2021 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Reports

[Ned]

Fished Nootka for 4 days. Got on the water at 3 and as per usual got nothing on the first day. The next morning we went to Burdwood and ended up with 3 springs and a nice hatch coho. Followed up by 9 more over the next two days. Fished most of the popular spots inside and out, the best action was at Burdwood. 30-50' on a "No Bananas" Skinny G worked the best. A few good hits on anchovy, but too many shakers to want to fish bait all day. The coho were around 8 lbs and mostly hatchery.

Weather was outstanding. Seas were flat for the most part. The stay at Critter Cove was outstanding.

 

[nootkaassassin]

My crew from last weekend that celebrated there 50 yr wedding anniversary had so much fun that we headed back out to Burdwood again Saturday morning. Pretty slow going for the first hour with a few shakers. Then it was Moms turn to put on a show after keeping 2 springs over 20lbs and 2 coho around 7 lbs. We released lots of small springs in the 5-10lb range and and a few smaller coho. All fish where on chovy and I was a busy guy keeping up with the pace.

Saturday night around 7 pm Dad and I headed out to San Carlos. At the dock before we left he picked out a 4 1/2 inch lime green and yellow wood Louie from my re-paint tub. We put lines in the water and just sat down and the rod goes off. Dad tells me it’s my turn and I reel in a 7lb coho on my PD flash fly. We troll for a hour or so and nothing but Dad sees big springs finning a hundred yards or so on the port side so I head that way. We get closer and I still don’t see anything but he keeps telling me there they are again. Lol well tuns out that they where small porpoises, mabye a dozen or so and not the 80 lb spring that was rumoured to be swimming around the sound with a flasher and gear attached. Anyways I finally tack back to where we caught the coho and bam his rod pops off and he reels in a 8lb coho on the plug.

Sunday morning we head back to Burdwood with 1 less crew member as she was still tired from the morning before. Only had the lines in the water for 10 min and I was fighting bull kelp around the kicker and both rods where riddled in kelp and the water was thick so we pulled the pin.

New plan was to head to the light house and troll to Maquina pt and then head out for ground fish. Never got the 2nd line in the water at the light house and Dad had the 24lb spring in the box. I managed to get both rods back in the water and then fish on again with a 10lb coho on the plug. Same thing happens again when I get the rods back in water but this time it’s another chrome spring 16 lbs on the plug. We make a few more circles but only a few shakers so I carry on towards Maquinna and Dad had a sandwich and water and I think the swells and all the action where getting to him as he wants to drive now so he can sit down. Dad makes it close to wash rock and we have a double header of hatch cohos. We played around the rock for a bit and I released several smaller cohos and managed to keep another Coho and called it a season.

Looks like back to work on Tuesday as I have been off all summer. I will still keep a eye out on the sound when I am at work…. Cheers NA

 

[Port Eliza Fishing]

Salmon fishing has slowed down in the Esperanza area with the recent rain. We still had a couple of boats get the odd fish at Rosa, and Pin rocks has spit out the odd fish too, but we are now waiting for the inlet Coho to start showing.

So with Chinook salmon being slow, it was tuna time out of Port Eliza Lodge yesterday. The weather report was for calm winds which was true, but the storm the day before left 3 meter+ seas. We considered turning back a few times, but the favorable wind report convinced us it would get better. It didn't, but we made it out off the Kyuquot Canyon anyhow and started fishing.

The 28 foot Pursuit we were in could handle the water. A big thank you to Ron Newland of Newland Sportfishing for taking us out! His 28 foot Pursuit is fully decked out for Tuna with outrigger poles and plenty of gear. Fishing started a bit slow for us. We had a couple of hits, but none in the boat and our companion boat had 7 already. We persevered and heard some Mootcha boats were having some luck 4 miles from us so we trolled in that direction. Our luck changed and we started hitting some tuna! We had a couple of doubleheaders and a triple that we landed.

The tuna were not that big, the biggest was 15 lbs but that was OK, we were happy to see some blood on the deck! Our companion boat ended up with 20, we had 11. It was a fun day, but the seas never really went down much until the end of the day so it was tiring!

 

[anchor six]

We fished Esperanza Sept 2 to 6. Fishing was just OK until it rained then became really slow. Does anyone know if coho showed up inside in numbers in recent days?

 

[el.Pereh]

How late is too late for Nootka coho? I’ll be in the area next weekend and will have the opportunity to spend a bit of time on the water

 

[spring fever]

-depends on how much rain they have but I have caught them this time of year running with the chumHow late is too late for Nootka coho? I’ll be in the area next weekend and will have the opportunity to spend a bit of time on the water

Should be ok -depends on how much rain they have but I have caught them this time of year running with the chum-see chum jumping out mid channel the coho are usually with them.

 

[el.Pereh]

Should be ok -depends on how much rain they have but I have caught them this time of year running with the chum-see chum jumping out mid channel the coho are usually with them.

Would this be a bait fishery? I was thinking about bringing some along with some white uv hootchies and some AP tackle herring spoons. Never fished Nootka...

 

[Dogbreath]

Would this be a bait fishery? I was thinking about bringing some along with some white uv hootchies and some AP tackle herring spoons. Never fished Nootka...

Dark UV hootchies too.

