I thought I would start a thread for the banks fishing. We mostly fish the banks out of Ukee and never seem to find a good thread to post up in. We sometimes fish offshore of Tofino as well and bomb down to the rat's nose once or twice a year. If you have any offshore reports or trips post them up!!

Got out on Saturday June 5th. Gorgeous weather. Headed up to the banks off of Long Beach. Fished with the troll fleet and a few other sporties out there. Limited out in a couple of hours. Took a friend of mine out for his first trip this year and we had a great time.

Anchovies in a chartruese teaser head and 4" green and nickel coyote did the trick for us 20' off bottom. Lots of bait around. All the fish were in the mid teens.

FUN IN THE SUN !!! My buddy with his first salmon of the year on.

Nice work, Sculpin...... but where's Jakee? You didn't want to get outfished again?

We had a similar day up at Portland PT as well. Troller finished at noon Monday

No doubt he can outfish me I won't argue that one ! Wasn't the same without my first mate. He's 13 now and well let's just say starting to chase skirts !!! He'll be back out next weekend .

We looked for you out there but didn't see ya.

Cheers,
John

Went up to Salmon Beach on Saturday with my son/firstmate, my hunting buddy, and his wife. We saw the low tide on Saturday morn (can't launch at Salmon Beach on real low tide) and didn't leave Nanaimo till 7:00 am. We got on the water around 10:30 so a late start. Lots of decisions to make on where to go. I was planning on heading out to the Big Bank but decided to head over to the banks off Long Beach again due to time constraints etc. Was a good call as there was alot of bait still there. Quite a few boats out and everyone seemed to be catching fish. We were trolling bottom looking for halibut but we picked up a couple of springs in the low teens as by catch.

Heading over to Amphitrite Bank. Gorgeous day on the water. Felt like fishing Cali it was so warm out there.



Jake with one on.





We fished for a couple of hours and decided to make our way back to the South Bank. Nobody out there except one troller (test fishing? or halibut opening?). Had the whole thing to ourselves. Not much showing up on the sounder but down the balls went anyways. Covered the same area where we caught a couple of chickens a couple of weekends ago along a contour line where it drops off fast but stayed just onto the bank.

We picked up 5 more springs, a chicken, and my buddies wife caught this halibut.



It was her first halibut ever!!! She was so happy.

Good fishing, good company, and the look on my buddy's wife's face is why I love fishing the WCVI.

Cheers
Sculpin

Tofino time!!!!

At least once or twice a year we fish out of Tofino. Jake and I headed out this morning with Tofinoguy for some halibut and springs. Was a great trip as always with Captain Shawn. We love fishing with the guy. Having fun is number one with him. The man knows how to fish.

We went for hali's first and got our limit in about 1/2 hour!

Jake with one on.



A bucket of chicken West Coast style!



With the hali's out of the way we started salmon fishing. Couldn't even get the second rod down before the first one hit. Saw lot's of action during the next couple of hours. Quite a few boats out with everyone of them fighting fish. I love it when at any given moment you can look at the pack and see multiple folks hooked up. Good times for sure.

Jake with one.



Myself with one.



Most of the fish were in the high teens with some around twenty. Released multiple fish around 10-12 lbs. Pretty much non stop action.

Back at the dock.



The local garburator.



On the way home we stopped at the harbour quay. Pretty windy to say the least.



Great day all in all. Thanks again Shawn. You are a blast to fish with!








"I'm not talkin bout pleasure boatin or day sailin......I'm talkin bout workin for a livin"- Captain Quint

Fished the South Bank yesterday afternoon and evening. Fishing was slow to start and smaller fish with lots of shakers. We fished the SE corner and as we progressed into the evening 5-6:30 pm the action picked up considerably.

I took my draftsman out that has never fished the WCVI before and he had a great time regardless of the slow start. "That's fishing" he said. He get's it . He didn't feel sea sick at all and is more than welcome on our boat in the future.

Anyways he hooked a nice 25 lb. chicken to start and proceeded to land a couple of springs in the low teens. He was so into the whole scene. I think he's hooked. We caught 2 more chickens in the 15-20 lb range and limited on chinook in the 10-15 lb range. My hunting buddy , my first mate/son, my draftsman and myself.

Saw lots of bait this time out in the evening and this is the second time this year where things seemed real slow but stuck it out till early evening and it payed off.

We were fishing right off bottom looking for both halibut and springs. Started off using anchovie and picked up one or two. Switched to hootchies one turdish looking and one needle fish picked up a few with those. The action dropped off a bit and my hunting buddy switched to a small 3" pink spoon behind a coho flasher (I was thinking hummm ). Well he had non stop action on that set up for the rest of the evening . I threw on a small 4" wonderbread spoon and had similar results . We caught the remaining fish with the spoons.


Great end to the day with a tub full and a great first time outing for a new WCVI fishman (my draftsman).

Went out Saturday with my hunting buddy, his girlfriend, and his father. Great trip as we got into some nice fish and nobody got sick . Fished the South bank in front of Ukee from 1:00 p.m till 6:00 pm. Fished on bottom for halibut and springs. Lot's of coho around and we managed a couple of hatchery fish in the low teens. Released quite a few wild ones and quite a few smaller springs. We limited on springs in the high teens to 20 lbs. and caught 1 halibut. Lot's of action all afternoon.

Here's the halibut I caught using a 3.5" wonderbread spoon behind a glow green flasher.



A nice spring my buddy's father caught on a hot pink radiant spoon behind a coho special flasher.



Another nice spring caught on cheap bread.



My buddy with one caught using the hot pink spoon.



To mix it up a bit I threw out a T-rex hootchie behind a Purple haze flasher and caught this one as the closer for the day.



Lot's of the springs had pilchards in them. The larger fish were not clipped and were marbled. The coho where caught on the way down or up and right in the prop wash. Nice to get into the surface action these scrappy fish put out

Fished the South Bank off of Ukee on the weekend with my son, buddy , and his father. Fishing was slow to start for us on Saturday but ended up quite nice by late afternoon and evening. We caught quite a few springs in the 20 lb. range and caught a couple of nice chickens. I think we saw our celebrity guide out there too? Gerald was that you out there slaying ? It sure looked like your boat and you slaying fish. I looked over a few times and all I saw was bent rods and a net out .

Sunday was nicer water conditions and my buddies dad and I snook out early and were on the bank by 7:00 am. It was lights out for 1.5 hours and we had to put her in neutral to rest, clean fish, regroup etc. Unreal fishing. Back to Salmon Beach by 10:00 am. Nice to be able to go home early for a change. I have some fish in brine and some fin meat in brine right now ready to smoke tomorrow night

Went out on Saturday July 24th to the South Bank with a couple of my employee's and a good buddy of mine. Got out around 9:00 a.m. Hit 3 teener springs right off the bat on green and white hootchies right on bottom. The action slowed down a bit and switched to purple haze with medium herring and picked up a 45 lb. halibut and a couple of springs around 20 lbs.

Would have stayed out there longer but my employee's both got sick so we felt sorry for them and headed just inside the sound and fished Austin Island. Picked up a 22 lber in the first 5 minutes on green and white hootchie behind a red plaid flasher at 70 ft. in 100 ft of water. Lost a cannon ball on the hump (my bad ) and decided to call her a day.

Beautiful day on the water. Whales everywhere. Gotta love the West Coast .