EDITORS NOTES:
Long time Hooked Contributor Dave Shmyr moved to the West Coast from Alberta a couple of years ago to work with his brother. Dave has embraced the fishing in that part of the world, though it has been a major adjustment.
Last July some friends and I did a day trip to the Ucluelet on the southwest corner of Vancouver Island. Although I have spent a lot of time bouncing around in the big waves on Lesser Slave Lake, it has been an awfully long time since I tested out the old sea legs on the ocean.
From the moment we took off from the harbour it was smiles for miles, the breath-taking scenery amazing. Being a passenger for once gave me the opportunity to enjoy the moment.
As we headed out of the inlet there were hordes of seals and sea lions swimming around. We also caught a glimpse of a few whales. All the time I was thinking to myself even if we do not catch a fish this trip is worth it!
It’s taken me time but has a hardcore angler I have learned to relax a lot more and enjoy the experience. As we arrived at our destination, I was given a rod and reel rigged with an eight-ounce jig. In no time I was hooked up and 45 minutes later I broke off the fish. Whatever it was, it was huge.
COD ON THE FLATS
As soon as we hit an underwater shelf with a rocky bottom in 120-140 ft of water the cod squad was there to greet us. When you would finally hit bottom and jigged a couple times fish-on every single time. Being a concrete guy, I thought I was in better shape, but I was wrong. It is not to often you see me take a break while fishing, but I was definitely guilty of it that day. In the first few hours of fishing, we lost count of how many fish we caught.
A bit later, our charter guide asked us if we wanted to switch over to salmon. So we rigged up for a half hour break, with one salmon landed. It wasn’t prime salmon time, and we were all keen to go back to the bottom fishing.
The best part of bottom of this style of fishing is the fact you never know what you are going to catch next. In the first few hours I caught seven different species of fish. These were all totally new to me. We ended up keeping a few fish to fry up that night and hands down the cod was by far the best tasting. We battered up the fillets and ate them with soft tacos. This is a quick and easy meal that tasted unbelievable.
SORE ARMS A THING
The only complaint about the entire trip was how sore my arms were for the next three days at work. At the end of the day if your arms are sore from fishing that a good problem. The one exception was when growing up lifting my dads forty-pound anchor!
WEATHER DAYS ARE MEANT FOR CRABBING!
We get some wild storms roll through and it keeps us off the big water. We have adjusted though and found a great hobby for the whole family to do together. Five minutes from where we live is a long pier. Many of the locals head down where they throw out crab traps. We have enjoyed our time crabbing with the kids who love every second of it. All you need is small crab flip trap with about 50 ft of thin line and some chicken / meat scraps. Of course, you can only keep males of a certain length, but we release most of them carefully. and do it more for family fun. My youngest nephews are ready to go crabbing at moments notice.
LARGE LEARNING CURVE
The one biggest learning curve an angler faces when fishing tidal waters and offshore are the regulations. This is an especially important thing to follow as it changes throughout each year. You must be completely aware of the rules each day you go out. You need to check on limits, lengths, what fish are in season and barbless hooks etc.
I recommend getting the FishingBC app for your phone. This will allow you to always check updates and save confusion.