The lesson's we learned over at Brown's Bay were tested here in the Alberni Inelt. Appears to work well here as well as over on the
Dark Side Need to have an area to work that you know the fish are still feeding in (presence of krill).
Blades: Any of the "JellyFish" patterns - Purple Haze (standard ol' reliable) Pink Haze, Green Haze, and UV plaid all work well. As does the green plaid.
Hootchies: Mini-planktons work well, but we experiemented with needlefish size with good results this year as well. Fastest colours were blue/pink, black/pink, straight pink, and a handfull of glittery pinks/greens combos. Run on a 27-28" leader, and troll
DEAD SLOW (as in 0.5 mph!). Being chiefly a West Coast Boy, that last was by far the hardest to ingest! Slow to me prior to this fishery meant 1.8 knots!!
This gear produced literally dozens of hook-ups this and last year. A seriously
FUN fishery! Underated by most, methinks those that do so simply have to try it on once. Believe me, you'll likely change your mind once you've experienced the fast & furious action it offers!!!
Tried various spoons (the ones we run for saltchuck sox and others) with little effect. Heard of a few being tagged with rolling 'chovies, but with the success rate on the hootchies, who wants to mess around with bait?
Hope that helps...
Cheers,
Nog