Orcas!

August 6, 2008

We found a pod of about 20 Orcas about 6 miles off-shore from Esperanza Inlet.

Halibut!

Here is our catch from August 7, 2008

55 & 90 pound Halibut and a bunch of Yelloweye and Canary Rockfish, plus one Lingcod, and one Chinook and one Coho Salmon.

Election 2008

Early Season Mixed Bag Fishing

Here is my latest fishing video.

Join Jim Hicks & Kevin Gray of San Francisco, California, and myself as we hunt for Salmon and Halibut in the waters around Nootka Island.



Enjoy!

Before and After

Jim’s Beer Batter Fried Fish

1 Egg
1 12 oz. Can of Beer (Canadian)
1-1/8 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Salt (Sea Salt)
¾ Tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Paprika
½ Tsp White Sugar

Mix all ingredients.
Wash fish in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
Roll fish in flour.
Dip in Batter.
Deep Fry at 350 until Golden. – Be careful not to let stick to wire basket in fryer.
Drain cooked fish on paper towels, lightly salt, and serve.

Tartar Sauce

1 Cup Helman’s Mayonaise
2 Pickles – Finely Chopped
½ Medium White Onion – Finely Chopped.
1 Tsp Parsley
½ Tsp Tarragon
½ Tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
½ Tsp White Sugar
Juice of ½ Fresh Lemon

Mix ingredients and put in fridge. Best if prepared a few hours or a day in advance.

Friday the 13th - Bad Luck & Good Luck

Left to Right: Kevin Gray, Jim Hicks, both from San Francisco, CA, Jim Pook, Tahsis.

Got up at 4:15 AM after about 3 hours sleep and headed down to the dock to meet Jim Hicks and Kevin Gray to board Jim's boat "Defiance".

The plan was to run out to Maquinna Point on the outside South end of Nootka Island in search of Halibut after friends Tyler and his dad Don reported that they had lost a huge Halibut there that was too big for them to lift into the boat with the gaff they had.

Friday the 13th took its revenge and gave us Gale Force winds on the outside. However we were able to troll for Salmon from Maquinna Point back to the Nootka Lighthouse around Wash Rock and Eagle Rock. A couple of passes of the prime Salmon holding spots gave up only one small Lingcod that was released unharmed.

We trolled our way around the Lighthouse to Friendly Cove and managed to catch one small Chinook. I gave up on the Anchovy/Flasher combo and put on one of my favorite hootchies, which was hit by a nice Chinook shortly afterwards. Problems with the Scotty Downrigger brake took my attention away from the fish to stop a free-falling downrigger ball just long enough for slack line to drop the barbless hook.

As it was now slack tide around 10:30 AM we decided to try our hand at a Halibut drift outside of Friendly Cove. I picked up a nice Yelloweye around 240' and shortly afterward got hit by what I thought would be another Yelloweye - 50 turns of the Penn 340 reel handle and all of a sudden this fish came to life, pulling line quickly from a very tight drag! Halibut! I cranked it up from about 320' and got it to the surface after a couple of short runs back toward the bottom.

I loosend the drag a bit and handed the rod to Jim while I picked up the harpoon. Before I could line up the fish for a clear shot it headed down and stripped a 100' of line from the reel. I took back the rod and cranked him back toward the surface and a future date with some beer batter and a deepfryer.

At the surface I handed off the rod to Jim again and lined up with the harpoon - perfect shot, dead center through the stomach. I was almost disapointed that he did not make a final run to the end of the rope.

A quick hoist over the side and he was on the deck of the boat. Gills cut and put in the fish box, I had to make another cut in the tail to fold him up to close the lid!

We spent another hour or so drifting the area, but with wind, waves and tide picking up, it was time to head home. Back at the dock, the Halibut weighed in at 39 pounds.

Fish are Here!

I finally have something to report!

Left the dock today about 7:30 AM and headed out to Esperanza Inlet with the intention of fishing Rosa Harbour area. Outside seas were calm enough that we ventured outside to the Highway.

Fishing was pretty slow, until we got a little closer to Ferrer Point. We were running three lines on two downriggers bracketing 100' in 300 - 280' of water. No signs of bait or fish on the sounder. Had a good hit on the upper rod with a Green & Glow 3.5" Coyote spoon - no flasher. Fish spit the hook after about 30 seconds of play. While reeling in, spoon was hit a second time and again spit after a minute or so of fighting the fish.

We decided to see if we could get some Halibut and tried drifting and back-trolling from 150' to a 90' hump just SE of Ferrer Pt. Picked up a nice Yelloweye, and two China Rockfish.

After getting a radio report of fish hitting at Ferrer, we moved in and started trolling two lines at 35' & 40'. After a bit, we hit what was the most amazing fish I have ever seen! It hit the outside rod, a Watermellon Apex lure with no flasher and almost spooled the 200 yards of line off the reel in one long sustained run toward shore that had Jim Hicks convinced that he was hooked on bottom until I pointed out that we were drifting toward the direction the line was running in. I believe that the fish made it into the kelp and the line broke at the swivel. Jim will be re-tieing his leaders before the morning!

Jim's partner Kevin picked up a nice 12 pound Chinook in the same spot about 20 minutes later on an green FBR (Franko Bullet Rotator) with anchovy, again with no flasher.
A while later, we picked up a nice 5 pound Coho on the before mentioned Coyote spoon. No flasher. Am I seeing a trend here?

We fished Rosa for an hour, seeing lots of bait balls and some solid fish returns on the sounder, but no bites.

