Vancouver Fishing Report - September 2020
After a long wait, Vancouver area anglers have lots of options to take advantage of. With virtually all the traditional salmon fishing areas now open and subject to full retention, September is shaping up to be the most anticipated month of the year. There certainly has been some good waves of chinook coming into local waters, but there has also been some tough tides where we have had to work for our bites. The slower days have often followed visits from salmon eating killer whales. The Gulf Island’s are still producing a few fish, but most anglers are now focusing on the local Vancouver waters.
Our local fishery in September is reliant on waves of migrating chinook. Every rising tide brings a new wave of fish in to and towards the river mouth. Reading the tides is key to success off the Fraser River Mouth. We have been finding fish off the Bell Buoy, North Arm Jetty, T 10 and Sandheads. They have all had their moments this week. Right now there is a mix of red and white chinook. As we progress into September, the ratio of white chinook will increase as we see more and more fish head back to the hatchery rivers like the Chilliwack, Capilano and Allouette. September is the month when the biggest fish of the year are in local waters. It is not uncommon to hook fish over 30 pounds this time of year.
Off the Fraser River in September, we primarily run anchovies in Rhys Davis Teaser Heads. Flashers are important in the murky water and we find the UV blades make a big difference. It is hard to beat a Gibbs Delta Bon Chovy or Chartruese Lemon Lime Guide Series Flasher this time of year. If the water has some silt in it, chartreuse coloured lures and flashers are often best.
Fishing in the Gulf Island’s and Sidney has slowed down for now. We did have some fantastic trips Gulf Island and Sidney trips in August. We will likely see some coho start to show up in a few weeks and will see more and more winter chinook showing soon. Speaking of winter chinook, we had quite a few come back to the dock in Vancouver and in Sidney in August. We did fish the Gulf Island’s more this past August than normal, but we had over 20 legal winter chinook back to the docks in recent weeks, a good sign for the fall and winter!
We will be primarily be targeting big, returning chinook salmon for the next few weeks off the Fraser and Capilano Rivers. As we get into October, we will start looking for coho off the Fraser Mouth as well as the first winter chinook salmon of the year. Vancouver is fortunate to have salmon around in local waters every single day of the year. In fact, our favourite fishery is our winter chinook fishery! So, even thought it feels like things are winding down, there are lots of fishing opportunities in the coming months!
If you are looking at getting out on a charter, we have very limited availability until September 27th. We currently have the 15th open (1 boat), the 24th (1 boat) the 26th (1boat) The first few weeks of October still has decent availability on weekends and during the week(though the 3rd/4th are filling up). These October trips are good ones to target coho and late run chinook off the Fraser and Capilano Rivers.
