July 2020 Fishing Report

The first couple weeks of July have been truly amazing on the water. We had multiple days of great weather where we were able to cross the Georgia Strait and fish in the gulf Islands around Thrasher rock and Grande area. We were catching different runs of spring salmon at the 87 to 152mark on the downrigger’s. We had multiple days where we released 30+ salmon in 5 hours, I couldn’t even get both lines down at the same time as the fish were taking the Lure on the way down.  The best Lure was the 3.5 party girl and white death worked well on the other side. Prawning slowed right down to the point we stopped dropping them.  The “Hicksy”came out of the water the third week of July and we got her all prepped up for the West Coast adventure. The journey across to the Zeballos went off without a hitch this year and we arrived at Port Eliza Lodge on schedule and ready to scout the area for a couple days before my customers arrive. The intel on the water was Mother nature was dictating the daily where and when we could fish do to high winds.  She continued her punishment for the last couple weeks which resulted in some days where staying at dock was the only option. A positive was at least we had one day with each group where we could get off shore and get our halibut & springs. Other days the wind had us searching closer to shore, Rosa, Black Rock, Mushroom, Grassy  & Garden were productive when we couldn’t get off shore.  Living with COVID-19 being our new reality it was great to see Port Eliza lodge still had good business with lots of people coming and going. I lost a couple of my American clients due to COVID and I was fortunate enough to have Billydoo Charters fill the last two groups with some beautiful people and great fishermen. Thank you Tom from Freds custom tackle for having my downrigger‘s and all my gear in tiptop shape. Also Toms secret Lures he suggested did really well everywhere that we finished. With August around the corner I’m hoping that mother nature calms down a bit and we get some better weather. It’s definitely been a month to remember and everyday waking up on the West Coast reminds me of the reasons that I do what I do. Breathtaking, quiet & humbling fuels my soul and engine of life….

Captain Hicksy