Canadian TUNA?

[Pilar]

Does anyone have any idea about TUNA! off Vancouver Island? We are going there in August and have heard rumours of this fishery. My guess is that it is much like our local fishery was before the dogs started barking it up.

We are going to the north end on the inside. The fishery is on the west side and rumoured to be 30 to 40 miles offshore.

Any info is welcome, locations would be the thing and 1st hand knowledge would be the shizzle.

Anyone?

[Mark Mc]

Hi John, well there is a substantial Canadian jig boat fleet. They do pretty much what the other big jig boats from OR & CA do....they start early in the year way down & out, and work their way north as the season progresses.

If you were to look at the sea temp archives for, let's say August, it should show you what the likely locations would be.

My guess is that, the further north you get, the shorter a shot (time-frame) there would be, at least in close.

[skein]

DO NOT GO TO VANCOUVER ISLAND!

It is a bad, bad place with evil lurking around every point and island. There are sandy flats with mysterious dropoffs. There are vicious tide rips that will froth and roar. There are even whirlpools that will suck you in. And there are orcas (yes, KILLER WHALES) that will circle your boat until you go mad!

That's why I've been going there for 17 years. I went once and was forever hopelessly hooked.

But you asked about TUNA! didn't you? Here's what I know, and, Chris, jump in if I'm wrong.

Drive to Port Alice and launch, then follow Neroutsos Inlet to Quatsino Sound and head west past Winter Harbor until you find the Big Blue Lake. It's a pretty good run from Alice, so you will probably want to fuel at Winter Harbor. It's a ****** show there, so don't look or talk like a Californian, and you may want to keep the wimmin hid since these guys don't see real live girls too often, and it's hard for them to hide their interest. :grin:

The TUNA! are about the same range offshore as ours, and the conditions are similar. The farther north you go, the rougher it gets, but the sound is wide and deep so there's no bar to think about, and there's lots of little islands to hide behind if you need to.

The Idaho guy has been after me to go TUNA! hunting with him while he's up there, and we have some mutual friends who know the area - and boating - far, far better than I do.

I'll bring my maps and charts to the next TA meeting and we'll chat a bit. But don't blame me when you want to go back - and go back - and go back.

Skein

[Pilar]

Jim, we need to talk.

Is there a 12 step for Vancouver island?

[Miss B Haven]

No info on Tuna up there but I know some folks who have spent quite a bit of time up there. The Sea and the Fog can be a real pain that time of year on the West Side. Lots of rough water days and fog as thick as thieves. One friend just gave up trying because they always got stuck inside the inlets (and these were 2 or 3 week trips he was doing). He switched to the East side of the island (Port Macniel) because of that.

The yachties I know that go to Barkley and farther North always go in May/June because of he bad weather later in the season. Of course the big runs of Chinook aren't there at that time either (those are almost all OUR Chinook going by of course).

[NorthRiverRick]

John,

When exactly are you going and where will you be staying? I'm always up there in the first week of August at Telegragh Cove Resort, we have a house on the boardwalk. If you're in the neighborhood I'll buy you a beer and BBQ!

[Mark Mc]

August '04 composite:
[image] [/image]



Sept '04 composite:
[image] [/image]

Draw your own conclusions....

[skein]

Hey, Mark, ya got one of those that shows the northern tip of the island? That inlet at the top of your pic is where we're talking about.

John, Miss B is right, there's bad fog conditions when it gets hot inland, same as here. The only times I've been out there, usually late July early August, the weather has been beautiful but I know it can get bad. There's a hike out to the west coast from Holberg to San Josef bay where you feel like you're in Mexico. Gorgeous white sand and gentle waves. Last time I was there a couple of guys were surfing in their canoe.

But just like anywhere, it can get nasty quickly, and the fog can be thick, thick, thick.

Skein

[Boatful]

Rick:
See you there!! Gonna be there (Telegraph, Alder Bay, Echo Bay and other local attractions) first week in August with the whole fan-damily!!

First, though, we gotta pass the Coastal Nav class so we can find the dock after finding the fish!! We'll be chasing salmon and hali's inside, not tuna.
Brian

[jacksalmon]

Mark: Can you stretch that temp map to include Quatsino Sound on the northwestern end of the island? Thanks if you can.

[Mark Mc]

Here y'are.... the next size image (zoom out) does not have the detail the other one has, but you get the idea. Plenty of warm water out there....connected to "down below", and good breaks too.

This image is a composite for the last half of August '04

[image] [/image]

[kenai]

Looks like the tuna highway is a long road. I will be on the West coast (nootka sound) this August as well. I was hoping I should pack the feathers and clones. I used to fish the east side quite some time ago, I hear it has made a dramatic comeback in the salmon fishery.

