A Brand New Fishing Season!!!

 The 2021 fishing season is off to a great start. Since Christmas, the winter spring salmon fishing has been very productive. With reference to fisherman in Nanaimo, French Creek and Ladysmith, interestingly, the fish have been much shallower and closer to shore than what we would typically see at this time of year. In fact, there is a report of Chinook being taken from shore in Nanaimo. I am still receiving typical reports of fish at 160ft-200ft so I would suggest running one line shallow and one line deep for the best success rates.

A new line of salmon spoons called the "Loony Spoon" has proven productive for two guides on Gabriola Island. It is out producing their teaser heads by a significant margin.

Closer to Nanaimo, the recommended lures have been "Silver Knight" spoons in Chartreuse Splatter Back, Super Pearl Lucky Charm, and "Skinny G’s" in Harbour Chandler's Custom Green Herring Aid pattern.

A reminder that at the moment we can retain Chinook and are still on last season's license.

Also, prawning will open up on January 15th in area 17 locations that are subject to pulse fishing.

Here in the store, we are stocking up for the season. Hopefully, we will experience less supply issues this year with fishing tackle. However, if we learned anything from 2020, it’s to make sure you don’t leave purchasing critical gear until the last minute. Unfortunately, some items are still unavailable such as charts or Government issue tide guides as the Federal Government is still not producing either.

Tips Up,

Steve Vavrik