Seems Nanaimo guys are doing well on the Irish cream/cookies cream spoons.
Anybody tried them out on the south island ?

Don`t know about the South Island, but it didn`t work today at French Creek.
The rest of the story is that nothing else worked either.
The worst of the story is that the plankton bloom is back as bad as ever.
Lure-washer

Lure-washer:-

Yes ...I heard it was pretty quiet off French creek right now also...

Fish not there. I said to my knowledgable informed source:- " Don't the fish come down through the inside passage from up north and therefore should hit F.C. before they hit Nanaimo?" and he said:- "No...it's the other way around. They come around the south end of the island and then head up".

But why would they come all the way around the south end just to hang around off Nanaimo?
Many of these fish are on their way to other rivers like Harrison, Fraser, and points south.

It's hot fishing off Nanaimo ....but it wasn't hot off Duncan, Chemainus, Ladysmith, or lower Gulf Islands as far as I know.

They get fish off now off Gerald/Ballenas lately....which you can SEE from French Creek.

One theory is that the "winter springs" are actually migratory in nature and the Nanaimo fish are those.
Don't know if I buy that one.

I think it is more about where the bait holes up.
Nanaimo and Gerald have lots of structure for tidal back-eddies etc.

French Creek is basically all-sand bottom with no structure.

I did hear that one guy slammed 'em afew days ago off F.C. using a T-REX squid hoochy (original T-REX not the Yamashita one) and also a B-103PUR PacNet North pacific hoochy ( This Iwas told is the Purple Haze "Splatterback" hoochy...which looks alittle bit different from the generic Purple Haze.).

Fishing on the inside is almost always spotty. Find a school and you get fish in numbers one day, then their gone gone the next tide/day. Right place at the right time be it Nanaimo, nanoose, qualicum. Im curious as to whether the fish do go generally up or down the straight? I have heard that they go up and around which might make sense for feeders but seems odd for mature fish.

As for the spoons im sure if you put a 4 inch green/white coyote infront of a feeding fish it will hit just as often as if its a 4 inch irish cream. The more fisherman hear of a lure working the more it will be used and the more fish it will catch. That said im gonna go pick a few up for the weekend haha.

Kelly, they had some at West Marine a week ago, at a pretty good price.
Lure-washer

Is there any possibility, that the outflow from the Fraser getting carried North, and towards Nanaimo, on a flood tide, have any bearing on Fraser bound fish, following the scent, and wandering up Georgia Strait?
When you fly over the Strait, the darker Fraser water, can be seen a long ways up the Strait, on a flood tide.
Lure-washer

kelly....I think your right....if one is on a school of fish, they aren't going to insist on an Irish Creme spoon only....other stuff will work too.

In a periodical this week I read a note from a guide saying that the "migratories" are on now on their way through the inside passage after coming in from up north. And that these fish are distributed on both sides of the Gulf from mainland to ECVI.

This makes sense to me.

There might be a few fish that come down south all the way around the island up to Nanaimo.

I don't buy the recent DFO argument that "winter feeders" leave here and go south around the end of the island for the winter and then come back here in the spring.
Maybe the odd few do that looking for bait.. But a "resident feeder" is a "resident feeder" in my books. That's why they are called "residents".

Apparently there are "resident" Coho as well. Coho that never go up north but just hang around like Chinooks.

Off F.C. on any given day there are 3 types of presentation,
One is bottom banging the sand shelf in about 200 to 250ft.of water for " residents".........which one can do on anyday.

The other is heading out in to deeper water (800ft. +) and trolling about 140 to 170 for "migratories" as they go through.

Then there is heading over to Lasqueti.....which will produce fish on many a day when fishing is dead at F.C...

There's basically not much place for the bait to "hole up" at F.C......the "Humps" and also either end of the sand plateau on varying tides might create current "slow zones" to some extent. But many of the "residents" IMO are on the sand bottom poking around for SandLance.

