|
SALMON SPECIES
| There are five different
species of Pacific Salmon that we fish for. Each species behaves
in slightly different manners and requires different tactics to
catch.
The different species also run at
different times of year, in different areas, and sometimes every
other year.
The most commonly targeted species
is likely Chinook, or Spring, as they do grow the largest.
However this does not mean each species doesn't have their own
charm.
Remember to always check the
regulations for each species before you head out! Ignorance is
not an excuse the DFO will accept. |
 |
CHINOOK
Chinook (also known as Spring or King) salmon are the biggest and most
sought after fish. The DFO Chinook identification page can be found at
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/chinook-quinnat-eng.htm.
They grow to 100lbs, although in the summer any fish over 20lbs is a
prize. My personal best is 40.8lbs.
Techniques
Fishing for Springs can be done all year if you include Winter
Chinook. However the big Springs start returning as early as May, or
earlier in some areas, but the prime time to catch them is from June
until August, depending on location. Early in the year the Chinook
tend to swim straight towards their rivers, and can be caught as
they pass by. This causes some days to be hot and the next day to be
slow, it just depends if there is a run of them by your area at that
point. Chinook are almost always trolled for relatively close to
shore (with exceptions such as Swiftsure Bank), but in May and June
anywhere within a mile or two from the shore can produce fish. This
is opposed to the end of the summer, where trolling very near the
shore, paying attention to structure and eddies can often produce
the large springs. |
 |
In my experience along southern
Vancouver Island, Chinook like a relatively slow (not dead slow such as
Sockeye or Chum) troll and are usually found from 30-80' in the water
column. Green/Chrome/Glo/Purple Haze are good colours to start with when
fishing for the big summer Chinook. (As with anything, this varies). For
anchovy, a nice slow roll with a bit of a kick to it is best. Around 4
revolutions every 3 seconds is probably ideal. Springs like an easy
meal. Leader lengths are generally longer. Try 5-6' early in the summer,
lengthening to 7-8' by August. This also depends on water clarity. Many
times the large springs do prefer longer leaders. As far as bait vs.
hardware goes, go with bait. Large springs will take spoons and
hootchies, (spoons leader length similiar to bait, hootchies try from
your sternum to your hands, try around 30-35") but never as often as
bait. When I fish around the island for Chinook in the summer, it is
with a flasher and anchovy teaser with anchovies that comes in the 10
pack. Large fish like large bait.
Springs will bite around the tide
changes and also at first light. Whenever I am fishing for big summer
springs I will be on the water, preferably lines running, for sunrise
and the best fishing is from then until the first slack tide. If no
luck, do not fear, the fish always seem to come for a second bite around
11:00 for some reason.
Whenever an anchovy is hit or you have
travelled through some debris, bring the lines in to check them, always.
I do believe I heard a statistic years ago with respect to Charlie
White's underwater cameras filming salmon as they came to the lure, and
it was that 1 in 10 bit and 9 swam away. Therefore if there is seaweed
on your bait, or half the bait is missing, you are wasting time by
keeping it down there. As a rule check your lines every 30 mins or so if
not more often when in debris. Mornings fishing for large Chinook
consist of long periods of waiting followed by a few quick hits. It is
imperative that your gear be in top shape for these bites.
As with everything, there are
exceptions. Port Renfrew Springs prefer a tight quick rolled anchovy and
a faster troll speed. The springs there are also often caught between
20-40'. When I first fished there I fished my usual Sooke techniques
with little success. As soon as I switched we limited out. The point
being, as I noted in Finding the Fish section, always ask the locals
before heading out.
Winter
Chinook
I have put together a Winter Chinook
section on the menu so many aspects of this will be explained there.
Winter Chinook are Springs that are only a year or two old and remain in
coastal waters over the winter to feed. Keep this in mind. Their one
purpose is to eat, and they do so around the tide changes. It is quite a
different fishery than their large, summer spawner counterparts.
COHO
| Coho are perhaps
the most acrobatic and hard fighting fish of all the pacific
salmon. DFO Coho description here
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/coho-eng.htm.
The world record for Coho is 33lbs, although any Coho in the
teens in a nice fish. My personal best is 17.3lbs.
