On Friday, April 11, I was privileged to take out my newly refitted 23 ft Hourston Glascraft for its maiden fishing trip on the waters of Nanaimo, and what a trip it was. A clear blue sky, radiant sunshine, calm waters and a good group of anglers/friends. The day started out slow which was fine for me as I familiarized myself with the new boat and equipment. About 2 hours later, we where into our first fish. A few good tugs and a little rip of the reel, it was fish 1, anglers 0. We trolled around the same area (just off Neck point) before moving out into deeper water northwest of Five Fingers. The conversation was flowing on the topic of fine-tuning the Hourston when the rod went off again. This time, the hook was set and the fight was on! With all the excitement going on, we almost missed the pounding on the other side of the boat…, woa, a double header! Both fish were brought in, the first being a beautiful 15lb white chinook salmon and the second a young juvenile that was quickly released. First fish for the start of a new season. But it wouldn’t be the last one. Minutes later,after getting the gear down again, we were into 2 more, another smaller one and another fairly large one that just wasn’t hooked well (another way of humbly saying “the fish got away”). Well, that’s fishing as they would say. Nonetheless, our first trip in early April was totally amazing suggesting 2 things: a) the new Hourston of Reel Time Fishing Charters is fishy (not to mention very fishable) and b) looks like the predictions of a great year is looking more like a dream come true :-).
Just a couple of tips for those of you who may be heading out and fishing the waters off Nanaimo for the first time. Fish deep, between 100-120 ft. Troll between 2 1/2 – 3 miles per hour, and shorten up on your leaders for hootchies. A very successful Hootchie pattern is the green splatter back. A good place to start might be a kilometer or two northwest of the fingers in the 250-500 ft depth.
From Reel Time Fishing Charters, all the best. Rod tips up, lines tight, let the 2014 fishing season begin 🙂