2020 Sooke Reports

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Rex4deo said:
Question...
I moved to Sooke in May and have quickly learned the key areas to fish for salmon but I’m not finding much success. Yes I’m catching fish, but it’s not without putting in a lot of time. My question is... Is this a typical year in Sooke? I’m not seeing very big fish and the numbers seem to very low from what I’m used to on the inside and also out of Ukee. Yes, I know you can hit me all sorts of comments, but my question is to those of you who regularly fish a sooke, is this a typical summer?
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Like others mentioned Sooke mid Aug and September is way different than a bank fishery where the fish are actively feeding. Biggest help for me was keeping a DETAILED journal of where, when, depth, lure/ tackle and direction of tide / currents for that day. Even if I didn’t catch fish I noted where and what I saw others doing. Also ITS FISHING, some days are a grind and some days you can’t get 2 lines down. I know of multiple people that have done trips to Nootka and Barkley sound, caught few to no fish simply because they didn’t fish the right spots on the right tides and will never go back.

I still struggle to find Hali but I have figured out taking the time to be out there when the currents / weather cooperate Vs when I am off and don’t have chores has upped the odds for me !
 
Rex4deo said:
Success?? It’s really related to time and overall size of fish. I’m putting in hours for maybe 1 or 2 fish and both the coho and springs are much smaller than I’ve been accustomed to in other areas. I see some fish being caught in other boats but looking at the shear volume of boats, there doesn’t seem to be many being caught by others either. A commercial fisherman friend of mine tells me it’s a poor year overall. I just wanted the opinion of the locals. Thx
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I would say its been a slow year for me, I don't consider catching coho and shaker springs a good day at all maybe just what I'm used to. Or if I catch 70-80cm springs i find that to be pretty small but it seems around here a 80cm is a hog to most when I talk to them lol. Wish i could look at it that way. Last year was a great year, got into numerous springs 17-30lbs on most trips out there. I also only run cut plugs so maybe slower year for me if the average size isn't as big as last year. Going out this weekend for another shot hopefully can find some smileys
 
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Thought I'd chime in on the "Fishing Sooke" them, and offer a report from yesterday, Sep 3.

I moved my boat from the Saanich Inlet (Mill Bay- beautiful marina with a fantastic crew) down to Sooke in the spring of 2019. From my perspective the fishing in Sooke has been fantastic.
I've been getting out a lot this year. In July we were catching our limit of hatchery Coho (albeit smaller ones, 3-5 lbs) in minutes. In August we were finding one or two Chinook (10-20 lb) nearly every trip out. Toward the end of August we started to catch some larger Coho (8-12 lbs).

We fished Otter Point yesterday morning and caught a 20 lb wild female Chinook on our first pass along the north end of the beach where we make our turn to the outside. She looked to be starting to turn color from silver to grey, had a lot of sea lice, and was packed full of large eggs. She was a beauty, and fell for an anchovy at 55ft in 110ft of water. We fished for a few more hours- in the deep, back to Secretary, off possession pt... with a couple of good bites here and there but no more fish to the boat... we did see a few other boats netting fish.

They're still out there, have a great weekend!
 
MikeM said:
Thought I'd chime in on the "Fishing Sooke" them, and offer a report from yesterday, Sep 3.

I moved my boat from the Saanich Inlet (Mill Bay- beautiful marina with a fantastic crew) down to Sooke in the spring of 2019. From my perspective the fishing in Sooke has been fantastic.
I've been getting out a lot this year. In July we were catching our limit of hatchery Coho (albeit smaller ones, 3-5 lbs) in minutes. In August we were finding one or two Chinook (10-20 lb) nearly every trip out. Toward the end of August we started to catch some larger Coho (8-12 lbs).

We fished Otter Point yesterday morning and caught a 20 lb wild female Chinook on our first pass along the north end of the beach where we make our turn to the outside. She looked to be starting to turn color from silver to grey, had a lot of sea lice, and was packed full of large eggs. She was a beauty, and fell for an anchovy at 55ft in 110ft of water. We fished for a few more hours- in the deep, back to Secretary, off possession pt... with a couple of good bites here and there but no more fish to the boat... we did see a few other boats netting fish.

