Saturday’s heavy rain and strong SE winds were replaced Sunday by warm temperatures, sunshine and just a whisper of wind — opening up the whole island for the first time in a couple of weeks.
But with more water to choose from, Chinook fishing continues to be best along the Graham Island shore, with most boats focusing on the waters from Bruin Bay to Seath Point — and best here on the ebb tide.
There have been some flurries through Chanal Reef and out by Cape Knox, but there definitely seems to be more action around the Pillar Bay area.
The shallow waters behind Boulder Point are still yielding the best bites, as this little bay seems to be holding an endless supply of needlefish which the salmon are keying on. Gunia Point had a really good bite Sunday afternoon, later in the ebb tide.
Around Langara, Andrews Point continues to be the most consistent spot, producing a few Chinook in closer to the beach and lots of Coho salmon as far off shore as you want to go.
37-pound Chinook salmon, caught and released.
Coho seem to be hanging out everywhere from Cohoe Point all the way around to Lacy Island, mostly offshore and shallow. And in impressive sizes, with most over 10-pounds now and a few around 15-pounds.
With the island opening up, we had a run on bottom fishing. It was best off the west side and around the nub off the NW corner, where lots of 20-30 pound Halibut were brought up — best in 280-300 feet of water with herring and salmon pieces for bait.
Transient Killer whales have been spotted cruising past the island a few times this week, and there’s a few Humpback whales always present around Pillar Bay and Egeria Bay. The larger groups of Humpbacks continue to gather farther offshore — you can usually spot their flumes along the horizon, especially early or late in the day.
