Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay)

Marine Area 6

Marine Area 7

George Harris landed this 26 lb hatchery marked King on the July 1st opener. Great way to start the Summer season in the San Juan Islands!

Salmon fishing in the San Juan Islands has been slow to good, depending on your location. Chinook are not everywhere in Marine Area 7, but if you land on them you should be able to put a couple in the box. We’ve had the best luck in July using Silver Horde 3″ spoons, tied to 48″ of leader behind an 11″ flasher. The limit on Chinook is two hatchery clipped fish. Sockeye can also be included in your two fish limit, plus two additional. Four Sockeye would be a good haul, but they’re hard to catch on sport tackle in the salt. They are schooling fish and krill eaters, so putting a lot of flash in the water and using small offerings can work.

Submitted by Kevin Klein, Team Parker Boats NW. 

Marine Area 8.1

By looking at the area around me, it looks like all of the west siders are here. Local temperatures have been in the mid 90s and the end of this week we will be looking at temperatures over 100. Yes, we have had some wildfires but everything is under control. More dunes are showing with the level of the lake dropping. Largemouth fishing has been very good for those that know their way around back in the dunes. Walleye have been moving onto the main lake. Numbers of bullhead catch and not just what fishermen want. Still, large trout are being caught while fishing for walleye. To target, try the usual lures like needle fish, wedding rings or shallow running shad raps.

Bring lots of ice with liquids, suntan lotion and bug repellent.

Report submitted by Tom Pollack

British Columbia

Vancouver

A big king from the Gulf Islands!

Over the last week, our best fishing has been on the far side of Georgia Strait. We have had some productive full day charters to the eastern shoreline of Gabriola Island when the winds have cooperated. Locally, the fishing has been scratchy with the odd legal and a few undersized fish being hooked on our half day trips. This should change very soon though as our West Vancouver fishery for coho, pink and chinook salmon will perk up any day and provide good opportunity on our half day trips.

A limit of springs!

Our best success on our full day trips to the Gulf Islands have been fishing close to the bottom in 140 to 200 feet of water. We have been focusing our efforts near the entrance to Silva Bay and up the Bluffs towards Entrance Island. The fish seem to be keying in on small herring so we have been running hootchies, smaller G Force and Silver Horde spoons and Skinny G’s. The Gulf Island’s will continue to produce chinook depending on the day for the next couple months. Gulf Island trips require a 10 hour charter and good weather.

In local Vancouver waters, there is the odd fish coming out of Vancouver Harbour, Cowan Point, Cape Roger Curtis and Hole in the Wall. Most days you really have to work for them, but there has been some nice fish around.

As we progress into this next week, we anticipate some better numbers of coho to be caught off the West Vancouver Shoreline. We should also start to see some early pink salmon start to show, likely in second of week July. These pink salmon that will show along the West Vancouver shoreline in July and August are bound for the Indian, Seymour, Capilano and Squamish Rivers. The Fraser River pinks return later and will be in local waters in late August and September. Chinook salmon numbers will also start to increase along the West Vancouver shoreline in July. It is quite common to hook chinook in the 15 to 30 pound range while targeting coho and pink salmon in Vancouver Harbour. We find running a mixture of anchovies, spoons and hootchies is an effective way to target all 3 species of salmon along the West Vancouver shoreline. A white yamashita hootchie can be deadly behind a Guide Series Flasher with a UV Blade. (Bon Chovy, STS, Madi, Slurpee).