Fishing Shallow

Normally around Nanaimo we all fish from 140-180 ft. However, sometimes it pays to change things up. If you mark bait at a different depth then fish that depth! Over the last week several good fishermen I know have caught Chinook at various odd ball depths. 40-70 feet off Neck point produced a bunch of nice fish (up to mid twenties in size) over the last couple evenings. 3" Pink Sink and Evil Eye spoons with Green Haze flashers worked. Another different thing that's seems to be producing fish are the "Lure Charge" spoons in Army Tank, and Green Tiger patterns. I've never used them myself, but bought one this week as several experienced fishermen I know came in reporting excellent results with them. Including experimenting with the lure by changing the flasher, depth and side of boat. In each case the lure charge lure continued to catch springs while the other gear did not. The spoons are voltage tuned to emit .65 volts to attract Chinook. One story I heard from one guy was last year he was hitting nothing but pink salmon until he put down a Lure Charge lure, and immediately started getting Chinook. Once a different lure was send down it was back to Pinks. I suspect Pinks probably key into the same voltage as Sockeye, which is .75 volts. Either was I'm convinced to try them. After all, all those old commercial trollers swear by the old scotty black box. These lures do the same thing, except cost $7.99 instead of $800! We also have a lure charge device that is a portable black box for $20. It gets attached to your downrigger clip and produces an salmon attracting electric field. It is available in Chinook and Sockeye voltage. Speaking of sockeye, I'm hearing some good reports from Alberni. Overall the fish are running deeper than normal, try Gold Star pink/glow head hootchies (such as Michael Bait 2.5 MB182) 80ft or deeper. If the fish shallow up, switch to pink/blue hootchies like Michael Bait 2.5 MB182. Also remember Sockeye are schooling fish, so running Daisy Chain flashers can really help you catch more fish than the other guys. In fact, if you leave a bunch of flashers in the water you can get a Sockeye school to follow your 'school' of fish, and take them with you to say the less crowded side of the Cannel...