WINTER CHINOOK

These fish roam the coastal waters between November and April, and somewhat through the summer too. They are Winter Chinook, or Feeder Chinook. They are wintering in coastal waters to feed, and provide great action to cover the long winter months.

NATURE OF WINTER CHINOOK

Let us start off by examining who these fish are. They are young Chinook that are spending the first year or so of their life in coastal waters to feed before heading out to sea. Their one aim over the winter is to eat as much as possible. This makes them aggressive and they are in fact somewhat territorial too. They do not typically school and are found wherever the bait is. This is another instance where a fishfinder will pay dividends for you. If you find the bait, you will find the Winter Chinook.

They are typically small fish, most under 10lbs, which makes them excellent tablefare. However do not underestimate their size. These Winter Springs have quite a fight in them at times.

They are found deep compared to their summer cousins. Most times Winter Chinook are found near or on the bottom. They feed on needlefish, sandlance, herring and I have even seen prawns. One characteristic of fishing for Winter Springs is your arm will feel it after the day is done if you have  manual downriggers, as I do. Typical depths are between 100-150', although I have caught them down to below 200'. Many times just off the bottom is where to fish.

TIDE CHANGES

The time to fish for Winter Chinook is on the tide change. The bite often comes on like a lightswitch. Fishing between tide changes can often yield little to nothing. There is no need to be up at the crack of dawn when fishing for Winter Springs. Plan to be out an hour or 2 before and after the tide change. This will ensure you are there when the bite comes on. It does not matter if the tide is 8am or 12pm, the fish are down at depth and are not influenced by sunrise/sunset. Make sure you are in the right spot too. If the tide has been falling, be sure to be fishing an area that will be in a back eddy from a falling tide.

This is where the fish will have been holding while the tide was running and when the tide stops, they will start feeding from here. If you are fishing between tide changes, this will also give you your best shot.

FOOD SOURCE

As I mentioned, Winter Chinook are opportunistic feeders and will follow food around. This is slightly different than spawning returning fish. Fish that are returning to spawn are going towards their river and will eat while on the way. Winter Springs are only concerned with following the food. It can be several types of small fish or crustaceans. However many times you will find bait balls with the salmon underneath. You can find these by watching the birds. Many times seagulls will be flocking together on a tight school of herring. Salmon will be on to these as well. If you see diving birds, this means there is bait down deeper, and again if the birds are after the bait, it is a good bet that the salmon are too.

The bottom line with Winter Chinook is if you find the food, you will have found the salmon. This is all you need to worry about. Yes tackle does matter, but in most cases if you have found the fish and the bite is on, you will have success.

As with anything else, ask for local knowledge. Sometimes the springs move around quite a bit and if you can find out where they have been in the past couple days this will greatly help your chances.

Check the Bellies

This can be done in any environment fishing for salmon. However, since winter springs are feeders, they will be concentrating on following a certain food source around. If you can figure out what it is, you can then match it with your lures/bait size and type. So, when you clean the fish, cut open the stomach and see what they were feeding on. On a trip that consists of a couple days in a row, this can be quite helpful. If you're really into it, you can even clean the fish while on the water and answer this question for the rest of the morning.

CHECKING YOUR LINES

Checking your lines at 150' all of a sudden gets a whole lot more work. However don't let this get in the way of checking your lines every 30 mins or so, more in debris. When you are fishing that deep it is especially difficult to see shakers (small salmon) or other small fish. Many times have I checked the line only to see a rockfish or small lingcod on the line. If I hadn't checked the line that rod would have been 100% useless in terms of producing a salmon.

LEADER LENGTHS

Leader lengths for Winter Chinook are slightly shorter than their summer counterparts. For anchovies/spoons try 4-5' or so. Yes we do want longer leaders in clear water, but Winter Springs are aggressive fish and like a bit more action. I consider it halfway between Springs and Coho in terms of action and speed of your lures. For hootchies try from your hand to your shoulder, which is around the 30-35 range. If you find the springs aren't biting, shorten or lengthen your leader until they do.

Winter Chinook are aggressive fish and like something with action to it. Spoons and anchovies shouldn't ever be much less than 3.5' or so, but 4-5' provides a good distance but with alot of action on the lure. Since Winter Springs are territorial, they will come inspect the flasher as another salmon invading their turf. Since this attracts them, they will see the bait right there.

TROLL FASTER

Your troll speed should be a bit faster for Winter Springs. Nothing as fast as for Coho, but add a bit of speed to your summer Spring speed. As we have mentioned these fish like action and adding a bit of speed to your flasher will provide your bait or lure this. Adding speed also has the added benefit of allowing you to cover more water in order to locate the springs.

As we have stated, once you have found the fish you are in luck. Usually enticing the Winter Chinook to bite is not the difficult part, finding them can be. Added speed will only help this.

BOTTOM BOUNCING

If you are fishing along a muddy, flat bottom, one technique you can try is to drag and bounce your canonballs along the seafloor. This produces a cloud of dust that the Winter Springs will see and come over to investigate. Again, they are territorial and they do not want another Winter Chinook invading on their stomping grounds. Dragging your canonball will do just this. The downside to this practice is that it makes spotting strikes extremely difficult. The downrigger will be bouncing and so will the rod. Add the fact that fishing this deep, causes the monofilament line to stretch and this also decreases the ability to spot strikes.

The first time I bottom bounced my canonballs was in Pedder Bay, just southwest of Victoria. I didn't know how I was ever going to see a fish hit. However, when it did, I saw it and minutes later we had a 10lb spring in the boat. Most days I will not commence doing this unless I have had no luck. It is risky because if you encounter a rock piling on the bottom you could be kissing your canonball goodbye. Be sure the bottom is flat and muddy before you try this. It's just another trick up your sleeve to try on the slow days!

TACKLE

Tackle for Winter Springs often follows similar patterns. I would definitely have a couple Coyote Spoons in the Green/Glo, Cop Car and Green Tiger Prawn patterns. For hootchies/squirts, have a Green/Glo, Tiger Prawn (orange with black marks) and Glo Below at the minimum. Anchovy teaser heads, have a Purple Haze, Tiger Prawn, Bloody Nose, Green Glo. Flashers, it is hard to go wrong with a Green/Silver/Glo and Jellyfish/Purple Haze flasher. In general, due to the depths these fish reside in, it only makes sense that alot of the Glo tackle is effective, due to how dark it must be at 100-200'.

Running the Flasher Separately from the Line