Fishing for Coho is done in the
late summer into the fall. Fish can be caught in coastal waters
as early as June. In fact Coho can be caught off the mouth of
the Capilano River, in Vancouver, BC, as early as the last week
of June. The last runs of Coho have pretty much entered the
rivers by the end of November. Coho also grow the most in the
last months of their life, so the later in the season you fish
for them, the larger they will be. Prime time is September. |
 |
Techniques:
Coho are agressive fish that will
take almost anything at times. Leader lengths are shorter (not
more than 4-5' for spoons/bait and shoulder length to hand for
hootchies) and they like a faster troll speed with more action.
Bait will without a doubt catch Coho, but is not often required.
Personally I often use spoons and hootchies when Coho fishing.
Good colours to start with are Green/Blue/Silver/Purp Haze. Coho
are also very often found between 30-50' or so. (Although there
are some places such as off Sidney where deep running Cohos do
exist, up to 90' or so). They most certainly move in schools so
when you have hooked one, be prepared for more. They are found
offshore in open water. When fishing Sooke or Port Renfrew, or
even up to Tofino, head out into the shipping lanes and find a
tideline to follow, as some theorize these are something they
swim along. If the day permits, heading even further to the
offshore banks, will produce endless Coho in the late summer.
Coho have even hit lines that
are just dragging on top of the water behind our boat while
playing another fish. Fly fisherman will bucktail (dragging
flies across the top of the water) in a similiar manner to this.
The point being, Coho are hungry agressive fish. The hard part
in Coho fishing is finding a school. Once you have found that,
as long as you have a decent lure/flasher combo down, fish will
hit in my opinion. The key is to troll a bit faster, and make
sure whatever you are trolling has some action to it. This is
why I like hootchies and spoons for these fish because they work
independent of speed. Bait has to be adjusted.
Many times off the Juan de
Fuca strait you will see boats start to venture offshore as the
morning goes on. This means they have stopped fishing for
springs and are now targeting Coho (among others). With Coho,
just make sure you read the regulations. Most places are closed
to Wild Coho and have limited quotas for Hatchery Coho. |
CHUM
Chum salmon are a relatviely new salmon to be targeted recreationally.
Chum salmon run up to 20lbs or more and the DFO description can be found
here
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/chum-keta-eng.htm.
The largest Chum I have had in the boat was around 12lbs. Chum will
travel in schools.
Techniques:
| I had never had much
experience with Chum, other than catching them by accident while
fishing for Coho in the fall. They run from late September until
November, and I recently spotted one still in the Cheakamus River on
January 3rd while fishing for Dolly Varden. Prime time is late
October. I first fished for them north of Seymour Narrows a couple
years ago out of
Brown's Bay. We fished Deepsea Bay around 110', dead slow, using
pink/purple/black mini squirts with a 42" leader. A local trick was
also to place a small spin n glo in front of the mini squirt. I had
a Purple Haze flasher on at the time, however I bet a pink or purple
flasher will also do the trick. I had also been recommended the
Fuddle Duddle hootchie in the past for Chum as well. (which is
purple and pink). We were moving dead slow and saw fish jumping on
the surface, which was odd considering how deep we were. However
these fish were likely not of the biting group. It was late
September and not quite prime season yet, but we still managed a few
Chum in the boat and a couple more lost. They do fight hard and make
great smoked salmon. I did quite a bit of research last fall and
from what I found it seems Chum are by nature plankton feeders and
this is why do not take as readily anchovies and spoons. |
 |
I recently went to the same area, with
similiar results, however leader lengths around 33-34" worked slightly
better. So I would recommend this.
I have tried fishing for them in the
Saanich Inlet in years past as well, as there is a large run of them to
the Goldstream River. The depthsounder was showing fish around 100', but
they were not biting. From the reading I did it seems that once Chum get
close to their river they are not interested in feeding a whole lot,
therefore it is not just a matter of finding the fish, but intercepting
them while they are hungry. North of Seymour Narrows apparently is one
of these spots where Chum hold and school before proceeding south, and
do bite.
SOCKEYE
Sockeye are the most appealing salmon for the dinner table and are good
fun to fish for. They average around 10lbs, and their DFO description
can be found here
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/sockeye-srouge-eng.htm.
