I woke up yesterday morning and thought what the hell I'll try fishing the inlet...Launched the boat at 8am, ran down to china and fished until noon. I was very surprised when the rod popped off the clip for the first time. Boated a nice 23lb springer! No other hits for the rest of the day. Saw a few boats out working the area... they should arrive in full force in a couple weeks.

Heard they are opening the inlet to gill netters and seiners the week before the derby begins I had a friend try around lone tree last sunday and he saw nothing caught in 4 hours fishing.

I also am frustrating with the commercial opening right before the derby...I think I will spend the extra money and gas and fish the sound during the derby. On sunday morning I fished china creek area and kept 1 spring about 15 pounds. The action was slow and steady in the morning, no real bite happening. Its good to see the fishtactics derby technology will be at the salmon festival this year. I will be subscribing to the text message service

I hope the main run is really late this year, so the gillnetters miss them!

Anyways I was at the marina today in town and they sound they've heard of a few fish in the 40's taken near china creek since last weekend....

I'll be fishing the inlet on the weekend as I make my way out to Barkley Sound and will report back on monday!

Chovy

Anyone fishing the inlet after the commercial fishery? I went out this past tuesday and picked up a 14 and a 27 and lost a tyee when it popped my leader. The harbour / holm island area seemed to be holding the most fish and they weren't colored up at all - completely chrome.

27 and the 14


Me holding the 27 lbs

Nice fish cory. The inlet has sure been slow as of late, the commercial guys have cleaned up what was left.

''Its Over '' for the Inlet Sad to say !!! what ever is in the river thats it . Basically inlet is fishless top to bottom right NOW .

Steelheader, yep its definitely slow - not even worth fishing right now...you think another wave of fish is on the way?

To bad ...left my boat on the island to do another trip there...guess its off down to sooke and pedder.

SeaChaser some coho and springs have moved into the harbour and are holding there but seams they have lock jaw!!! Tried for 4 hours on saturday and 6 hours on sunday and only hooked up with 1 7lb coho. Most boats having the same luck despite all the fish being marked on the sounder and finning on the surface.

Thanks for the heads up...hopefully they start biting...I'm going to head over next week...I'll make the call then.

Hit 2 coho off china creek wall yesterday morn

nicely done .... tried a little bucktailing during the derby just for fun...ended up being two more rods to reel in when our spring hit...lol

If you happen to have a ''Funky Chicken'' pattern Coyote spoon in your box try it.
Last couple times we fished Coho around China Creek/Mactush it outfished all others by 3 to 1!

Reports have been coming in that the coho fishing is pretty decent in the inlet right now. They are all a nice size too (10 - 20lbs)

Fish between 20 - 65 ft

taking tomorrow off!

Given the amount of fish currently in the river I am releived to see some fish finally making their way down the canal. I took yesterday off after hearing of the news. The coho were there and we managed to land 3 from 10 - 14lbs and lost a few more. Green/glow spatterback hootchys were working for us and it was refreshing to finally get some action out of a doom and gloom season.

Ya I forgot to Add that only the Springs were done!~~~ But The ''Yo Yo's'' are now ON !! makin up for the Bad upper inlet spring fishery ~~ With the Tush area being your best bet but the harbor was hot but has cooled off the last couple days ( Fish up the river with the Ash river pulse happening) Lots finning but lockjaw set in as they stage .
One thing is is they are HUGE and fight way harder and longer than other years that I can remember.
Sample of 1 the COHO HOGS below .


Fished Sunday in Harbor for a couple hours ALL the Hoes are gone up the river wait for the next wave or go to TUSH area to hunt them

Nice coho Steelheader!!!!! Thats a slab. I'll guess we'll be waiting for the next run of fish. keep us updated thanks!