Well, we put to sea today for the first time in over 4 months. Checked everything out yesterday but for some reason had problems with the throttle control binnacle and it would not go back into neutral after running out to the harbour mouth. Struggled a bit then it clanked into position and seemed to be more or less OK after that. Intermittent problems are the worst kind!
I have been saddened to see that there has been but one post on this Sooke thread since January. A decade ago there would have been several posts from the Bluffs, Beecher Bay, the Bedford and Whirl Bay by now. In 2020 it is silence, so either no one is going out any more, or they are not catching, or they are and are not saying!! LOL
Anyway we only fished from 8:30am until 11am when the calm start was swept away by a 12K wind from the WSW. Not predicted by BWD! So we pulled the gear in a nasty chop and headed in. The only other boat out there followed us in and since he came out after us he fished even less time.
And no, we did not have a single touch on glo hootchies or my favourite little herring. Unless I see any more posts for Sooke we won’t be heading out again anytime soon. The silence on this thread is instructive methinks!
It's funny. I have been around this forum for a very, very long time. My experience is, when it goes quiet, it's go time. LOL Mostly people post when the fishing is ******, not when it's stellar. If you post stellar results, the next day your good spot is overrun with boats.
But the old saying is, the best time to go fishing is when you can.
Also, people text in groups now and maybe don't post here as much. I have a group of text buddies for live reports.
I know a lot of guys limited out last summer and got their 10 Chinook or close too it.
You are right Englishmen even Facebook and other social media is quite.
I do the same thing!Sad but the same thing on this side of the border. Say something about catching fish and the next time you are out the crowds are there. The East Coast Striped Bass Forum calls it "Spot Burning" and cautions their members to not give locations.
I used to fish on the East Coast and have a good collection of salt water lures. Often when I return to the dock after a successful day I will remove all gear from the rods and tie on a Striped Bass lure. When I am asked what I caught the fish on I just point to the rod.
Never thought of that Wildmanyeah. You are right, I expect a lot of guys have hit their 10 chinook per/annum already. As I said we don't catch a lot so we are still well short of 10!! LOL
As to giving away too much information that other folks have posted about here, there is a huge difference between lake/freshwater fishing and the ocean off Sooke. The former is usually a very confined territory with a few hot spots. The coastline off Sooke is much larger, hosts migratory fish for short periods of time, is subject to a wide variety of factors such as current and tides, not to mention the weather. There are no narrowly confined hot spots (with the possible exception of Otter point), just general usually more productive broad areas or depth contours which everyone knows about anyway.
So the silence on this thread is not due to playing cards close to the chest. Local people are not fishing (having got their limit last summer) or not posting because not much is being caught off Sooke this winter. A sign of the times we are in, sadly.
It was my honour reeling one of those in for you, sir! Again, I can’t express my gratitude enough for how much that day meant to us.My license is full and has been since late last fall. So no point in going out until the new license year.
Commercial crab trapWas out in Whirl Bay and vicinity and noticed some sort of gear was set there in 120-140 ft contour. More than just noticed, I snapped off a hootchie and flasher and left it behind. 2 floats several hundred yards apart, looked commercial. What would that gear be in that depth, in that spot?