Fishing reports
March 18, 2024: fished Elk Lake at 5 PM. A lake I have no experience fishing. 41 degree water. Used a Black Chrome 3.6" spoon with pink "glow in the dark" dots/stripe. Caught a 16 inch rainbow within 5 minutes, then promptly lost the spoon to a snag. Tried other colors of spoons with no success. Was trolling 35 feet deep, at 1.6 MPH.
March 24: Elk Lake. Water 47 degrees. Full sun, windy, choppy. Had 5 hits in 2 hours. Landed a 14 inch trout, lost 2 trout in the 16 inch class, and had 2 hits that did not stick. 2 hits on Black Chrome/pink spoon, 3 hits on gold/pink/black spoon. No hits on other colors. Trolling at 2.0 MPH, 24 feet deep (4 colors of leadcore line).
March 30: Elk Lake. 46 to 47 degree. Caught and released 10 fish in the 14-15 inch class, trolling 24 feet deep at 2.0 MPH. Productive spoon sizes were 3.25" and 3.6". Productive colors were: black chrome/pink, gold/pink/black, gold/silver. At noon I changed to a True Gold Lil Thumper spoon with a green "glow in the dark" stripe. Caught a 16 inch rainbow right away. Thought it could be a fluke. Put the spoon back down and caught a 17 inch cutthroat 10 minutes later. This seems to indicate that the Lil' Thumper spoon catches larger fish than other spoons.
April 4: Fished a small lake on Vancouver Island for the first time. Water 51 degrees. Between 5 PM and sunset landed 3 rainbows from 12 to 15 inches, and another got away. Trolling speed 2.0 MPH, depth 24 feet. All caught on collectible True Gold Che'gegon spoons (black/pink stripe, pink stripe, glow green dots).
April 10: Fished Elk Lake from 8:30 to 12:30. Water 48-49 degrees, sunny. Trolled at 2.0 MPH, 24 feet deep. For the first half-hour I tried nickel-plated spoons with no success. As soon as I switched to black chrome spoons I experienced one savage takedown after another for 1.5 hour. Released 6 rainbow trout, all in the 14-15 inch class. All on light duty conventional 3.25" trolling spoons. Colors that worked:
black/green stripe
black/pink glow
black/pink-orange color-shifting
black/purple
black
gold/green glow stripe
I then fished 2 hours with various nickel colored spoons with only nibbles, no real hits.
Conclusion: in some conditions, trout are afraid of nickel (too much flash). But trout will absolutely brutalize a black or gold spoon (less flash).
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If I had been fishing nickel spoons only, I might have caught nothing today. Nickel spoons will be productive later in the season, when fish are more active. I have seen days last fall when trout would not touch a brass spoon, but would hit a silver spoon with chartreuse stripe. Nickel is also useful on larger/deeper bodies of water, where you need to attract fish from longer distances.
Another theory: trout are hitting the black spoons hard at Elk Lake because that lake holds a large population of bullheads. Even though the stocked trout are sterile, they probably still have the instinct to kill predators of eggs/fry. That is why trout are hitting the black spoons so hard. They are not seeking to feed, but to destroy.
April 12: undisclosed lake on Vancouver Island. 52-53 degree water, 6 knot wind, sunny afternoon. I was testing some magnum size spoons and was getting hits on every pass, but none that would stick. That is because even though these stocked rainbow trout have large bodies, their mouth are relatively small. I switched to a black chrome 2.5" slender spoon with a pink dot, to imitate a leech feeding on a trout egg. I got a hit immediately, and landed a 13 inch cutthroat. I switched to a wider 2.5" spoon in black nickel/pink glow color pattern, in hope of catching a larger fish. It worked: I landed a fat 16.5 inch rainbow. I continued working that spoon, and a spoon of the same shape on the 2nd line, in gold/green glow pattern. That gold spoon hooked another large rainbow, that got away. Hooked and lost a few more trout. Productive trolling speeds were 2.0 MPH, then 2.2 MPH, then 1.6 MPH at dusk. Depth 24 feet.
