Gangnam Style Fishing Dance

http://www.captainquinn.com Fishing requires a lot of style...how much more style can you get than fishing with gangnam style.

If you are one of the nearly 400 million people who have seen this music video, well then you know about the dance that goes along with it. Its a fun dance to do no matter what you are doing. The Gangnam Style Dance has literally swept the globe and rightfully so-its got great style! 

When it comes to fishing, anglers have a unique style but why not up this style with Gangnam Style? It doesn't matter what your hobby is, you'd be in for a good time if you tried it Gangnam Style. 

​Captain Quinn is calling on all people with a hobby to make a Gangnam Style dance for their particular hobby. Participants will be featured in a video review and win a prize. Just send us the link to your video here.

How to Catch Crabs

Dungeness Crab ​(Metacarcinus magisterand).

Perhaps one of the best culinary treats offered by North Americas rugged west coast is the crab​.  Crabs are scavengers meaning that their dietary needs are met by the waste of others. They live on the ocean floor where coincidently all waste or potential food, overlooked by other swimming creatures, ends up. So how do we get them from the ocean floor onto our dinner plates? The best method I know of involves utilizing the crab trap.

​Classic Sport fishing Crab Trap.

​Classic Commercial Crab Trap.

There are two species of crabs primarily targeted by sports fishermen in British Columbia: Dungeness Crab (Metacarcinus magisterand) and the North American Red Rock Crab (Cancer productus). 

A happy trapper with two nice male dungeness crab.​

A not so happy North American Red Rock Crab.

Dungeness Crab tend to have more meat that is more easily accessible ​due to the fact that they typically grow larger and have a slightly easier shells to crack. The North American Red Rock Crab on the other hand is said to have sweeter meat that is much harder to get at. When the only thing standing between a hungry man or women and a sweet chunk of delicious crab meat is a hard shell, effective techniques will most definitely begin to surface. Crab crackers, pliers, a fork or your teeth may all prove to be useful tools in accessing tasty crab meat. A word of caution though-when it comes to Dungeness Crab I have always just used my teeth to crack the shell but with Red Rock Crab I have cracked my teeth trying to crack the much harder shell. Learn from my mistake and use a different tool. 

Interesting Facts-Crabby Style

Did you know that​ in order to signal to a potential mate her readiness, the female dungeness crab will release pheromones by urinating on the antennae of a lucky male crab? Prior to the female crab signaling her availability, the male crab will lock her into a protective embrace lasting up to several days where he will hold her facing him under his abdomen until she offers consent. It is unclear whether or not she has a choice. Several months later, the female with extrude the fertilized eggs from her abdomen where they will remain attached for three to five months until they hatch and become zooplankton. The young crabs will be free swimming upon hatching and reach maturity in about two years. 

​In order to protect spawning females and preserve the populations of crab in British Columbia anglers are not allowed to retain any female crabs. Therefore, before harvesting these crustaceans you should learn how to identify males and females. The best way to do this is to flip the crab over and examine the underbelly. The male will have a more narrow pointed lighthouse looking feature whereas the female will display a much broader version of the same feature.

Male Dungeness Crab.​

Female Dungeness Crab.​

A female dungeness crab ​holding her fertilized eggs.

Trapping

There are several crab traps available for targeting these tasty crustaceans and they will all work providing you set them with fresh bait on a sandy or gravel bottom near some eel grass or other underwater vegetation. Most people think that since crab a scavengers they will jump at the opportunity to devour rotten matter saturated with stench. However, from my experience, this is not the case. Crab, although they are scavengers, prefer fresh waste and when it gets too foul, they will leave it for other scavengers down the pecking order such as sea-lice and bacteria. So keep your bait fresh. Fish trimmings are a favorite for sure. When baiting your trap make sure to suspend the bait in the middle or the crab will just sit on the outside, reach in and each it from there. The depth at which you can find crab ranges from a couple feet to well over two hundred. So, do a little experimenting and some research. Look for other buoys out there indicating other peoples crab traps, the chances are they have found a spot where crab frequent. Get yourself a trap, some bait and enough rope to reach the bottom and you'll be crabbing in no time.  If you would like to focus on targeting red rock crab, set your trap near rock clusters, other than that all the same rules apply. Good luck!

Preparing your catch

How to clean a crab in under two minutes will demonstrate what to do with your catch once you catch it.​

http://www.captainquinn.com How to clean a Crab.

Hatchery Salmon

One clipped coho fry above and one unclipped below. Note the missing adipose fin nearest the tale.

When we log a forest it is common practice to re-plant the cut-block, but when we commercially harvest a fish stock do we think that they are just going to magically re-appear? Perhaps this is why every commercial fishery in the history of commercial fisheries has or is collapsing.

