Curiously, no one from my email fishing group fished this week. Normally, Clyde and Steve are out whenever the wind lies down, but not over the past seven days. I did not fish either. Signs from my last trip pointed towards fishing deeper water depths, 250 to 300 feet, and possibly beyond. But, the herring are staging and spawning now, so the movement is incredible from day to day. Comb various water depths with the lines from 120 to 180 on the downriggers. Look for bait schools, and adjust to their depth. It may take some looking!
It will be interesting to see how much of the legally mandated 10% of the herring biomass actually gets commercially fished. It is now a First Nations food and ceremonial fishery, and First Nations were thankfully at the forefront of getting the commercial roe fishery abolished. Hopefully they take a very conservative approach to the net fishery, as the herring are the lifeblood for almost every living creature in The Salish Sea. There is a huge spawn occurring to the North of us now, and it is always fascinating to watch the abundance locally, as it is very variable from year to year.
Prawning at Thrasher hasn’t been productive enough to pursue, but only three more weeks until The Flat Tops open again. Doesn’t D.F.O. have us well trained! Now we have a prawn season opener, a Chinook season opener, a Coho season opener, and a Ling and Rockfish season opener. At least the Coho, Ling, and Rockfish time frames have have scientific merit.
Good fishing!