[jacksalmon]

Hey Pilar: I have fished Winter Harbour which is on the outside far up north and Port Hardy on the inside. I understand you will be at Port McNeil which is on the inside. You can drive to Coal Harbour from Port Hardy, 12 miles, and take the inlet 28 miles to WHarbour. From there you are on the open ocean. The boys up there told me last year that there are tuna around, but they are 30 to 40 miles out. My experience is that there are good days and bad days with the fog and wind as usual. I assume with Mark's temp maps there will be tuna around, particularly from what I heard. But, the salmon/halibut/ling cod fishing is muy excelente and we didn't explore for tuna. You can even keep yelloweye up there. The limits are very generous, but they have strange packaging laws, which must be strictly complied with in case Sergeant York wants to look in your cooler. It's a very remote setting (no grocery store) and well worth the trip, particularly since you will be nearby anyway. Wish I could give you more details on the tuna, but the rumors are good.

[tomictime]

..dunno but from the map, looks like Brooks pulls warm water in..but brooks can also be quite a nasty place (which is good, keeps the weenies and wannabes away - which frankly is why so many - including me love island time..that and big Kings in the surf line.but I am sidetracked

..You will be N of there. Also, something to consider is that Go-Juice is going to be $4 + a gallon up there this year..and you have quite a run just to buy more at Winter Hbr. You will need radar, the run to winter hbr is often done in stuff that scares the WASS GPS and Autopilot..and the logging crew boats do it at 25 Kts...
You may also want radar on the inside. You will have fun at Hardy and T-Cove. Alder bay is nice also. There are indeed a lot of fish in Blackfish snd.
I fish the W coast quite a bit. There are some very nice fish @ tofino early - you are right, they are "our" fish..but some Frazer footballs also.
Where were all you WCVI guys when the topic was not tuna but Nookta help (previous thread)..no flames..just jerkin the rod tip....
I do a few deep hali days there - nothing at 40 miles, but I am thinking about doing 20...I will take Tuna stuff now also...
!@#$#@! gonna need that Dually dear...

[Draggin' Bait]

We took a trip almost to the far northern tip of the island starting Labor Day weekend last year. We were on the inland side playing with salmon and halibut for a few days, but there were boats off the west tip catching albacore there as of Labor Day. Sounded like they were about 40 miles out. We'd brought our tuna toys, just in case. But, as mentioned, the wind rules. We had a couple of beautiful days (though interspersed with some rain), and then the storms began so bad you couldn't even fish protected water. We had to come home three days early.

[NorthRiverRick]

Hmmmm, I never thought of going for TUNA! up there. Sounds like we might have a TA Meeting to plan for No. Vancouver Island.

We're gonna meet up with TheFishingRod, ID Painter, Sandybar, Boatful. Maybe Pilar & OceanBlue??? How about Mr & Mrs Tacklebuster ???

This could be very dangerous for a bunch of barley pops

[BloodNtheboat]

I love the description of Winter Harbour that he gave, its pretty much right on the money, very remote, old canary site, turned small fishing lodge/community. I think you could call winter harbour truley the last frontier of vanvouver island. The fishing is unreal, i can remember standing in a 19 foot boat, shin deep in blood'n salt wash , with 9 30lb+ lings, 3 or 4 halibut, and a couple salmon on the deck, some still flopping, while fighting a another big halibut thinking, "I cant believe this is legal"
Truley an awesome trip.
PM me if you want details on where we stayed, and fished with. If you love the salt, but dont want to fish the inside passage, in a ritz carlton type fishing lodge, this is the place for you.
Brian

[Puffin]

Hey John my uncle said he saw some Tuna being landed somewhere in the Queen Charlots I believe. LARGE TUNA

[Mr. Fisherman]

Hey John my uncle said he saw some Tuna being landed somewhere in the Queen Charlots I believe. LARGE TUNA

Jon, Whats a large Tuna?

[skein]

'Course that's all the good stuff. The flip side is aquaculture.

There's a fish farm in every cove -literally. The last time I was there, the limit on rockfish was one per day. Lings had about the same length requirement as we do, but be sure and double-check. At least on the west coast you could keep coho.

The license, as I remember, was $135 for a year, not counting the salmon tag. And it was only good for the salt - not that you fish poison waters anyway. You can get a license for one day, three days, or ten days without paying much of a penalty, so that helps.

As said earlier, gas will hurt. Buy it with a credit card and you will get the correct exchange rate. Sometimes the vendors just round it off or come up with their own.

Oh, and if you launch at Coal Harbour, the parking lot is an absolute treat. People don't park their rigs there, they abandon them! It's not unusual to squeeze your trailer in one spot, unhook, and find another spot for your truck. And try to find a place where no one can block you in. Lots of guys park their rigs there and jump on a crew boat to go to work - for a week or ten days at a time, leaving you stuck if they happen to park in your way. Launch fee is $5 unless they've raised it. Just throw the money on the counter if no one is around.