There is not sufficient management, protection or restoration protocol in place to make it sustainable. “Unless you put fish back into the system, there will be no more fish.” Chapman Creek Hatchery Manager, Bob Anstead tells me. It is a difficult statement to argue with, as I know that unless my wife continues to put cookies back in the cookie jar there will be no more cookies. It seems to be a simple matter of common sense.

Volunteers clipping coho fry which allows for monitoring the success rate of  hatchery programs and the Chapman Creek Hatchery Program has one of the highest.

There are many arguments for and against fish hatcheries​ and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, we should now know that our oceans do not offer us a bottomless pit of resources, they need to be respectfully managed by dedicated stewards who understand the dynamics involved because they are plugged into it. They do not need to be scientists they just need to understand whats involved. If you haven't already, check out the film "The Man Who Digs for Fish." If you can find it, let me know where because its a tough film to come by but what a message.

From taking the time to get to know the volunteers and organizers at local small-scale private fish hatcheries I can say with certainty that these people care about this resource and because they have or presently are taking time to learn more about it, they are excellent stewards. They are active in the process of salmon enhancement and are dedicated to giving back to something that we have been taking far too much from for far too long. 

A happy angler with a nice hatchery chinook salmon.​

Dont get me wrong, I am not suggesting that fish hatcheries are the sole solution to the diverse prob​lem of diminished salmon populations in BC but they may be part of it. Other excellent enhancement strategies may involve education, habitat restoration and cutting back on over fishing. 

One thing I know for sure is that it would be a tremendous tragedy if we were to wake up one day only ​to discover that the Pacific Salmon fishery has met the same fate as the Atlantic Cod fishery. Some would argue that it already has but I will argue that its not too late and grassroots organization is the best place to start.

Monkey See Monkey Do-Saltwater Salmon on the Fly

​Nice sized chum taken on orange and red in Porpoise Bay by Captain Quinn.

​A jumping fishing isn't necessarily a biting fish. This is certainly the case when targeting salmon who are only days away from heading up to their spawning redds to complete their life cycle. You can throw everything you have at them including the kitchen sink and even though you can see them everywhere in exciting numbers teasing you with aerobatic displays and silver flashes you are no more likely to hook-up than you are in other locations where the fish aren't front and centre on display.

​Captain Quinn with one for the smoker.

​Regardless of odds, keeping an angler away from jumping fish is like trying to get your wife to admit that she is wrong. There is something about actually seeing a fish before hooking it that lights a fire directly in your adrenal glands, causing your heart-rate to pick up to the point where your hands start to shake when attempting to tie on that potentially "lucky" fly.

​Dark but firm Chum Salmon good for smoking.

The bottom line is that in order to catch fish you need to be casting to fish regardless of whether you can see them or not. When we cant see them we look to our fish finders, feeding birds, bait balls, seals, whales or any other number of signs. However you do it, finding the fish is definitely your first step towards actually hooking a fish.

​Casting to jumping fish can sometimes pay off.

​Once you find fish then you can move forward with the odds more in your favour. Since salmon tend to veer away from aggressive feeding the closer they get to spawning, getting them to take any fly can require a lot of patience. If you are like me and watching jumping fish just so happens to be one of your favourite past times, second only to catching that same fish, then you are bound to a good time regardless of whether you get one to shore or not.

How to find fall saltwater salmon

In order to find the fish you are going to want to head out at the crack of dawn and scan the shoreline for any sign of activity-the early bird gets the worm! Look for bays and shallow water near creek mouths. Once the sun comes up and the water temperature increases, the fish will move deeper to the cooler water below 14 degrees and you will have no clue where they are schooling dramatically decreasing your chances at this time of year.

Stay tuned for How to get a jumping fish to become a biting fish

When selecting a fly for these interesting but uninterested fish there are a few key factors you need to take into account: time of day, water temperature, type of baitfish present, species of jumping fish and fishing pressure.​ This article will focus on delivering these key factors to you inorder to enhance your fishing experience so stay tuned.

Time of day and water temperature​

Fly Selection​ & Strategy

Swim for the Salmon-Huge Success!

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​The second annual Swim for the Salmon was a tremendous success! Seeing about 30 swimmers and support boats take to the water early sunday morning was pretty cool. Its always inspirational when communities get together for a collective goal. Now it is time to pool our knowledge and energy into salmon enhancement initiatives such as establishing a historical and present day population assessment of salmon on the Sunshine Coast. This project will be discussed later this year at a Salmon Summit open to the community of the Sunshine Coast and hosted by Captain Quinn. A special thanks to all the swimmers who came out that day including Arron Kraft who finished the swim with a dislocated shoulder.  If you wish to be involved with this project please email me HERE. 

Until next time keep on adventuring,​

Captain Quinn​