April 16. Lake Cowichan. Air temperature minus 2 at 8 AM. Water 47-48 degrees. Sunny, light wind. Did not find any rainbow trout. Ended up with 2 cutthroat, 16 and 17 inch, and released 2 smaller ones. Finicky today. They would only bite a small 2.5" gold/glow spoon. They would ignore a large gold spoon, or small spoons of other colors. 18 to 30 feet deep, 2.0 MPH.
April 17: Undisclosed lake. Caught two rainbows in the 14-15 inch class, and 2 smaller ones. All on gold/green glow 2.5" spoon. Trout would not hit a larger gold spoon, or small spoons in other colors. Most fish were caught 12 feet deep at 2.0 MPH.
April 22: Undisclosed lake. Water temperature 54 degrees, wind light. Two nice rainbows in the 14-15 inch class, plus two smaller fish. Caught on small gold/green glow spoon, and a pink/matte silver back Williams Thinfish modified with a black stripe. Between 12 and 24 feet deep, 2.0 MPH. I then tried a SilverLeaf spoon, that only produced "nibbles". This is in stark contrast with the brutal takedowns I have experienced with the other spoons that caught fish today. This makes me ponder that there may be "ordinary" spoons that trigger a mild interest in trout, versus "extraordinary" spoons that trigger pure aggression from trout, even if these spoons do not look different to fishermen. More research is needed on that topic.
April 26, 2024: this nice chinook salmon was caught near Victoria, BC, on a 3.25" Black Chrome trolling spoon, customized in a variation of the "Blueberry Muffin" pattern popular on the Great Lakes. One other fish was caught that day on a similar spoon. I can assemble for you almost any custom pattern/size/color of spoon you can dream of. If there is a spoon you used to like but got discontinued by the manufacturer, I can reproduce it or even improve it with high-visibility lure tape.
May 8: Fished Langford Lake for the first time ever. I only had 2 hours available, mid-day. Breezy, sunny, water 56 degrees. Was rewarded with a fat, healthy 18 inch rainbow, released unharmed. Released another fish in the 15 inch class. Both fish caught on True Gold spoons with green "glow in the dark" stripe. 2.0 MPH, 24 feet deep (4 colors of lead core line).
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May 14: undisclosed lake, early morning, water temperature 61-63 degrees. Fishing was slow today, due to warmer water, but within one hour I caught a 13 inch rainbow on a 2.5" True Gold spoon with bluish-green coarse glitter stripe. On my second line I was running a collectible True Gold Che'gegon spoon, which I had dressed with a new pattern I call "Black Eyes and Bloody Nose". At 8:40 I caught a 17 inch rainbow. Was fishing 18 feet deep at 2.0 MPH.
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This is the end of an outstanding spring fishing season: in 2 months, 11 trips on 4 lakes, 42 fish landed in 30 hours (1.4 fish per hour, all between 12 and 18 inches, most of them released unharmed). Due to numerous work commitments, I must now stop fishing, and "pass the torch" to my customers, to gather data on productive spoon colors. Have fun fishing this summer! I will start prowling the lakes again on October 15, and I will spend a lot of time on the water this coming winter. My favorite season, when I often have the lake to myself, and when trout taste better. If you have not tried winter fishing yet, you should. Just put hand warmers in your gloves and boots, and you can spend a whole day on the water, comfortably. Get a bimini top for your boat. Best $200.00 you will ever spend: when the rain starts, it takes 2 seconds to raise the top and keep fishing (it also keeps the sun from baking you in summer). There is no need to get up early in winter. The bite starts at 11 AM, and continues until dusk. The trout only become inactive in the first 2 weeks of February, when the water is too cold. Come February 15, the bite is on again! We are blessed with 50 weeks per year of good open-water fishing on Vancouver Island. Too few people take advantage of it. Please keep visiting the "fishing reports" and "pictures" sections of this website for regular updates in the coming months.
June 10, 2024: after several weeks of windy weather that seriously limited salmon fishing, the guides are out again and the salmon are falling victim to the Black Chrome spoons. Victoria, BC. Nickel-plated or True Silver spoons enhanced with green and chartreuse lure tape have also been producing numerous chinook salmon.
