Sea Ghost Charters

DFO is yet to release what we will have for  a fishery beyond mid June. Recent information suggests that if a specific number of Chinook Salmon  do not enter the Fraser River prior to mid June, they will impose a modified slot program to prevent fishermen from targeting returning five year old Chinooks. I am told that if this occurs, the slot size for Wild Chinook Salmon would be 45 cm to 85cm (up to approximately 23 lbs). The slot program would not apply to Hatchery Chinook. I should note that only one in ten Hatchery Chinook Salmon are actually clipped prior to being released into the wild, making 90% of returning Hatchery Chinook Salmon return as wild, by DFO’s definition. DFO uses the same strategy when clipping Hatchery Coho prior to their release as well.

Another day on the water fishing Halibut between Victoria, B.C. and Sooke, B.C.  and another limit catch of fish to 45 lbs, awesome fishing. I will upload a photo to my gallery.

Halibut fishing continues to be excellent with limit catches on a daily basis. The weather is finally settling down and should be more  predictable with prevailing westerly wind through the summer.

Salmon fishing is still strong with some nice hatchery Chinooks being landed. The slot size program is in place until further notice as DFO failed to live up to its promise to provide additional information on April 27th. Local fisherman, sport shop owners, and fishing guides, are becoming more frustrated with DFO’s inability or unwillingness to provide information that directly affects their livelihood. While I don’t advocate civil disobedience, it seems that this is what it will take to  bring this issue to the forefront. It seems to have worked for other user groups.

Well, Halibut fishing season is in full swing. Daily catches have been consistent with client limits being the norm. I expect that excellent halibut fishing will continue throughout the summer.

The weather continues to be a challenge this past while, however Halibut fishing is excellent on the days we can get out. We have good tides this week and the weather is clearing, so all is good.

DFO continues to remain mute over their plans for the wild Chinook Salmon slot program that is currently in place until the Fathers day weekend in June. There has been media releases that suggest the slot program will continue beyond the Fathers day weekend, we will have to wait and see.

Given the strong Sockeye Salmon run through the Strait of Juan Da Fuca two years ago, it will be interesting to see how strong the run will be this year and more interesting to see how DFO will manage that fishery if the run is strong. Normally they don’t open the season to the sport fishery in the Strait of Juan Da Fuca until the sufficient Sockeye have reached the Fraser River to insure adequate numbers to provide strong spawning for future years and also the Native fishery.

The Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) recently posted an up date regarding possession limits for Halibut for the 2012 Halibut fishing season which will come into effect on the 01st of April 2012. The catch limit is still one Halibut per day per person with a possession limit of two Halibut….however….. one of the fish making up your possession limit must be under 83 centimetres in length (approx. 15 lbs). As we all know, when DFO takes fishing opportunities away, they are never returned. In fact, with the slot program DFO started a few years ago for wild Chinook Salmon, they have en couched on our season for catching large wild Chinook Salmon each year since. This year the program is in place from March 01st to the Fathers day weekend in June. (over three and a half months) By their own figures, this slot program was implemented to protect a handful of Chinook Salmon and was clearly a political move.  This slot program is directly responsible for driving fishermen away from Salmon fishing and towards Halibut fishing. This shift has caused immense pressure on Halibut stocks within our allotted quota, resulting in shorter Halibut fishing seasons and now, to their latest move to restrict the size of one Halibut that will make up your possession limit. Ocean Sport fishing on Canada’s East Coast is pretty much non existent…… it appears DFO’s policy’s and management efforts are geared towards moving us in the same direction.

The season opened March 01st with a one fish per day limit and a two day possession limit. The Government changed the portion of the West Coast Halibut quota for sport fishers from 12% of the overall quota to 15%. It is not expected that this will have much impact on the length of our season this year as the overall quota is down significantly from last year.

Regardless, I fished one March 01st and we limited out with three halibut to 60 lbs. I was back on  the water this morning and we caught two halibut, 35 & 47 lbs. There are lots of fish being caught, so it is time to get your trips booked as we have no idea how long the season will last. I will keep you posted.

Well, it hasn’t been made official as of today, but we are told that the season for Halibut will open on March 01. No information has been released relating to daily limits, possession limits or a closing date.  It is likely that we will have similar limits as last year, one Halibut per person per day with a two day limit. We are also aware that the overall Quota allotted to all sectors of this fishery is significantly lower than last year and that unless the Sport Fishing sector receives a larger share of the Quota than last year, our fishing season will be even shorter than last year. All interested parties, Fishermen, Lodge owners, Sport Fishing retailers, Boat repair shops, Boat retailers, Hotel / Motel owners and other businesses that rely on tourism up and down the West Coast, are anxiously waiting to be thrown a bone by the Federal Government. I guess it will depend on whether it is a Wish bone or a Fish bone.

Well, the weather finally allowed us to get on the water for a few hours of fishing this morning. We were fishing the mouth of Sooke harbour as the tide was extremely strong. As the morning passed we found that the bite came and went. Over the course of four hours we hit seven salmon, of which three hooked up.  The largest one we caught was 20 lbs….ya gotta love winter spring fishing.