They're still out there, have a great weekend!
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May i ask what time that was at? we fished Otter Point/Muir creek from noon to sunset, and i don't think i saw a single fish caught! Beautiful evening, and i didn't have to clean any fish blood off my clothes. :)
 
I was fishing Otter Point yesterday from 6:20 to 9am. As others mentioned the weather was just perfect. But the fishing was slow. We didn't get a fish nor a bite. The only two fish I saw being caught were from Profisher. I saw another boat cleaning up like they just have caught a fish. There were about 25 boats there. But because fishing was so slow most boats spread out after a while so it wasn't that crowded making for a relaxing fishing trip.
 
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Slow morning for us out of Cheanuh to the Trap. Saw some solo old boys team up to net a 20 odd pounder wrapped around the other guys down rigger and then an old guy in one of the most experienced little double eagles with manuals solo net a 20+ lb fish. Lots of 100k boats not catching but the really grey hairs doing way better than the middle age and young bucks. Had a nice coho by the boat but it spit the hook, due to my poor reeling and not telling the skipper to keep throttle on. 1 keeper in the traps, hauled them home and C-dory is tied up ready for the derby, my buddies fishing it, and then me Sunday. Looking forward to getting a few salmon for the smoker this month.
 
777 said:
May i ask what time that was at? we fished Otter Point/Muir creek from noon to sunset, and i don't think i saw a single fish caught! Beautiful evening, and i didn't have to clean any fish blood off my clothes. :)
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It was early, our very first pass at about 06:20... we dropped gear a couple hundred yards before the point, trolled with the ebb past the point and all the way down toward the beach (there is a 'V' in the topo contours that we turn around in) and then got the bite on the inside rod just as we were making the turn.

I may have mixed up a couple of posts, and maybe I'm responding to the wrong one.... but I didn't post a video with flat water and a sun angle? I did take a photo, but I can't seem to get it to attach it here...
 
Lots of resident whales around today heading east..stretched out from Otter to Race....saw them at 9am off Otter and heard a guy giving the whale watchers a heads up at the same time that there were a group off Church also heading east. Makes for a slower day.
 
We got 2 springs and 2 hatch cohos yesterday, unfortunately no derby winning sizes. It was slow and many had nothing to show for yesterday. Still a great day with good company. A 23+ won the first prize, 21 and 20 followed. There were a few nice clipped springs so I hope the heads were submitted to find proof if the net pen fish were here.
 
Put in a couple of hours early in the fog at Church, no springs, 1 coho in the box 1 coho released. Then went out to 600 ft and released 4 cohos. I was getting them at 90 ft and 120 ft on hootchies.
 
Started on the breakwater this morning at 5:30, nothing was going on so at 8:00, I took LimeRicky and motored out to the Trap.

set up and started fishing at about 8:30, and within an hour I had a nice 7-8 lb wild that made it back into the deep. At the time I was in about 300’ of water out from the trap. Anchoive , 55’ on anchovie teaser head. As the tide started to push a bit, I tucked into the trap for a few spins, but nothing.

went to the head, and after about 20 minutes the whales came through. So I started back out to the deep for a bit before heading home. as I was reeling in, I had a small hit, shaker spring (8”) on spoon, at 110’.

that was it.

Great ride back to the breakwater on a beautiful day.
 
At otter for 6ish this morning in thick fog, had a few hits but didn’t hook up any. cruised upto Muir and same story. Not sure if I was going to quick, small fish, or a weak bite, but kept pulling up chovies with the back 1/3 ripped apart. Went out to 500ft and cruised from Muir to bluffs ish, no fish in the boat. Did have a Nice orca show, including them chasing a seal onto my swimgrid. That was exciting.
Came back in for a nice lunch at Route 14, and currently heading out again to fish secretary area for the eve.. only saw one fish being caught. When I got upto the guy to ask about it, said it was a sole... ‍♂️slow day for us...
 
If I thought yesterday was slow then today was another class below that. 2 small coho, saw one decent fish landed at Otter. Nice humpback show near Sheringham, that was it. Too bad.
 
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