrified. My response is that if you can catch the same fish several times in a row, the fish can’t feel that bad. Oh, and I have never had a fish I let go, say it would rather have been bonked.

Moving on, sometimes you can feel the intensity of the fish in the air. It is so electrifying it is hard to put on lures and even to cast. Hundreds of porpoising coho in front of you, and you’re so jittery you can’t cast. On one day of this, in heavy rain, I could not get a single fish to bite. I was fishing Colorado blades, with a dink float several feet up the line. I finally put the rod under my arm and just stood there cursing the fish. This was a backeddy with a seam on the outside that passed down stream.

It crossed my mind that I could no longer see my float. When I lifted the rod tip, there was a 13 pound coho on the other end. After its release, I tossed the blade out and let the current move the float in circles, and watched. Darned if it didn’t disappear again and a nice coho was on the other end. And I took more than half a dozen other fish the same way.

While lure spin would not get a fish to bite, the lure hanging straight down in the water about six feet under the float, just floating along, was deadly. The fish were whacking it with abandon – odd but true. Two other wet anglers on the other side of the rising side-stream, with coho passing up, were tossing spinners, too, but catching nothing and giving me the evil eye. I ended up giving them my spot, and explained what I had been doing.

They politely laughed at my explanation, thinking it was the spot that was important, so I slogged through the rising side-stream to where they had been standing. It was not as good a spot, as the back eddy started twenty feet below it, just where I had been standing. I cast out and let the float pass without any mending, and, yes, it disappeared and I got another silvery coho.

Over the next couple of hours, they caught nothing and finally were so mad that I had caught another half dozen fish – where they had been fishing – and they had not had a bite that they left. I moved back down to the better spot, and continued catching fish.

And, yes, I have never forgotten this unusual coho behaviour. Because of that experience, I carry a simple red and white bobber in my fishing raincoat, all year round.  It is only used in coho season, but the reason is that you don’t have to cut the mainline and put in a dink float when you are fishing in spots where that approach isn’t the best one, for example, in deep pools or ultra-clear water.

You just attach the mainline around the bottom and top hangers on the bobber and then cast out. One day, I noticed some turned-on, porpoising coho about 150 feet below me. The shore was a tangle of ugly bushwhacking vegetation and if I had shoved through, there was no place to cast, because the tangle of willow stuck out ten feet into the water.

On went the float, then a small cast, and I let the float carry the spinner down stream. When it was in the fish zone, I clicked out of free-spool, and the bobber went down. The result was a 20-pound coho. Hard to believe, but over the hours, because I had that bobber was able to catch another half dozen lovely coho I had no other way to reach. It has worked in many succeeding years.

The point is, if you catch a fish, figure out what the special circumstances are that made it bite, write that in your notebook and next year, take it out, and do it again. And so on.

Okay, one more story. Once in the pouring rain, I passed a stream and stopped to look and yes, dozens of large coho porpoising in the tail out. At the top end of the pool, I slid into the water and it rose to two inches from the top of my waders – I had miss-judged the depth – and found myself with only a foot of water from the surface to the branches above the water to make my cast.

Sidearm, I could cast only 10 feet. The fish were 70 feet below. Out went the spinner, and once the blade thump was on my rod tip, I let the line free-spool so the stream carried the lure – because of its blade drag – down to the fish, whereupon, I set the reel in retrieve and the lure swung in front of the coho. The good news was that I got a bite right away. The bad news was that the fish went directly downstream and the line snapped when it went around a corner.

I had eight spinners and tied successive ones on, let the reel carry the spinner down and so on. A 20 pounder would bite, and then it was over the tailout into the next pool. Snap. On my last spinner, a Mepps white-glow one, the fish moved toward me and ultimately I landed and released it. I lost 7 lures in all. But it was a large fish and the first coho I ever took in December. Memorable.

It was the first time that I had used the white-glow spinner, and it would be written down and remembered for successive years. Some years it is the best colour. The point is to adapt what you know and see if you can make it work. So, over the years, you build up a list of strategies to try every day out.

Coho Time in Rivers

Vancouver Island has 123 watersheds on an island 500 km long and 150 km wide. Most of those contain coho. October and November are the main months to catch them, though they linger on into January in some systems. The reason is that they typically spawn in side-streams and those streams have the best entrance on very high water which rivers reach in winter.

Coho are best caught on rainy days, so get a raincoat. That is because, as side-stream spawners they respond far and away higher than other species of salmon. It cues them to bite. You need to know the rivers you fish because coho typically are found in shade and in the deepest part of the soft water. It will take you years to find these spots because coho simply mill quietly for weeks and because they may not come to the surface, you will have no idea that they are there until you plumb the water on several occasions.

