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Comox
Valley
Fishing for winter springs in
local waters is proving productive. The hot spot for the moment seems to be
between Denman and Hornby Island, though some reports of fish hanging
around the harbor and off Point Holmes have been heard.
Trolling spoons such as cop car, nickel prism, nickel and blue, nickel and
green and ghost rider is a good start for catching those winter fish.
Hootchies like black magic, oil slick, green spatter back, or green and
glow are also great choices.
While the good ol’ stand bys are important to have aboard, make sure to
switch it up and try some of the new proven lures and patterns available.
While Betsy or Green and Glow flashers have been pulling fish out for a
while now, the new Purple Onion and Glow Onion flashers are working wonders.
True roll lures and inline flashers may not be your go to, but the numbers
are hard to argue with!
One factor to remember while targeting winter springs is that often you
will have better success using your favorite patterns in smaller sizes. Where
you would normally use a cuttle fish hootchie or a 5”coyote, try using a
squirt or needlefish hootchie and downsize to a 3.5” or a 4” spoon.
Most of us here on the coast don’t keep an ice auger handy. This means
freshwater fishing for the winter months involves larger bodies of water
and lower altitudes. Regardless of altitude, winter lakes can be very
productive.
While we cannot expect the same ice fishing venue on Maple lake as last
year, fishing remains good just the same. Throwing bait from shore is a
great way to land fish, and it means you won’t have to worry about getting
caught in the middle of the lake with nasty winter weather. Small bright
spoons, and worm/spinner rigs such as wedding bands are solid choices for
maple, though floating a single egg and marshmallow off the bottom seems to
work wonders.
Port Alberni
We're mid January now and steelhead fishing continues to
be very good. The best spots have been somewhere between the bucket and the
falls pool. Some of the better gear being used has been a variety of new UV
spin & glows, Colorado blades and new coloured corkies, such as, the
watermelon and mother of pearl. However, with rain and high water coming
bigger gear will start to be more effective. Good choices would be a
4-6inch pink worm and larger sizes of corkies and spin & glows in the
usual colours.
This is also the time of year when winter spring fishing
in Barkley sound heats up. With reports of good numbers and sizes of
springs getting caught you don’t want to miss out on some of the best
fishing of the year. While there are not as many fish around now compared
to the summer migration, the fish here now are aggressive and are actively
looking for food. The lack of other fishermen on the water will make your
trip that much more enjoyable. Good gear this time of year are coyote
spoons in a blue and chrome, green & glow, cop car and nasty boy. Also Tomic
Roadrunnersare a very good spoon, with
good colours being cop car, army truck and watermelon. Anchovies and
herring are also good bets any time of the year. The best producing
flashers are purple haze, green glow; green silver and red silver.
No matter what you’re fishing for, you can’t catch
anything sitting on the couch. So get out there and wet your line. You
never know!
RIVER MAPS
Nanaimo
Fishing has slowed down out front, but there
is still the odd Chinook being caught out in the Thrasher Rock area. Chum have
started to show up in that area as well. Gear wise, we suggest using a
green/silver or blue/silver 4 inch Coyote spoon trolled behind a green glow
flasher or the Gold Super Betsy. The nasty boy and cop car spoon patterns
have also been producing fish.
The Nanaimo River
has seen good numbers of chum and Coho running up the river this year. A
good method for anglers to target both Chum and Coho is to throw an
assortment of Blue Fox spinners and Gibbs Koho spoons, or wool on a size
1/0-2/0 hook. Just remember to crimp those barbs!
Trout fishing on the local
lakes has picked up as a result of the cooler temperatures, and the recent
stocking of hatchery trout. Most success has been had by trolling black
artificial leaches, or various flat fish patterns behind a gang troll.
Also, you can never go wrong by casting out a simple worm and bobber. Trout
this time of year tend to be in deeper water, so add some extra split-shot
weights on your line to help you get to the proper depths.
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