June 20: salmon fishing is in full swing. Received reports from mid-Island, Gulf Islands, and Victoria/Sooke, of numerous coho and chinook up to 20 lbs, caught on my custom spoons. A surprising number of fish hammered the 2.5" spoons, with 3.25" spoons producing as well. Top-producing colors: Black Chrome with chartreuse stripe/pink dots, True Gold with silver stripe, nickel-plated with chartreuse/green stripe.
June 21: Report from Mid-Island: the True Gold Che'gegon spoon with green "glow in the dark" stripe has hooked 6 chinook today.
June 25: wind conditions were favorable to fish Lake Cowichan in a small boat, which is rare this time of year. I fished near Bald Mountain in the early morning in search of the elusive rainbows, and did not find any. I trolled through Honeymoon Bay on my way back to the ramp, and found a steady bite of cutthroat in the 16-17 inch class, which allowed me to do some comparative testing of new spoon colors. True Gold with glitter pink/glitter black was the top producer. Gold with green glow stripe caught fish too. Gold with silver stripe got ignored, gold with chartreuse stripe got ignored, as well as nickel-plated spoons, black chrome spoons, and copper spoons. It seems that the cutthroat in this lake are afraid of bright colors. But when presented with a gold spoon with a touch of color, the trout are cooperating. I released 4 fish between 9:30 and 11:00 AM. 2.0 MPH, 24 feet deep. Sunny, water temperature 62 degrees.
June 28: I could only fish from 6 to 9 AM today. Cloudy, water temperature 61 degrees. Fishing was a bit slower than usual. Released 2 cutthroats, 16 and 17 inches. No pictures, because they trout had lamprey marks on them. Once again, the trout would only hit the 2.5" gold spoon with green "glow in the dark" stripe. They would not hit a magnum gold spoon, or any other spoon color. I also tried a cherry colored Wiggle Wart, without success. As usual, 24 feet deep, and 1.8 to 2.0 MPH. Tried other speeds and depths without success.
July 6: Report from Sooke: 5 chinook salmon caught on a 3.6" Black Chrome spoon with red stripe and pink dots. These spoons are available in 2.5" and 3.25" length as well. Update: in late July Vic in Sooke hooked 15 chinook in one day on the 2.5" version. He also did well with the True Gold Che'gegon with glow green stripe.
July 19: Barkley Sound: I had been asked to assemble a 2.5" green/chartreuse/gold pattern spoon. This spoon has been very effective on coho and chinook salmon, so I have now added it to my regular product line.
July 28: Report from Sooke. Non-stop action for hatchery chinook this evening, using the Black Chrome heavy duty spoon with chartreuse stripe. Very effective color combination on overcast days.
August 4: Very positive testing reports today on a few of the new spoons I offer. In Sidney, Neil's Sardine spoon outfished anchovies by a ratio of 6 to 1 for chinook salmon. In Sooke, one guide hooked three large chinook in 1.5 hour on a Natural Blue Sardine spoon. Also in Sooke, a large chinook got caught on a tiny 2.5 inch Coho Lover spoon, in Black Chrome with green "glow in the dark" stripe. Two more large chinook were caught on the True Gold Lil' Thumper spoon (one with green glow stripe, one with red stripe). Thank you very much to all fishermen who provided catch data. This helps us all in understanding what colors/sizes of spoons are "hot" at the moment.
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August 8 - Another productive day for the Sooke fishermen who chose to fish my spoons: Neil was warming up for the derby by catching a 75 cm chinook on a Natural Green Sardine (based on a True Gold Lil' Thumper spoon blank - collectible, limited quantities remaining). Vic caught a nice chinook on a collectible True Gold Che'gegon spoon with green glow stripe. Tim caught a nice chinook on a 3 inch Coho Lover in green glow/red/silver.