On one of the rivers I fish, I found a killer spot that in summer would hold zero fish, but it was below a consistent coho producing side-stream. Coho fry are easily spotted because they have orange tails. So if you find coho fry in spring and summer in side streams that have been cut off from the river, pay attention because coho will stage in spots downstream from this stream in the fall. Following my own advice, I sidestepped my way to some willow offering belly button deep water for a short cast out and let the current swing the lure below me. It was a spot I had never fished before, never seen anyone else fish it and had no visual cues to confirm their were coho there.

In no time I had released several cutthroat that were swimming with the coho, and once through them, the far larger coho started to whack the lures I was throwing. I had only two feet above water to the lowest branches and thus a max 20-foot cast. Methodically work the pool from top to bottom, by casting into the fast moving water and letting it carry the lure sequentially farther downstream on further casts so as to fish the entire pool.

The next summer, I came back and with my clippers cut off a whole bunch of willow so I would have a larger window in succeeding autumns to cast from. Since the first time, I have never seen anyone fish the spot and this is over many years. It just doesn’t look fishy and there is that standing deep enough that your sleeves are in the water when you cast that convinces many not to fish there. You need to ignore such reactions and figure out the river yourself.

 Do remember that coho can become very stale on sunny days, particularly if you are fishing after several high pressure, sunny days. Their bite gets stronger the more rain you have, prior to absolute highest water.

As for gear, if you don’t have a trigger-fingered rod and a baitcaster reel, treat yourself and buy both.  Leave your spinning reel and light rod for trout. Okuma, Penn and Abu Garcia have several models of high quality baitcasters and you want a 9.5- or 10-foot rod; Shimano and Rapala come to mind. Pick up a 20- to 30-pound braided line for backing – Trotac has half a dozen brands to choose from – and load the reel. Then put 20 feet of 15- to 20-pound mono to tie lures on with a Palomar knot.

You will have to learn to cast a baitcaster. Your thumb pressure on the spool is what gives you control of the distance the line will cast, and more importantly, keep the drum from overspooling. Braided line makes a son of a bitch overrun, if you have not educated your thumb to keep the drum from so doing.

Also, when you get an overrun, resist the temptation to yank away at it like crazy. That will simply create a tighter mess and end your day unless you have another reel with you to change up. The thing to remember is that any overrun is the result of a loop of line passing through another loop. That means that technically the mess you have is not a knot.

So resist yanking line, and instead, search for the first spot that two loops are tangled. If you slowly pull the mainline off the reel, the problem reveals itself in that line on the reel will form a ‘V’ around the mainline. You simply pick at this and give it a small pull or two, then give the mainline a small tug. You repeat the process and ultimately all loops within loops come free, and voila, you are in business again.

As for lures, spinners are de riguerre for coho in freshwater. The more flash you have, the more it stimulates the fish into a curiosity bite. If you are fishing late in November on days where coho are all lined up in shallow runs waiting for higher water, you get a rare opportunity to watch the behaviour in action. Cast the spinner across and above the fish, and reel in very slowly, only fast enough to get the blade to spin, and put the lure within two feet of the face of the coho.

It is a visceral thrill to watch a big coho in the instant of recognition and move after the lure, sometimes following it 30 feet before biting. That is curiosity. And don’t set the hook when you see the mouth close on the lure because you will just be pulling the lure away from the fish. Wait for the yank on the lure end, usually followed by a turn of the head and thus an obvious bite, to set.

As for spinners, several manufacturers have good ones: Blue Fox from Mepps in 4- to 5-blade size along with Luhr Jensen Bolos that have heavier bodies and thus cast farther; for the thrifty, you can rig up your own Colorado blades for far less money. These have to be rigged on the end of a leader, with pencil lead on a tri-swivel above, because the blades have no weight – either for casting or sinking.

Also you should replace the silver hook with black steelhead Octopus hooks in 1- and 2- sizes. Black is the important word, because the coho look at flash and will bite the lure ahead of the hook and thus the hook they can’t see is already inside their mouths, hence you catch more fish. Also, add some black split rings between spinner and hook as it extends the ‘invisible’ hook even further.

Another thing to remember is that there is a colour pattern progression in the season and you have to figure it out on your own. Typically you are looking at silver blades and red, pink, chartreause in that order. And then later in darker water gold lures, including the old stand by the simple gold Wobbler (not a spinner). Set the drag on your reel higher than for steelhead because coho shake their head far more oftern and roll so frequently that you need to maintain pressure against them or they shake the hook.

Each river is different with respect to colour progression. In tea stained rivers, add purple and white into the mix. Although the Cowichan is a clear river, purple is a good colour to use. Get to know your rivers over the years.

Next week: some more on freshwater coho fishing.

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.

