John Falavolito, Westview Marina & Lodge
Canada Day July 1 it is the start of the:
Best Of The Best Fishing/Catching for Salmon is now upon us!! Yes all the efforts of the federal hatchery at Conuma River and the many volunteer hatchery efforts at the Burman, Gold and the Canton Rivers in Nootka Sound and the Tahsis, Leiner and Zeballos Rivers in Esperanza Inlet are paying off BIG TIME. With over 4 million Chinook/Springs/Kings fry & 2 million Coho/Silvers fry being released annually, an average of 84,000 salmon are returning to Nootka & Esperanza Annually.
COME GET YOUR SHARE!!! Before the first fall rains arrive these fish will be stacked up and hungry at all the usual places.
In Esperanza the Glory Hole between Catala Is. and Double Is., Rosa Harbour and Pin Rks. In Nootka at Coopte Pt., Fidalgo Passage and Camel Rk. All of these areas are basically inside water fishing. While the outside water of Esperanza and Nootka remain productive it is usually not necessary to go outside to fill your fish box as the salmon move inside the sound and inlet. GEAR for the inside waters: Flashers Hi Vis, UV reflective & Glow patterns work BEST. Baits- Rapala FlashFlys, Double Glow Hoochies, Glow Cop Car Coho Killers, Glow Dark Green Lighthouse lures and the same colours with GLOW Coyote spoons will all get the job done. Have you noticed the theme GLOW! Whatever you use make it Glow or Double Glow. As always, all of the fore mentioned baits are imitating Anchovies & Needle Fish bait. A properly rolling Anchovy will normally out fish most artificial baits. The trick is getting it to roll properly. Most of the anchovy headers out there will help with this. Again Cop Car Glow scale pattern or Green Glow headers work well. Read and follow the instructions on the package then hold on FISH ON! Depth and speed of trolling your bait off your downrigger varies with location, time of day and tides BUT, generally you want to fish just above the bait you will be seeing on your sounder 30-50 ft. speed 2.5 mph +/- .5mph.
BOTTOM FISH- 2018 has proven to one of the BEST years ever for 30 to 45 lb Halibut & 15 to 35 lb Ling Cod. Stop by the Westview Marina & Lodge Tackle Shop and we will get the charts out, with GPS #s and point you to the HOT SPOTS for these delicious fish.
John Falavolito 250-934-7672 or 800-992-3252
Westview Marina & Lodge
Serving the Vacationing, Cruising and Fishing Public for 26 Years
N49* 55’ 13 W126* 39’ 78.5
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