August 10: First day of the Mike Chipps Memorial Derby. Congratulations to my friend Neil and his fishing partner, who caught a 75 and a 77 cm chinook in Sooke, on the "Neil's Sardine" spoon I had made for him, and on a Natural Green Sardine spoon. In Port Renfrew, a charter captain caught a tyee on a 3.25" Heavy Duty Black Chrome spoon with chartreuse stripe, on his first day trying out my spoons. He had on three doubles, one triple. The relatively large spoon looks tiny in this large fish's mouth.
August 11: Shayne purchased some spoons yesterday, including a Natural Sardine I had just created for the first time, with a bronze back. We were optimistic about this new color, and for good reason: within minutes a 69 cm hatchery coho devoured this spoon even before Shayne had time to lower the downrigger (Sooke).
August 15: Report from Sooke: Numerous chinook and coho caught on Natural Blue Sardine, Black Chrome with chartreuse stripe, 2 inch custom Coho Lover in UV peacock color. "It's The Little Spoon That Could" (Please note: the top 2 spoons have each caught 50 fish or more, which explains their cosmetic damage.)
August 17: A very productive fishing day. Received a report from Sooke of 12+ chinook up to 95 cm caught on the Black Chrome spoon with chartreuse stripe. That spoon has now caught 60+ fish and certainly shows scratches, but you can still see the photographer's phone reflection on the spoon, which means that the spoon still shines and throws its "black flash" in the water. Many chinook were caught on the Natural Blue Sardine spoon as well, and on the Lil' Thumper True Gold with red stripe. Another report from Sooke was for 4 chinook and a few coho caught on the new hot color Army Watermelon. It features an olive green matte tape for the back, and an exclusive color-shifting orange/pink/purple tape for the belly, with black dots. The spoon can be built on a nickel, True Gold, or Black Chrome spoon blank. $14.00 and up. The wild coho in the picture was safely released, and some hatchery coho were caught too. The pictures below show how dramatically the appearance of the spoon changes, with just a subtle variation in indoor light. The effect will be even more pronounced with changes in outdoor light.
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August 22: Report from Sooke: over 30 fish hooked in 6 hours. Most productive colors: Black Chrome with chartreuse stripe, Black Chrome with glow tape, plain True Silver, plain Premium Nickel.
August 25: Report from Sooke: numerous coho and chinook caught mostly on Black Chrome spoon with chartreuse stripe, and on 2" Coho Lover in custom "Green Herring" pattern.
August 26: The first person to try the new Betty spoon released a 97 cm chinook in less than one hour. That is close to 30 lb.
August 27: reports from Sooke and Port Renfrew: non-stop action on coho salmon up to 14 lb, with the Coho Lover spoon in 2 inch and 4 inch models. Hot colors: white/nickel, blue/nickel. Neil in Sooke has caught a total of 10 chinook so far in August on the Natural Green Sardine spoon, in addition to many fish caught on other colors of spoons, notably the new "Hornet" color.
August 28: from Sooke: limits of hatchery coho caught on Natural Green Sardine, with many wild coho released up to 12 lb.
August 31: Vic in Sooke caught 3 hatchery coho and a few chinook on his 3 usual spoons: 2.5" Black Chrome with red stripe, 3.25" Ture Gold Che'gegon, 3.25" Blueberry Muffin. He had success at 3:30 pm.
Sept.1: It was a bit of a grind today in Sooke, but Scott got it done: 23 lb chinook, on a collectible True Gold Lil' Thumper with glow green stripe.
September 2: based on yesterday's data, I suggested to fishermen in Sooke to switch to True Gold spoons and it worked: one fisherman reported one chinook, while another young fisherman released a 10 lb wild coho and another monster wild coho estimated at 20 lb. Fish of a lifetime, hooked on a collectible Che'gegon with green glow stripe he had just purchased. A charter captain was targeting coho but caught a 15 lb chinook on a Coho Lover Heavy Duty in the new Blood Orange color pictured below.
"Blood Orange" color. Available with pearl, or Moon Jelly centerline. Can be built on a Coho Lover, or a traditional trolling spoon.
The new "Grape" color: purple coarse glitter, gold coarse glitter, pearl or Moon Jelly centerline.