Upon getting back to the dock in Tahsis, we learned that Tyler and his dad, Don also hit some very nice hard fighting fish in the same area that we were in at Ferrer.

The chinook we landed was a nice white Spring. Coho was had for a late dinner, soaked in Orange Juice and various spices to which I want the recipe before the guys leave town on Saturday!

Getting Ready for Fishing Season 2008

Here is a photo of Derek painting the roof of the Sushi Hunter. Finally, I get to cover up that ugly gray paint the previous owner put up there!

All the mechanical/tune-up work has been done. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor, change of oil in the motor and the outdrive. Everything powerwashed, and cleaned. Another days work and everything should be ready to put her back in the water and go chasing Salmon, Halibut, Prawns & Crabs!

I have also bought a couple of new fishing rods, Berkley Lightenings, that I am looking forward to trying out. They are much lighter than my Shimano rods and should make fighting the fish much more fun! If they work out the way I think they will, I'll get a couple more for spares.

In spite of the doom and gloom our friends to the South are experiencing, it looks like we will have a good season here in Tahsis. Should be some nice big Chinook caught here this year. I can hardly wait!

Prawn Fishing Video on YouTube

At long last, I've finished work on the Tahsis Prawns video. Check it out here and please leave comments here and on the YouTube page.




This video features Bob Franko showing how to catch Spotted Prawns in Tahsis Inlet and surrounding waters. Enjoy!

More Prawn Fishing in Tahsis, BC Canada

Here is a couple of great photos of Bob Franko with our combined catch of Spotted Prawns, and a Dungeness Crab that came up as a hitchhiker on one of the Prawn traps. Bob and I each had 4 traps that we fish.

We are allowed 4 Prawn traps and 2 crab traps per fishing license. Day's limit of Prawns is 200 per license, and a possession of 400.

Prawn Fishing in Tahsis, BC Canada

I've been going out with friend Bob Franko recently to do some Prawn fishing. This photo should give you a quick idea of how good it has been. With 8 traps out between us, we are getting between 250 to 300 Prawns each day. Enough that we can eat our fill and still put some in the freezer for another day!

New Video of 2007 Fishing Season

Just finished loading this new video to YouTube - Enjoy!

The new fishing season will soon be starting, I can't wait to get that first fish into the boat!

Just for the Halibut - Fishing Video

Just for the Halibut



Fishing for Halibut on the Wild West Coast of Vancouver Island

Fishing Videos

Here is a short video from August, 2007:

A Little Snow in Tahsis the Other Day

Still water and fresh snow made Tahsis Postcard perfect a few days ago. Two nights of snow left about 10 to 12 inches of snow around town.

What a Great, but Strange Fishing Season!

Well, the summer fishing season is over and I finally have some time to reflect on what happened this year.

We caught lots of fish, but what a strange year it was for those of us on the West Coast of Vancouver Island!

Normally, we go out and catch Salmon, Halibut, and various bottomfish. This year, we were out chasing Tuna! We also had many reports of people hooking large Humbolt Squid, and one local Tahsis Guide hooked a 147 pound Opah, or Moonfish. Normally these fish are caught in Hawaii. This one took 3 people and 2 hours to land!

There were lots of small "Chicken" Halibut around. We were catching them while trolling for Salmon at 100' in 180' of water - 80' off of the bottom! This is a good sign for the future - there should be lots of bigger Halibut here in coming years.

Big Fish Coming In !

There are reports of lots of big Salmon coming in to the docks at Tahsis. A couple of days ago I picked up a 39 pound Chinook for client James Buckley from Seattle, WA. Nice fish, bigger than the average 25 to 30 pound fish that we see daily here.

Today, I am hearing reports of Chinook Salmon in the high 40's and even a couple at 54 and 57 pounds! These are the big fish that we have been expecting, and they are in the area NOW!

The New Sushi Hunter

Here is a photo of the new Sushi Hunter.

Lots to Report!

Wow! Lots of new stuff to report - where to beging?







First of all, I have a new and larger boat! The new Sushi Hunter is a 26' Campion Toba Hardtop Cruiser. This is a great boat for family fishing trips. Lots of room to move around in, and protection from extremes of sun and rain. There is a private marine head (toilet) - essential for those long fishing trips!

I have the newest, best and biggest electronics, a new Lowrance LCX-112c GPS/Chartplotter/Fishfinder unit that is truly amazing to fish with. I have a brand new Icom IC-422 VHF Marine Radio with DSC that will transmit the exact location of the boat to the Coast Guard in the event of an emergency (hopefully never to be tested!). On top of all of that, the boat catches fish!

Fishing in the Tahsis area has been very good this year with lots of feisty Coho and great fighting Chinook to test your fishing skills. Lots of Chicken Halibut up to about 20 pounds with a great many big fish showing in the last week in the 100 to 150 pound class!

If you are thinking of a fishing trip this season, phone or email me as soon as possible as there are only a few dates available before the end of the fishing season. Don't wait, do it now!

Jim's New Blog!

Welcome to my new blog!

The purpose of this blog is to provide up to the date fishing reports for Tahsis, BC. Reports will be mostly from the Esperanza Inlet area on the North side of Nootka Island, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Occasionally, I will include reports from the Nootka Sound area, on the South side of Nootka Island, as well as the off-shore areas to the West of Nootka Island.

I will try to give you as much detail in the reports as possible: area, species, depth, lure, etc.


- Jim
www.JimsFishing.com