I have seen "emerging frye" baitballs off F.C. at times in the summer. These baitballs always seem to be up near the surface and in fairly shallow water ( 70 ft.) even in the middle of the day.

I never see anybody driftfishing or trolling around these baitballs except on the rare occasion, like in September when the Coho are supposed to show up.
The average guy just goes out and "bottom bounces" the sand off F.C.....the White Door used to be the hotspot....now it's the 'Humps".
The fish habits haven't changed, just people's perception and the "herd" mentality. If a guy gets a fish off the Humps, then everybody goes there.

Boy did this thread ever wander off topic ??

At first glance it appears that way..... .......but you have to read carefully between the lines, put together the pieces, and come up with the "big" picture.

There are a handful of spoons that will work anywhere around the island and elsewhere as far as Puget Sound and some points north.

The Irish Creme is one of these. It is really an older color pattern but with a couple of great improvements.

It is a "use anywhere" pattern for Chinooks.

As is the Coyote "Cop Car" and also the Zurtro "Rosco" ( a much improved version of the Cop Car pattern) as well as the Silver Horde "Cookies and Creme' which is also a very good improvement on the Cop Car pattern.

Silver Horde makes some very good patterns, many of which work very well anywhere around the island.

The Silver Horde "Kingfisher Lite" series of spoons is a good all-round choice. The Silver Horde 'Sonic Edge' spoons are designed to be trolled a tad faster.

This does not mean that Coyote and Gibbs spoons don't work.......it just means that the Irish Creme is a damn good spoon to have around.

It is a good ECVI spoon because we tend to fish a little deep basically. So the "glow ' capability is good plus the built-in U/V.

Will it work off Victoria? Yes.
Will it work off Sooke? Yes.
Will it work off Sidney? Yes.

On a given day, at a given time, at a given depth, on a given tide, and....depending on the color of the water......there are about 20 lures/rigs or more which will all work at a given location around the island.

There are several "go-to" presentations that one should have on hand regardless.
I would lump the Silver Horde Irish Creme in with these....if fishing over 80ft. down.

Cheers.......

I might add that if one is using a 3.5" or 4" spoon and the fish are feeding on bait much bigger or smaller than that and if they are feeding on such things as needlefish etc. then another lure might be a better choice at that time.

Try one rig on one side and a different rig on the other and see what they like on that day.

Cheers........

Sometimes it's not the brand of spoon so much as it is how the particular spoon works.

Colors make a difference....but......


(1) The hook size on any spoon affects the action. A smaller hook frees up the spoon to work more...at slower speeds.
(2) The bigger the hook, the more baggage you've got on the back of the spoon.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing. It will work better at faster speeds.
(3) If your spoon comes with a swivel up front you can slow the roll effect down with abigger hook.
(4) If the spoon comes with a "fluttertail" take careful note of which side they have the fluttertail on. Sometimes you can change up the action on the spoon by putting the fluttertail on the other side so it is the reverse of the way it came.
This will change the action.
(5) If you put a new hook on to the rear jump ring.......you can put it on with the tine of the hook either facing inwards (concave)...or.....outwards (convex).
Putting it outwards will change the action.
(6) In lighter, thin metal spoons sometimes a slight crimp with a pair of plastic tipped pliers in the right spot will be just enough to add a "wounded fish" hesitation. (Don't do this on the front of the spoon).
(7) If you are running the spoon behind a flasher....the leader poundage will have an effect on how the spoon works.......I like 30lb. test. but many prefer at least 40lb. or better. For sport fishing I can't see using 60lb. test with a spoon that is say, 5ft. behind a flasher (unless it's a fairly big spoon......which the 4" Coyote and Irish Creme isn't).
(8) Light metal spoons you can bend a tad at the back end...to tune them. I've seen spoons that were bent so many times back into shape after getting twisted up by fish....and some of them were killers, the more they got bent and re-bent in an effort to get them back to "normal"