It's worth launching there though, just to experience it - it's true "North Island Culture" - and I don't mean that disrespectfully. Coming from Sweet Home I felt right at home there. Besides, then you get to go through Quatsino Narrows which is a pretty cool ride. That's beautiful country up there.

There's more, but it's more fun to wash the tales down with barley pop. Gotta do it.

Skein

[id. painter]

Good input from all.

My father has lived there for at least 10 years and fished the parts of the island for nother 25.
He says that the very best weather is usually at the end of July into Aug.
But you all know how that goes...

I have run the Quatsino sound many times in fog and out the east side as well. My fater doent have radar on his east side boat (16 ft Aluma weld intruder),runs out in fog regulary. he has it on his 24 ft trophy and has alway told me that its not that essential .You cant drive any faster than you can see anyway. There is too much debres floating around to just gun it thru a fog bank watching a screen. You will hurt your self on a gient log or something .
But thats his opinion based on his 30 years of fishing there.

Windy afternoons are common on the west side .
I have been out often when the sea is relaxed in teh morning but as things heat up the breeze kicks up and we run back inside the surf line and troll for nooks /coho/sockeye/ pinks. Some very good fishing inside the mouth of the sounds.

We shall seeeeeeee . id. p.

[jacksalmon]

Yeah, Skein, you sure are right about the fish farms. They are like driftwood up there. The limits are pretty liberal for area 127/27 which is the area outside Winter Harbour. For example, you can keep 4 salmon a day, no more than two of which can be chinook and coho. There are many pinkies, too, but no sane person would keep a pinkster.
For Americans seeking to load up, each Americano, fishing in areas 127/27 can go home with 4 chinook, 4 coho, 3 halibut, 6 rockfish, which can include 4 yelloweye (so, for example, 2 cabezon and 4 yelloweye; or 4 yellows and 2 blacks or 6 blacks) and 6 ling cod, which have to be bigger than 26 inches. You can also fish with more than one rod, but the way the chinook hit last year, one rod was enough. We possession limited on chinook in less than one hour over the course of two days. Nice oily, white-meated chinook were also caught.
As for Winter Harbour itself, it is basically a run-down former commercial fishing center, which is now occupied by a few sporties since the commercial fishing has been restricted. There are many run-down buildings which were useful in the commercial days. No grocery stores, but there is a liquor store, which is well used. Those Canadians really like their beer, even though it is more expensive than their gasoline. One day while sitting around relaxing after fishing, I watched a line of six Canadians walk by, including a ten year old kid, each with a case of beer.
There is a cool light house on a small island at the mouth of Quatsino Sound and it just adds to the beauty of the place. Some people make daily trips from Coal Harbour, but we stayed at Winter Harbour at the rate of $25 per day to sleep on the ground, but, what the hell, that included showers and free use of the dock and freezer for our catch. That's why I am going back again this year. The drive up to the end of the island from about Campbell River is worth the whole trip anyway. Nice road with no one around----what more could you ask for. Drive off the road and camp anywhere you want off some logging road.

[Miss B Haven]

Oh ya- They have some really bizzare regs on how you have to keep and transport your fish (at least when I was up there - that was a few moons ago). Halibut under a certain size had to be in 4 pieces, over a certain size in 8 pieces. I don't remember exactly what the rules were on the salmon carking and packaging but they were weird and restrictive too.

They are trying to keep the meat fishers in control I guess. You basically have to keep the fish in a condition to be able to identify number of fish, size and species etc the entire time while you're there. We probably could have gotten busted for setting up the dang smoker on the beach and smoking chunks to eat whtile we were there (and were told so by a Canook over the VHF after discussing it).

[jcarufo]

John,
If you are fishing Halibut at Port Mc Neill make sure you are there during the neap tides of the month, other wise the currents are way too strong to even reach the bottom. We were given 'secret' numbers by Mike Roberts, the designer of the Lucky Jig, years ago that have always produced if you'd like them. He developed his jig for that area. Lot's of nice chicken Halibut and Yelloweye upwards of 25#s.... If you are camping at Alder Bay, sites 71 and 72 are large, up on top with beautiful views of the bay and protected from the wind. Good launch and great access to the water too.... After clear nights the fog in the morning will blow your mind. Can't see someone in the bow from the stern of a 14 foot boat.... Stop in Seattle on your way up and get a couple of the biggest arms of a fresh Octopus you can find. A cucumber slice goes a long way.... You can get live herring to flyline or mooch at Double Bay Resort.... Buy some large 'MacDeeps' on the Island to jig just outside the kelp beds at Donnegal Head.... Fish Craycroft Wall on a low slack....It's a great and beautiful place to go on good years, but a long 5-6 hour drive from Nanaimo when it's slow. Enjoy.
Jean