News from the Bay they call Pedder, as I hoped the Halibut tides I set up for you avid anglers paid off royally. Last weeks Halibut fishing was topped off with Halibut taken on the East side of the Race hitting the scales at 120lbs. Congratulations ZOLOFT.
Other nice sized notables were 88, 70’s, 65’s 58’s and on and on, heck I could probably fill the page well maybe half of it but boy it was hot.
On behalf of all the staff and myself at Pedder Bay we wish all the participants in the 19th Annual Juan De duca Salmon Championships the best of fishing and the calmest of weather, may the best FISH win. We’ll be ready and waiting for your arrival being held June 18 and 19th 2005.
Your next set of tides will start on the 30th of May and they will take you through to June 5th. Good luck to all you Halibut fishers I know it’s been a patient wait.
The bait of choice still seems to be 6 packs of Sardine, Mackerel whole or chunked XL Herring, and Lucky Lure Halibut jigs.
The hottest areas on the last batch of tides seemed to be the East side of Race Rocks followed by Constance Bank as the second choice.
Warning!!! Big Springs have entered the fishing zone; although depths and areas of encounter are still a bit widespread its time to sharpen those hooks and check your knots.
Springs to 30lbs. have been brought in from Otter and if the fish are there then you can start betting that it won’t be long until areas such as the Head, Church, Whirl, and RCN Blasting start to take off.
The bait of choice still remains as 8 or 10 pack Anchovy on a 4 to 6 foot leader and depths have varied between 60 and 130 feet of water.
As for you moochers and Salmon jiggers RCN is producing Springs in the 10 to 20lb range and doing it on a fairly consistent basis. The biggest fish taken jigging off RCN was 18lbs.
Halibut tides for the end of the month and the beginning of June look like this:
- May 30th starts the Halibut tides off again 6:00 am thru to 10:00am and if you can stay on the hook you have a long low from 2:30pm until 5:00pm.
- May31st you can start at first light and fish you way right thru dinner time.
- June 1st is an all day affair with just the slightest of changes happening around 11-11:30. The change is small so you may not even notice it.
- June 2nd you have a slow moving flood tide that will carry you through out the day.
- Friday and Saturday are almost identical in tides with a 4 hour low at 6:00am and then the flood will break its pace down to a nice anchoring or drifting situation.
Good luck to all and always remember to watch your weather when you are on the hook.
June 1st will see the opening of Coho again retention will be as follows:
You will be able to keep (2) Hatchery Fin Clipped Coho per day. These fish may be added to your catch of 2 Chinook for a daily limit of 4 fish, always remember that in a daily period your catch limit of Chinook may not exceed 2 Salmon. The same limit applies to hatchery Coho. Always remember to mark your Chinook on the back of your license as it is an offence to not mark your catch down and the area in which you caught it.
Size limit on Chinook this year are 18” when fishing in areas 19B and area 20-5
Size limit on Coho this year is 12” when fishing areas 19B and area 20-5
Lingcod opens June 1st in area 20-5 which is William Head west. Your daily limit is (1) and that fish must be 65cm or to be safe a good 26 inches.
DFO has put together a new 24 HR. HOTLINE for fish openings and closures as well as PCP / REDTIDE warnings. As we are on the island the call will be toll free, please call 1-866-431-3474.
Till we talk again, Tight lines and Boat Safely
Sean Moore; General Manager
Pedder Bay Marina & R.V. Park
