Fishing in Burke Channel
November 20th (Wednesday)
The forecast was for light winds in the morning and picking up from the southeast near noon. We headed out early to do some fishing, hoping to take advantage of the calm winds. The one fish that we had always wanted to catch, and never had, was the Halibut. We had never really targeted them, and so we decided that here would be a good area to give it a try. Halibut like sandy, gravel bottoms, and Burke Channel has a lot of both.
There are several ways to fish for Halibut, and the one that we chose to try was the one that seemed to have the best rate of success. You put a piece of bait, we used herring that we bought in Shearwater, on a hook, and about a foot back from that you put a weight. You drop the line down to the bottom and keep the weight either just off of the bottom or just resting on the bottom, with the idea that you can still feel what’s happening. Then you wait until you feel something -- that’s the hard part. We definitely lost a few herring to mysterious fishes, but apparently if it’s big enough then you will feel it. Another hard part with this type of fishing is that the drift of the boat plays a big role, and if you are drifting too fast then it doesn't work.
When we first got out to Burke Channel in the morning we decided to try an area that was close by. The wind was just a breeze so we decided we would row into it, and would hopefully have no problem. We had not, however, accounted for the current. We were not too far out from land, and when we stopped the engine we noticed we were moving very fast relative to land. It felt like we were floating down a river. I pulled out my phone to check our speed, and we were drifting at close to three knots. Way too fast, that’s even fast for trolling for salmon.
We started the engine again and came around the corner out of Burke Channel and into Fisher Channel. Here the current was much slower, and we could actually see a line in the water where the water coming out of Burke Channel was moving quickly, and the rest of the sea was moving slowly. It looked like the water in a river moving along a bank line. We tried some fishing around the corner in Fisher Channel, however since no bottom types were stated on the chart for that area, we did not know if we were targeting the right location.
When we first got out to Burke Channel in the morning we decided to try an area that was close by. The wind was just a breeze so we decided we would row into it, and would hopefully have no problem. We had not, however, accounted for the current. We were not too far out from land, and when we stopped the engine we noticed we were moving very fast relative to land. It felt like we were floating down a river. I pulled out my phone to check our speed, and we were drifting at close to three knots. Way too fast, that’s even fast for trolling for salmon.
We started the engine again and came around the corner out of Burke Channel and into Fisher Channel. Here the current was much slower, and we could actually see a line in the water where the water coming out of Burke Channel was moving quickly, and the rest of the sea was moving slowly. It looked like the water in a river moving along a bank line. We tried some fishing around the corner in Fisher Channel, however since no bottom types were stated on the chart for that area, we did not know if we were targeting the right location.
As the current slowed in Burke Channel, and we neared the time for slack current, we headed further up Burke Channel to a shallower area. The entire channel shallows to 30 meters at a narrow spot before dropping off deeper again on the other side. When we got to this area the current was still flowing strongly, so we went ashore for some lunch. We were surprised to find four pebble-beaches in this area, two of which were quite long. We stopped at one of these and had a hot lunch of soup and sandwiches.
Back out on the water the current had slowed somewhat, although we still had to row steadily. Bit by bit the current eased more and more, until we only had to counter the wind with our rowing. Over the next couple of hours we had a great time fishing. We caught our very first Halibut!! Yay!
With strengthened optimism we continued fishing and managed to catch two nice-sized Pacific Cod. Yay. If you recall we caught a couple of little ones at Eucott Bay, but these were our first good-sized ones.
We made it back to our anchorage with just enough time to clean and fillet the fish onshore before we lost the light of day. Cleaning and filleting a Halibut, since it is a flat fish, is definitely a different process than most fish, but Jason did a great job and we got two beautiful fillets.
Halibut and the blue meat of the Pacific Cod.
Today was the first day that really felt like winter for us. Although we had had a few days with frost, they had always still felt like fall. Today, however, it was two degrees in our cockpit in the morning, and quite cool in our boat until we got the fire going. We bundled up in lots of layers for going out fishing, as it is always cold planing along in the tender, and then sitting still while fishing. It was the first time that I had worn my balaclava, and both of us wore our snow gloves. The air remained crisp and dry all day, and since the sun now remains low in the sky all day, the lighting was that of an evening. One more month and the days will be getting longer. It will be interesting to see how short they get here on the Central Coast of British Columbia. Right now we have daylight for about 8.5 hours.
Halibut is my favourite fish - so glad you caught one. Yummy.
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