 

[spring fever]

Would this be a bait fishery? I was thinking about bringing some along with some white uv hootchies and some AP tackle herring spoons. Never fished Nootka...

You can never go wrong with bait but at this time of year I quite like pink-such as the all pink 3.5 coyote or maybe a white hoochy with a bit of pink-anyway give it a try-its that time of year

Would this be a bait fishery? I was thinking about bringing some along with some white uv hootchies and some AP tackle herring spoons. Never fished Nootka...

 

[Port Eliza Fishing]

ESPERANZA INLET 2021 SEASON REVIEW

2021 was again an eventful season at Port Eliza Lodge. We had to deal with border closures, although the border did open August 9th and we were able to welcome some American guests to the Lodge. The good news is fishing was very good in 2021. The season started off well in mid June with large numbers of Chinook showing up throughout the area, but particularly in the Mushroom Point area. This fishery has become a consistent mainstay for chinook through July. Every year for the past 3 years most of the largest Chinook of the year are caught in this area in late June to Mid July. We had the biggest of the year caught July 4th (34 lbs). Massive schools of squid invade the area, drawing chinook and even halibut in close to shore. In my opinion this area has eclipsed Ferrer point as the go-to spot for early season chinook.

2021 also saw the return of the Coho! At times there were so many catching chinook was difficult. They were offshore on the Guitar and further out, but also closer in around low rock, middle reef and Pin Rocks at various times. The Inlet fishery got started in Mid July this year with good numbers of chinook showing up at Rosa. Rosa produced the best fishing of the last 3 years there with good catches until some rain in late August moved them along. As August progressed waves of Chinook and Coho kept coming. Pin Rocks, Low Rock, High Rock, Middle Reef all held fish. there was a flurry of activity at Inner Black as well, but overall there were not a lot of fish there. North the action shifted from Mushroom to Sandstone in August, and as in 2020, Sandstone had great, sometimes spectacular fishing for Chinooks through August. I started cut plugging there with no flashers and still caught fish (August 24th below) !

Bottom fish were consistent. We had a an increase in the maximum size limit for Halibut to 133 cm, and we had a 132cm fish come in weighing 75lbs, the seasons largest. The Ling cod limits were increased to 3 per day as well, and ling catches were better than previous years.
Finally we did have some tuna fishing out of the Lodge. there were Tuna to be had 25-40 miles out when the weather permitted.

With another la-Nina yer expected, ocean conditions should once again be favourable for salmon, and we expect another good season in 2022!!

We are booking up fast for 2022. We still have some prime time guided trips available and Bring Your Own Boat Spaces. If you are interested in a fishing adventure for 2022 please send Robert a note robert@portelizalodge.com or call 949-456-3791!

Tight Lines

Robert

 

[NootkaFisher]

ESPERANZA INLET 2021 SEASON REVIEW

2021 was again an eventful season at Port Eliza Lodge. We had to deal with border closures, although the border did open August 9th and we were able to welcome some American guests to the Lodge. The good news is fishing was very good in 2021. The season started off well in mid June with large numbers of Chinook showing up throughout the area, but particularly in the Mushroom Point area. This fishery has become a consistent mainstay for chinook through July. Every year for the past 3 years most of the largest Chinook of the year are caught in this area in late June to Mid July. We had the biggest of the year caught July 4th (34 lbs). Massive schools of squid invade the area, drawing chinook and even halibut in close to shore. In my opinion this area has eclipsed Ferrer point as the go-to spot for early season chinook.

2021 also saw the return of the Coho! At times there were so many catching chinook was difficult. They were offshore on the Guitar and further out, but also closer in around low rock, middle reef and Pin Rocks at various times. The Inlet fishery got started in Mid July this year with good numbers of chinook showing up at Rosa. Rosa produced the best fishing of the last 3 years there with good catches until some rain in late August moved them along. As August progressed waves of Chinook and Coho kept coming. Pin Rocks, Low Rock, High Rock, Middle Reef all held fish. there was a flurry of activity at Inner Black as well, but overall there were not a lot of fish there. North the action shifted from Mushroom to Sandstone in August, and as in 2020, Sandstone had great, sometimes spectacular fishing for Chinooks through August. I started cut plugging there with no flashers and still caught fish (August 24th below) !

Bottom fish were consistent. We had a an increase in the maximum size limit for Halibut to 133 cm, and we had a 132cm fish come in weighing 75lbs, the seasons largest. The Ling cod limits were increased to 3 per day as well, and ling catches were better than previous years.
Finally we did have some tuna fishing out of the Lodge. there were Tuna to be had 25-40 miles out when the weather permitted.

With another la-Nina yer expected, ocean conditions should once again be favourable for salmon, and we expect another good season in 2022!!

We are booking up fast for 2022. We still have some prime time guided trips available and Bring Your Own Boat Spaces. If you are interested in a fishing adventure for 2022 please send Robert a note robert@portelizalodge.com or call 949-456-3791!

Tight Lines

Robert

Where is Mushroom Point?
Thanks.

 

[Port Eliza Fishing]

Where is

Where is Mushroom Point?
Thanks.

North of Tatchu point up near Grassy island. Some of the Kyuquot boats come down there as well as the Esperanza boats.