Comox Harbour Charters
121 Port Augusta St 5 121 Port Augusta St 5 V9M 3N8 Comox, BC, Canada

Comox Harbour Charters will not open for the rest of 2020. We will see what 2021 brings.Comox Harbour Charters will not open for the rest of 2020. We will see what 2021 brings.

Herring Fishery update. Gill net opens at 11:00 AM https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm

Herring fishing has opened. https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm

https://comoxharbourcharters.com/archives/1851 Thanks to everyone that sailed with us this summer.

Fun time on the estuary this afternoon.

Looks like a good day for an outside concert.

This afternoon, July 27th, we will do a free concert along the shores of the Comox estuary. The Lunch Box Ledgends will set up on our boat and we will leave Comox Marina at about 2 pm. We plan on going up the river to 17th St. bridge and stopping where ever we find people to entertain.

We went fishing this morning. No keepers but we sure got a good Humpback Whale show.

We are back from our trip north and ready for private charters out of Comox. $210 per hour for up to 12 passengers. We are also working on another Rock the River event with the Lunch Box Legends.

We are donating an Estuary Tour for this good cause.

https://whalesanddolphinsbc.com//spring-and-cetaceans-hav/ This is a great site for tracking whale activity.

Does anyone want to explore a little further from Comox?

Does anyone want to check out the herring tomorrow[March 19th]. 2 hours for $50. Leaving Comox at 1 PM.

Gill-net Fishery opened at 7:30 this morning. We are heading out at 1 Pm. We still have a couple seats.

We have seats available for our Herring Spawn Tour today. It may be the last public one, as we have some private tours booked. We leave Fishermans Wharf at 1 PM. $40 pp 2.5 hours.

We will go out tomorrow afternoon [March 15th] to observe the herring spawn. The boat will leave the dock at 1300 [1 PM] Let me know if you can make it by email. [email protected] $40 pp for 2.5 hours. I have some people coming from both ends of the Island, so we are committed to run this trip.... Today was windy and the gill-net herring fishery has yet to open. Good thing we canceled todays trip. The herring are spawning and the fishing boats are in position, waiting for Fisheries to announce the opening.

I took this video of Lambert Channel & Tree Island around 10:30 this morming. The wind was blowing 20-25 Knots and building. No gill net opening yet. The weather will improve tomorrow.

We just got back from checking the area for herring. As soon as we hit the dock we heard that there was a mile of spawn on the east coast of Tree Island. I'm trying to decide if the weather will allow us to go out tomorrow.

Most of the herring seem to be south of Denman Island. Comox harbour is void of herring boats. The spotter plane only saw active spawning in the Parksville Bay area. There is a small school of herring near Tree Island. This is the body of fish we hope to view spawning. Probably not tomorrow. TEST: Mar 10; 1 mile E of Sandy Island; 3,500 tons in area; 9.5%; 18.2cm; 59m:71f; 54-10-7-1-1; (17.6gm:75.4gm)

Yesterday we went out looking for herring. Seals, sea lions and lots of sea birds, but no sign of herring. Here is an excerpt from todays Fisheries Bulletin TOTAL STRAIT OF GEORGIA: 95,000 tons (peak estimate), assessment incomplete. The Strait of Georgia roe herring seine fishery opened on Saturday, March 9 in ... NW Bay. There is an estimated catch of 3,800 tons to date, of the 8,311 ton roe herring seine TAC. Fish stocks have moved around and fishing activities have stopped while areas are re-assessed. The test program has resumed with Denman Isle and Western King assessing. Yesterday and this morning's assessments along the Vancouver Island coastline and around Denman and Hornby Islands have found large bodies of fish from NW Bay to Parksville, Columbia Beach to Nile Creek, and East of Denman/North of Hornby Islands. There were 2 test sets last night and this morning: Denman Isle test set last night east of Denman Island had 9.5% roe and 18.2cm fish; Western King test set this morning at Qualicum Beach had 10.3% roe and 19.8cm fish. Assessments efforts today will focus on the areas with large bodies of fish and Baynes Sound. Strong southeast winds today are expected to hamper assessment efforts. A spawn flight departed at 9:00 this morning from Nanaimo. Spawn observed from north of Parksville Bay to French Creek marina, less intense than previous day. No other spawn observed on flight. Congregations of sea lions and birds from NW Bay to French Creek, Columbia Beach to Qualicum Bay, Scallop farm to Deep Bay, and East Coast of Denman Island along Fillongley Park.

Yesterday Comox harbour was plugged with herring boats. Today they all headed down towards Deep Bay. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

I was just sitting at the computer studying the latest Fisheries bulletin when something caught my eye in Comox Bay. It was a big orca chasing sea lions. Here is a link to todays bulletin https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm

https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm Todays fishery bulletin. Most of the herring is around Hornby Isl.

Thank-you to everyone that expressed interest in joining us for a trip to view the herring spawn from our boat. The response has been overwhelming, now we need the herring to cooperate. We have enough people to run 2 trips. We are going to run a trip on Sunday, March 10th, @ 1330. We will also do an impromptu trip when the fish are spawning. Both trips are $40 per person for a couple hours. The trip on Sunday is for people that cant be ready for a short notice trip. ...The weather looks good and there is lots of wildlife out there, but we dont know if we will see herring. The second trip will be called when the herring are spawning. It may happen fast and we will try to give 24 hour notice. That is why we asked for a phone number. This trip will try to coincide with the gill net fishery. The location of the spawning fish and the weather will dictate when and if this trip can happen. Let me know by E-mail, if you would like to book seats on the Sunday trip. E-mail us with your phone number if you would like to get on the list for the 2nd trip.

https://comoxharbourcharters.com/herring-starting-show/

The weather is supposed to be good for the next week, but I don't think the main herring spawn will happening in the next week.

Herring are coming to the local waters. Although they are hard to see, the predators are everywhere. Last year we had incredible sightings of Orcas, in amongst the sea lions, eagles and other wildlife. We will try to get some trips out to view this spectacle of nature. If you would like to get on the list of interested people, send me an E-mail with number of group & a phone #. [email protected]

E-mail [email protected] to get on the list of people interested in viewing the herring spawn

https://comoxharbourcharters.com/the-annual-herring-spawn/

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g154944-i206-k12300851 Here is a link to a write up on the Herring Spawn. In the middle of the article is a link to some great photos.

https://comoxharbourcharters.com/2019-adventures/

The herring spawn is over a month away, but the wild kingdom seems to be more active in anticipation. We are starting a list of people that would like to observe the herring spawn from the water. If the spawn happens close by in decent weather, we will be out there.

We put a crab trap out yesterday and got 1 big Redrock. We reset the trap a little deeper, looking for Dungeness. Hoping for a better year.

We think I-Hos Gallery is a must see for visitors

Grey whale in the Courtenay River today.

Too windy for carolling on the water.

Kite surfing in Comox was good this morning.

The boat is lit up and PA system is ready to help belt out those Christmas carols.