They are always in schools.
| Techniques:
When fishing for Sockeye, there will
be a school passing underneath, but you want your lures above this,
for any strays that may travel up for a bite. Sockeye prefer
pink/red lures, mini squirts are all I have ever used with 23-25"
leaders behind a red or pinkish flasher. Troll dead slow for
Sockeye, and put several flashers on your downrigger cables. (i.e
attach one to your canonball or on the downrigger wire, 5' back with
30+lb test. Make sure it is at least 5' away from your line with
it's own flasher/mini-squirt). This makes the fish believe there are
other Sockeye under your boat and they will see this. Sockeye
obviously believe in safety in numbers. Some people believe it is
best to tear off a couple tentacles from the squirts, but I am not
convinced this makes any difference. Fish between 30-50' for
Sockeye, as you want to be fishing above the school. Fishing first
light is also best when targeting Sockeye.
|
 |
Sockeye fishing is all or nothing. Many
times you will hit at least 2 fish (depending on how many rods you
happen to have in the water), or none at all. They are also surprisingly
difficult to land,as they have soft mouths and splash around like
maniacs once they near the boat. Last June when fishing Nahmint Bay, in
Alberni Inlet, I managed around 17 Sockeye on in 2 outings. I was alone,
but only landed 10. Many were double headers....
Sockeye is a species of salmon that
will school tightly enough that depthsounders should be able to pick
them up. Keep an eye out for this and keep on them once you find them.
The key to catching Sockeye is to find
the fish. In an area such as Alberni Inlet, the fish are forced to run
through a constricted passage way en route to the Stamp-Somass River
system. However when fishing in the Juan de Fuca strait for example,
they will pass by 4-8 miles out en route to the Fraser. You just have to
get lucky in instances like that and hit a school. This is why in open
water such as that, unless there is Sockeye to be sure, I have always
targeted Pinks or Cohos and have ended up with Sockeyes by accident. I
have caught Sockeye on anchovy etc by accident but highly recommend
using the above techniques (red/pink mini-squirts and flashers!) when
specifically targeting Sockeye.
PINKS
Pinks are perhaps the most numerous salmon in the summer time. They
average under 10lbs but I have had fish up to 11-12lbs. They are also
referred to as 'Humpies' due to the hump that the male gets near
spawning. The DFO description for Pink salmon can be found here
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/species-especes/pink-rose-eng.htm.
In southern BC waters Pinks can only be caught every other year, odd
years. (2011,2013,etc).
 |
Techniques:
Pinks are fairly willing to bite most
baits presented to them. I have even heard of guys trolling a candy
wrapper on a hook. Pink hootchies and red spoons are good bets,
green works too, and Pinks will take your anchovy that is meant for
Chinook all the time. Flashers can be pretty much anything, but if
it is a really slow day try Purple Haze or Red hotspot. Leader
lengths for Pinks are short. Hootchies should be around 24-28" and
spoons/bait no more than 4'. They prefer a Chinook speed, not too
slow, but definately nowhere near as fast as for Coho. Depthwise
Pinks are usually found between 30-70'.
|
When fishing for Pinks be careful when
the fish nears the boat as they will thrash around and it is not hard
for the hook to come out of their soft mouths. Pinks will be in schools
however not nearly as tightly packed as Sockeyes. Many times fishing
near the points and shore for Chinooks have I ended up with Humpies on
the line. They really can be anywhere when they are around.
On days when the Pinks are numerous it
can even get frustrating as your bait has little chance of staying down
for the Chinook you are after. In this case I usually put on a plastic
bait (hootchie or spoon) and head out for the tide lines and try for
Coho. If you are really desparate for a Spring you can try fishing
deeper too, below the majority of the Pinks, however you run the risk of
being below the Chinook as well. Pinks make good tablefare if done that
night on the BBQ but do not freeze well. Pinks are most certainly the
least sought after of all Pacific salmon, due to their small size, and
their meat not tasting as good as others (although it is still good!),
but Pink salmon can still put up a good fight. Fishing for Pinks is
especially perfect when taking new fishermen or kids out fishing.
|