Sooke River Time

With the rain we have been having in the past week, good numbers of chum are now coming into the Sooke River estuary above the bridge, the deemed saltwater boundary (so fresh water rules apply). The river is a fly fishing only body of water, too. On Thursday when I was out, the river had a fair number of coho, as well that were hitting, both small California Neils and green and yellow bucktails, 1.5 inches long (buy at Canadian Tire).

I checked at the Fair Grounds by De Mamiel Creek, where there were a few chum migrating up the Sooke. The creek was low, so it was unlikely that it was passing coho upstream. Most of the coho spawn in this side-stream, so it is good practice to check at the Grounds as they will stage in front of it for several days. Please pay the $2 charge to fish on the grounds.

A decade ago, most fishers fished at the park and did not go upstream to the trail by the Sunriver Estates (which also did not exist at that time). The reason, I think, is that in the past there was good structure in the river at the grounds, and so it became a natural place for salmon to stop and wait for a flood. But in the intervening years, the structure has been eliminated, leaving a saucer shaped river, devoid of any reason to stop, and thus the schools just lift with the tide to higher in the estuary.

This is a good place to learn to cast and fish for salmon. There is a good trail system that gives anyone who isn’t fishing a good opportunity to stroll along and watch the action. Typically there is enough room to spread out and plentiful chum for a good mile up the river and around the corner to the farm pool. Do note that on a high tide of 9 feet or higher, you will have to wait for it to fall or you will have a 400 yard crossing that is above your waders. Either cross before the high from the farm pool, or intend to fish through it.

On Thursday there were many chum at the Clay Bank corner and below on the few choke points that with the right tide level offer lots of fish, that come right up to the top of the tide before slipping back, or committing to the river.

My flies were not producing as well as I would have liked – a purple Flashabou creation that looks more like a pom-pom that a football cheerleader would wave about; and,  a double egg pattern in Orange Globrite Chenille and size 2 circle hook, preceded by a purple chenille egg – even though they have worked well in the past. Purple and white are good colours in a tea-stained river like the Sooke. But other colours, pink for instance, is a good fall back, including egg-sucking leeches in pink and purple.

The week prior, and the day I was out, small to medium sized flies worked the best. My California Neils were safe at home in another fly box and hence did not help my cause. I didn’t have the Canadian Tire ‘bucktail’, not to mention everything else I was throwing at them didn’t work.  So I got to take photos of other anglers catching more than I: Dale and a large coho, and Tom Lester with a medium size coho.

Other differences were that I was fishing water of six to 10 feet deep, making it difficult to hit the zone – shallower water reduces the height of water not in the zone and thus it is easier to hit. Also, I noticed that my sink tip, floating fly line was thoroughly water logged and thus made it hard to hit the zone. That also meant that as I stripped the line in it sunk and so, during casting, the forward stroke was trying to lift line as much as three feet under water – a pain in the rear end.

The successful anglers were fishing much shallower water – a tailout, and small run between riffles – that were less than three feet deep. Much more time in the fish zone, and also fly placement in the small run where the fish stopped for a few minutes was right on the money. Fish moving up are usually more bity, and if the fish you are fishing are stale, move downriver to fresher fish.

I subsequently moved down stream to where the path first grants access to the gravel stretch below the two choke points. As the tide was rising, small schools of chum were moving up and falling back. They usually are evidenced by small waves at the lead of the school, and a fish or two touching the surface. One interesting behaviour of chum is that when their mouths hit the surface, they take a mouthful of air, and as they cruise down to the bottom they release it. On the surface, you see small trails of bubbles, evidence of turned-on fish.

I also switched flies to a single egg of Globrite Orange Chenille on a Mustad 9174, size 6, live bait hook. A very small fly indeed and a freshwater hook, so either wash the fly, or it will rust. Remember to cast ten feet in front of the fish wave, as the lead fish are in front of the wave and thus if you land in the wave, most of the fish have already passed by.

Stand in the middle of the river at this point, as it tends to make the fish stop and turn, rather than continue up – in other words you are becoming structure in an otherwise structureless stretch of water. If you are with another angler, have them stand in the middle as well, for the same reason. In knee deep water, on my own, I began taking fish, on a minimalist fly. A nice ending to a nice day.

Q and As – October

Herring fishery: DFO is going to open a fishery for herring on November 7 and is looking for comments regarding: FN1111-Notice of 2015/2016 Draft Pacific Herring Food and Bait and Special Use Commercial Fishing Plans Available for Public Comment. Get in touch with: Roger Kanno, (604) 666-7851; email: roger.kanno@dfo-mpo.gc.ca. 

This is not a roe fishery, but a ‘bait and special use’ on Juan de Fuca stocks that, later, turn the corner into Georgia. The winter roe fishery is a distinct and different fishery – but the same fish.

David Ellis, a concerned observer, sent along some comments: “Correspondence I have from the David Suzuki Foundation, [says] industry lobbying is the only reason that this fishery will be opened, as no stock assessment exists.

