Fall Coho

The Fall Coho season has arrived. Sometimes known as northern Coho, these are my favorite salmon. They fight harder than any other, and taste better than anything except maybe a fresh Sockeye. And that's a big maybe. I find the bright orange flesh from a scrappy Coho, caught on a crisp fall day from cold water, is hard to beat. Right now it is best to get out and troll from a boat, but we are starting to see the beach fishing for them begin. There are some nice ones at Entrance Island and Thrasher Rock right now. Try trolling green and white hootchies at 80-100 feet. Another great lure that I use are the Gold Star Coho Killers in Green Haze and Purple Haze. We were finally able to get another order of the Coho Killers in. The one other pattern I use at this time of year are Halloween spoons (orange and black). Seems goofy but they work for Coho. More so when they are right off the Estuaries than out in the salt chuck. I use the Hot Spot UV flashers, again in Purple and Green Haze for this fishy. Although, I had a report of someone having excellent success with Allure flashers. I have caught Chinook with the Allure gear, so why not Coho. In invertebrate news Prawning and Crabbing is excellent right now. The commercial season is long since passed, to prawn numbers being high right now. Here in the store we have an incredible deal on our Red Tent prawn traps. $19.99 down from $40 while our stock lasts. Basically we need to clear out a lot of stuff before we do our inventory. Also the opal squid has been reported in the harbours and bays in the Nanaimo area. I used to jig them at night from docks with big lights when I lived in Ucluelet. It's a super fun thing to do. Fresh calamari it great. Also a reminder, Ling Cod and Rock Cod are closed for the season. And finally, sorry about the wait between reports. I was too busy lazing about in the sun, eating BBQ'd oysters and smoked salmon clam chowder on Texada Island. Tips up, Steve V