The Bell Buoy

The Bell Buoy sits off Vancouver in DFO subarea 28-7, marking an outer-exposed sand flat that drops through 80 to 180 feet. The spot holds Chinook Salmon through their June to August peak and Coho Salmon from June into September, both drawn to the bait that stacks along the open bottom. Downrigger trolling dominates here, with anchovy in a teaser head, hootchies, and trolling spoons run behind flashers at depth for Chinook, and smaller spoons or hootchies worked higher in the column for Coho. When fish suspend or hold tight to structure, mooching cut plug or whole herring and jigging metal jigs or soft plastic swimbaits cover the deeper end of the range. Bucktail flies and small casting spoons take Coho when they push near the surface on the exposed edge.