I was visiting my brother in Nanaimo this past week so decided to do a 5 hour saltwater salmon fishing charter. We left the dock at 7:30 and were limited out by 9 am even after the 1/2 hour ride out, I knew I should of booked less time. 
The charter was a great setup with a $140,000 custom 22 ft. aluminum boat built to handle some pretty rough ocean water that's for sure. Wow, I think this aluminum boat would run over a 22 ft. Lund like it was a pop can and wouldn't even leave a dent it was so heavy duty. He towed it to the ramp with a Chevy 3500HD with a Duramax diesel! It had a door to the stern extension on the back which made it easy to get in and out at the dock because the sides are so deep you would almost need a small ladder to get out. He also had all the best equipment, high speed riggers and electronics to go with it.
I must say this was a very different experience compared to downrigging King salmon on the Great Lakes as we were fishing in 850-947 fow with the riggers down 235 ft.! Even though we limited out quickly and released many others overall I was a little disappointed with the whole experience. I was expecting the saltwater version to be much more aggressive fighters than their Lake Ontario freshwater counterpart and in that sense they were a big letdown. Maybe it had something to do with the water being 38 degrees and being so deep I don't know. They also were using a flasher the size of a surf board which certainly didn't help getting them in. No screaming reels either like our kings give us. Basically they were like bringing in a 15 lb. walleye with it's mouth fully open if you know what I mean. Anyhow the scenery was a spectacular backdrop and the boat gave a surprisingly smooth ride in the chop. Out of about 100 boats launched I was surprised to see that about 98% use Yamaha outboards, not sure why. Seen only a few E-Tech and Suzuki but not one single Honda or Evinrude and only one lone Mercury. We caught no fish over 12 lbs. as the big Kings up to 60 lbs. don't arrive until late May. Hope you enjoy the photos.
The charter was a great setup with a $140,000 custom 22 ft. aluminum boat built to handle some pretty rough ocean water that's for sure. Wow, I think this aluminum boat would run over a 22 ft. Lund like it was a pop can and wouldn't even leave a dent it was so heavy duty. He towed it to the ramp with a Chevy 3500HD with a Duramax diesel! It had a door to the stern extension on the back which made it easy to get in and out at the dock because the sides are so deep you would almost need a small ladder to get out. He also had all the best equipment, high speed riggers and electronics to go with it.
I must say this was a very different experience compared to downrigging King salmon on the Great Lakes as we were fishing in 850-947 fow with the riggers down 235 ft.! Even though we limited out quickly and released many others overall I was a little disappointed with the whole experience. I was expecting the saltwater version to be much more aggressive fighters than their Lake Ontario freshwater counterpart and in that sense they were a big letdown. Maybe it had something to do with the water being 38 degrees and being so deep I don't know. They also were using a flasher the size of a surf board which certainly didn't help getting them in. No screaming reels either like our kings give us. Basically they were like bringing in a 15 lb. walleye with it's mouth fully open if you know what I mean. Anyhow the scenery was a spectacular backdrop and the boat gave a surprisingly smooth ride in the chop. Out of about 100 boats launched I was surprised to see that about 98% use Yamaha outboards, not sure why. Seen only a few E-Tech and Suzuki but not one single Honda or Evinrude and only one lone Mercury. We caught no fish over 12 lbs. as the big Kings up to 60 lbs. don't arrive until late May. Hope you enjoy the photos.
