Winter Springs

I was wondering If someone could tell me when the winter springs come in.... Places like hole in the wall....And where could I fish right now...I have a boat.... so places in the ocean... Some please respond....Thank you

Winter spring fishign is in fact not that difficult if you know how. Basically, drag the canon ball along the bottom or off it ever now and then if its a muddy or sandy bottom. 100ft usually and below if its real deep. Depednign no area, read fishign reports. As for lures, green and glow teaser heads with anhovies, J-79, mint tulip, green ghosr squirts are some good ones, and as for spoons, coyote 4.0 in green/glo or mongoose are what I've had luck with. Flashers are up to you.

As for locations, I have heard many things about the shipping lanes and off pt. atkinson, if you're fishign over near vancouver island I can give you lots of great spots.
Chris the best bet is the other side of Bowen Island.
On one tide try Hutt Island,the other tide Tunstall Bay.
Which tides when?
Ah Well that's fishin'!
Also the dropoff near where the freighters anchor in English Bay.
Never had much luck for winters at Hole-In-The-Wall myself.
Keep flashers to a minimum because the water is somewhat clearer in winter.
Spoons are said to work well, ask Mike(who used to work at Berry's) at Nikka downtown which ones, he's a great guy.
Watch out for undersized fish measure carefully.

Carl, Are you talkin about Mike "steimie" Steinman? Isn't he a manager at Nikka now, at least thats what he told me.

Chris, A word of advice. I normally like to troll with at least a flat of the good stuff to start behind the boat. I call it natures way of cooling the good ones for me, but you really gotta watch the water temperature out there for winter springs. If its too cold it'll freeze the beers and pop the cans and you'll have no more beers left, so just be careful. I wouldn't want to lose the be- I mean fish and blow a whole trip out there. Some things are there for neccessity and some are for luxury, believe me these are neccessities I'm talking about.

Hate to sound negitive about my favorite winter past time,but the waters around Vancouver are void of sealife!
No bait=No winter springs.
If you can get over to the gulf Islands(ActivePass area)Navy channal sometimes has good numbers.

If you want to live in a city with the best winter spring fishing in the world,head for Victoria.You can usually get your limit in a couple hours right in front of the city!But dont tell anbody eh!

Oncorhynchus
That wouldn't by any chance be off the breakwater would it? I remember going there as an 8-9 year old kid. My cousin always got me to fish on the wrong side of the breakwater. I was always afraid that I would get washed away by the waves. Do people still fish off the breakwater? Or are you talking about between the cemetary and the point?

Oncorhynchus, that hooked-nosed old curmudgeon, needs to have a better look around.
This past summer was the best for bait I've ever seen in 25 years fishing aroung Vancouver, at times the West Van waterfront was teeming with all sizes of baitfish and Salmon Smolts.
Just today I saw about 10 cormorants and a Seal diving on bait in False Creek, the tide had washed in a huge ball of Baby Herring as it often does these days.
That being said this increased abundance has yet to result in an increase in Salmon numbers, considering the hammering that both Springs and Coho took 4 years ago during the El Niņo years it's not surprising.
As to 'Sea Life' I'll put our Seal population up against anybodies anytime(!)

I agree with Carl. Howe Sound this year and the West Van shoreline we caught lots of undersized Chinook. I was out a couple of weekends ago and got a nice winter by Hutt Island that was just over 10lbs. Now for this time of year you usually have to work pretty hard to get a fish over the legal limit but the abundance of bait has greatly increased the size of these fish. I cant wait till the spring after they have had a winter of feeding.

With the Seals they are terrable I bet you lost a couple this year fishing the Pink Apartment area eh Carl.
chris (123)
did you get to fish when you went to sechelt???

bet you never made that call did you???

There is ALWAYS lots of bait in the bay.This past september there was one guy doing well on herring jigged from just off Pt>Grey.When I used to Guide out of Granville Isl. we saw herring come and spawn on our hulls.Bait flipping every where.

Back to Articles page