The ‘2024 Salmon season is shaping up to be nothing short of spectacular!!! In 2023, salmon anglers around Vancouver and southern BC waters enjoyed numbers of fish that haven’t been seen in years. And in fact, Canada’s Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently released their statistics which reflects this historical abundance of salmon. Some highlights: * in the immediate Vancouver area, summer return chinook salmon (stock 4.1) to the Fraser River in 2023 were estimated at an astounding 627,000 fish - which is about 6 times the average annual return for the past decade! In addition, another indicator stock for the fall return chinook salmon to the same river was also over twice the escapement goal. * in the southern Georgia Strait, another indicator stock from the Cowichan River was estimated to be over three times the escapement goal, and has been well over this goal for the past several years. In short, most of the runs of chinook salmon on the south coast of BC are very healthy and at high levels of abundance. In addition, last year also saw a great abundance of coho (silver) salmon, and huge numbers of pink salmon as well. Bottom line - 2024 is shaping up to be another one for the record books, so if salmon fishing is on your to-do list, conditions couldn’t be much better! Be sure to book your spot early, and let’s go fishing!

Winter in Vancouver has been unseasonably warm so far, and the fishing for our scrappy, chrome-bright Winter chinook salmon has already been better than in most years! Good fishing and not having to shovel snow out of the boat has sure been a welcome change this winter! Our 2023 summer and fall salmon fishery was one for the record books, and luckily this abundance of fish seems to have carried over to this year’s winter fishery as well! Dropping traps for spot prawns and dungeness crabs is a fun, added bonus of the Winter Special charters only, and catches of both this year have also been strong! Uncrowded waters, and the spectacular scenery of the snow-capped west coast mountains surrounding Howe Sound make the winter fishing season one of our favorite times of the year to be out on the water. And so far this winter, the water and the fishing have been just fine!

The salmon season in Vancouver has been spectacular all summer! Good numbers of chinook, coho, and huge numbers of pink salmon have kept the action consistent, and often, hot and heavy! We are now coming into the time of year we catch our biggest chinook of the season! Last September/October was terrific, and with the great season we've had so far, this year promises to be just as good, if not better! Weather has been the only wild card, with many days too windy to get out - but other than that, this has already been a season to remember!

Although we are lucky enough in Vancouver to be able to fish for chinook salmon year round, Spring marks the beginning of our main salmon season, as migrating fish also begin to show up in local waters. And for weather and fishing, Spring came in like a lion this year! May saw hot, summer-like weather, virtually no rain, and the chinook salmon fishing was on fire! In fact, on a lot of days its seemed like double-headers were more common than catching single fish! June has been more seasonable, and the first coho of the year showed up in numbers, adding to the already great chinook fishing! Vancouver area waters will also see a big run of Pink salmon soon, as they are on a two year cycle. This year, Pinks will arrive in the millions starting in July and they always provide lots of action and good fun. Add it all up and we’ve already enjoyed a great start to what promises to be a terrific salmon season this year! Let’s go fishing!

As we finally get a break from torrential rainstorms, then snow and freezing temperatures, both the weather and the winter Chinook salmon fishing around Vancouver is heating up! Over the past week, we've been getting good action on spoons and hootchies trolled right off the bottom, behind green or black flashers. Winter or "feeder" chinook around Vancouver range about 8-12 pounds, are scrappy and very good eating! In our area, these fish need to be 62cm to be legal, and over the past week, our ratio of undersized to keepers was about 3 to 1, but they are all great fun when the bite comes on (see video). Catches of delectable spot prawns have also been good - a staple part of our winter fishing program! After almost two months of really bad weather, it is nice to get back out on the water and find good fishing!

September started well with three chinook to the boat today on a half-day, morning charter, on the first day of the chinook regulations allowing 2 fish a day, per angler in Area 29, outside of the mouth of the Fraser River. Green flashers with anchovies in various teaser heads were the ticket for us this morning. The chrome army truck and green glow splatterback teaser heads produced for us today, fishing fairly shallow - no deeper than 60 feet all morning. The pink salmon also continue to provide good action in the local area, and we also released one wild coho. With glassy calm waters and solid sunshine, all in all it was a great start to September! Lets go fishing!