Hornet spoon: available in Black Chrome, premium nickel, True Gold, with a narrow stripe in the color of your choice.
Sept. 6: Scott in Sooke is reporting good numbers of coho in the last few days. Hot colors: True Gold with red stripe, nickel with chartreuse stripe. Considering how spotty fishing has been for chinook, one gentleman in Sooke had excellent success one day with the Betty spoon, catching 2 nice chinook, in addition to a 5 lb hatchery coho on the previous trip (details to follow). So it seems that the pattern fish find tasty this week is anything with nickel and chartreuse in it, even though True Gold can still be relied on. Above is a picture of a Hornet built on a Black Chrome spoon. I will build some Hornets on Coho Lovers, and on premium nickel spoons as well, to see how fish react to them. One experienced charter captain had a lot of success with narrow stripes of tape he applied on some of my spoons.
Sept. 8: slow day for chinook fishing in Sooke today, but my clients who targeted coho salmon with the Coho Lover spoon had success, Especially with the 2 inch version fished with a dummy flasher. The 3 inch version also caught coho, and helped Martin from Penticton catch a nice rockfish on his first fishing adventure in Becher Bay, trolling from his kayak. A charter captain who was fishing the Natural Blue Sardine caught a chinook and a large coho. It was a thrill for me to see my clients come back to the dock with a tub of fish and smiles on their faces, on a day when many fishermen struggled to catch fish on bait. Let's hope that a fresh wave of fish arrives soon, and are not so picky eaters!.
Sept. 11: it seems that the fish are back to biting. Had a report from Sooke of 5 fish caught in a half-day, on the Bumblebee spoon, and on the Coho Lover 3 inch in Blood Orange color.
New client Roman in Sooke purchased a 3" Coho Lover Heavy Duty in Blood Orange color. He caught an 11 lb chinook from shore at Gordon Beach, in 10 minutes.
Sept. 14-15: after a few weekdays of hot fishing, the action slowed down a bit over the weekend. Still, my clients who used the Coho Lover spoons had good success. One charter captain in Sooke was testing my new 2.2" Coho Lover in premium nickel with green glow stripe. Side-by-side, the spoon outfished bait. Ryan in Sooke caught a nice chinook on the 2" Coho Lover nickel with green glow/red stripes. Tiny spoons, nice fish!
Sept. 18: received two reports from Derek in Sooke, of 20+ coho per day hooked on the 3" Coho Lover in Blood Orange color. All wild fish were released at side of boat and not netted. A few hatchery coho were retained.
Sept. 22: wild coho outnumber hatchery coho 8 to 1, so one needs to catch a bunch of fish to end up with a salmon dinner. A few fishermen using my 3" Coho Lover spoons had good success today, with reports of 10 to 20 fish hooked. Top-producing colors were: Blood Orange, green glow/red stripes. Conventional 3.25" trolling spoons also caught their share of 8 to 10 lb hatchery coho. Blueberry Muffin, and Gold Betty were the hot colors.
Sept. 28: fishing was a bit spotty this morning, with small fish pestering fishermen in Sooke. Still, one new client who had just purchased a new and improved 3" Coho Lover in Blood Orange with opal centerline, had his leader broken by a large fish. This highlights the need to purchase these spoons in pairs, because coho are notorious "tackle busters" who seem to often find a way to tangle in a piece of kelp, a downrigger cable, or your motor's prop... One other fisherman reported some nice fish caught on the 3.6" Black Widow (Black Chrome with red stripe). Late in the afternoon, the bite picked up. One fisherman reported hooking 20 coho (2 hatchery), including some on a 3.25" True Gold trolling spoon.
Sept. 30: today's success story: new client purchased a 3" Coho Lover in Blood Orange color. He hooked 3 coho, 2 of which were hatchery. This is a much better than average ratio of hatchery to wild fish.
Oct. 1: the long awaited opening day for retention of one wild coho. Unfortunately, fishing was slow in the earlier part of the day, and most fish were in the 5 lb range. But two new clients who purchased 3" Coho Lovers in Blood Orange color caught 2 wild coho and 2 hatchery coho in the 8 lb range.