Information on DFO's… site… indicates that the winter "Food and Bait" fishery will open before the "migratory herring" (which are targeted every year in the Strait of Georgia Roe Herring fishery) even enter the Strait of Georgia. This DFO website notes that the "migratory" herring targeted by the Strait of Georgia Roe Herring fishery spend most of the year in Juan De Fuca Strait, only quickly entering the Strait close to spawning time. Therefore, the herring to be targeted once again in the winter "Food and Bait" fishery, will again not be covered by a qualified and peer reviewed DFO stock assessment, required by DFO policy, and I believe by law.

In short, the "winter fishery" is to open very soon, long before the "migratory" herring stock, for which a stock assessment exists, even enter the Strait of Georgia.

It is my understanding that all fisheries in Canada must by law now have an accompanying peer-reviewed stock assessment, and if not they can now be stopped by interlocutory injunction. Please correct me if I am wrong in this assessment.”

In other words, two fisheries on the same herring stock, one fishery without a stock assessment.

Cowichan River salmon fishing: The low-water restrictions ended on Oct 1. From the weir in Lake Cowichan to the 66 Mile trestle it is fly fishing only. You will find the freshwater retention rules in the freshwater section of the DFO Sport Fishing Guide.

From the Trestle to Tidal Boundary: no fishing for salmon, Aug 1 to Nov 15; however, in-season regs for coho and chum may offer some retention opportunities. 

Nitinat River: Closed Oct 1 – 15 for salmon fishing – meaning trout fishing is okay – with chum and coho retention of four fish, two of each species, from Oct 16 – Dec 31. There are several specific no fishing zones, such as the bridge pool, Red Rock pool, hatchery pool and above Parker Creek. 

Suspicious fishing: If you witness suspicious fishing activity or a violation, please call 

the Fisheries and Ocean Canada 24-hour toll free Observe, Record, Report line 

at (800) 465-4336 or the British Columbia’s toll-free RAPP line (Report All 

Poachers and Polluters) at 1-877-952-RAPP (7277).

The one time I phoned to tell them of a rough shack and freezer (meaning a very long line to a power pole) in salmon season, they told me that they knew who it was, gave me his name, which I have forgotten, but gave no indication of going after the guy.  So I have never phoned back.

Salmon Behaviour in Salt- and Fresh-water: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2015/08/salmon-behaviour-in-salt-and-fresh-water.html. And, of course, after I wrote this article, I remembered a few other things.

Chum in saltwater have a phase, and very typical in Saanich Inlet, where as a school they motor along right under the surface. You will find it by a fish or two doing the chum jump thing of six to eight jumps in a row, describing a gentle curve, and the fish falls on its flank each jump. In this phase, they resolutely go after nothing and it is a waste of time to try and get some trolling gear in front of their faces, particularly as they keep changing directions.

Wait for the school to become more terminal. They will slow down markedly, and aimlessly drift here and there, the school looking like a disturbance on the surface that moves in an opposite direction to the prevailing wave pattern (this is quite common for pinks as well). Keep your boat off to the side and mosey with them. You cast your drift fishing lures in front of the school and allow them to swim into it. The same for flies. Landing a fly among them, while still in deeper water, tends not to spook them as it does in water less than waist deep. 

If you can’t tell which species you have in front of you while beach or estuary fishing, if they bolt as a whole school of several hundred fish, they are chum. Pink salmon simply sidle away, and if you stand still, upstream of them, or in the direction you know from experience they are heading, they will come back to you.

And one unusual behavior of chinook. If you are fishing spoons in rivers – these work much better than spinners for chinook, Gibbs being a good line – let the lure drop right to the bottom and let it sit there for a bit. Sometimes, a chinook will go down to the bottom and pick it up. Hard to believe, but this is true. I have taken several big fish a day with this corny trick. The key thing to remember is that you only allow your lure to fall and sit on the bottom where you know it is small gravel or sand. If you land on a sticky bottom, well, you have just lost your lure.

One final thing, most anadromous fish will not pass over sand as they sit or move up. They will follow the gravel or stone line – on the edge of sand – on the bottom because it offers more cover. And, of course, shade is very attractive. That black cloud in shade can be thousands of salmon staying safe.

Halibut time: DFO and Sport Fishing Advisory Board Halibut Committee determined that the halibut harvest by the recreational fishery to August 31 was 958,280 pounds of its Total Allowable Catch of 1,063,550 pounds.

Hence, the fishery will remain open to December 31, 2015 under the current management

measures in effect, noted on Fishery Notice FN0134. The Victoria area is the lucky recipient of these fish as we have one of the largest halibut fisheries after summer ends. Next time you see Martin Paish or any of the guys on the committee, buy him/them a beer for their work.