2023 Sooke Reports

[Englishman]

Low tide was 6:40am today so had to have coffee at home until 7:15am so there would be enough water to launch at Sunny Shores. Boat in the water at 7:40am but we grounded on the well-known Sunny Shores dockside “bump”. After 15 minutes my wife suggested one of us went onto the bow to try and lift the engine heavy stern. As the heavier of the two I volunteered and did my best “Titanic” impression on the bow while she heaved on the stern rope. It did the trick and we finally left the dock at 8:00am.

BWD had promised no wind today and that is what we found but acting on information received we resisted the temptation to run down to Muir and dropped spoons at the Bluffs instead, around 8:15am. Gibbs one side and AP sandlance on the other. We fished faster than I normally do and shallower at 45’.

In under 30 minutes there was a big smash hit on the Gibbs and after a nice fight we boated a 72cm, 12lb fish. Got our “composure” back together and I switched the sand lance to an AP herring spoon as it was a bit bigger, more like the Gibbs. Trolled west for a bit then turned with the tide to avoid a debris field and began following more or less the same line back east. Almost immediately the AP spoon went off followed seconds later by the Gibbs again, so we were into a crazy double header!!

My wife was on the knuckle duster reel so we swopped rods and we played both fish for a short while. One minute later the Gibbs fish on my rod escaped and we turned our attention to the original fish on the AP herring spoon. Eventually we boated him and he was an almost exact replica at 73cm and 12lb again.

So at 9:30am we were done and headed out to pick up a few pinks before heading home at 10:40am.

I attach a pic of our two fish. Not anything remarkable about the fish but the early hits and manner of their capture made it a memorable day.

 

[vicsurfer]

Started out this morning around 8:30 at Possession. Picked up a 13 and 9 pound spring within minutes. Since we had our spring limit we tried for some Coho. Trolled down with the flood and hit 2 more decent springs off the Head which were released. We didn't see many coho or pinks so we headed to the Trap. Hooked up a pink and another spring around 13 lbs. My modified Killy McGee was the hot spoon today.

 

[Aces]

Low tide was 6:40am today so had to have coffee at home until 7:15am so there would be enough water to launch at Sunny Shores. Boat in the water at 7:40am but we grounded on the well-known Sunny Shores dockside “bump”. After 15 minutes my wife suggested one of us went onto the bow to try and lift the engine heavy stern. As the heavier of the two I volunteered and did my best “Titanic” impression on the bow while she heaved on the stern rope. It did the trick and we finally left the dock at 8:00am.

BWD had promised no wind today and that is what we found but acting on information received we resisted the temptation to run down to Muir and dropped spoons at the Bluffs instead, around 8:15am. Gibbs one side and AP sandlance on the other. We fished faster than I normally do and shallower at 45’.

In under 30 minutes there was a big smash hit on the Gibbs and after a nice fight we boated a 72cm, 12lb fish. Got our “composure” back together and I switched the sand lance to an AP herring spoon as it was a bit bigger, more like the Gibbs. Trolled west for a bit then turned with the tide to avoid a debris field and began following more or less the same line back east. Almost immediately the AP spoon went off followed seconds later by the Gibbs again, so we were into a crazy double header!!

My wife was on the knuckle duster reel so we swopped rods and we played both fish for a short while. One minute later the Gibbs fish on my rod escaped and we turned our attention to the original fish on the AP herring spoon. Eventually we boated him and he was an almost exact replica at 73cm and 12lb again.

So at 9:30am we were done and headed out to pick up a few pinks before heading home at 10:40am.

I attach a pic of our two fish. Not anything remarkable about the fish but the early hits and manner of their capture made it a memorable day.
View attachment 96928

Nice story and picture

 

[Tips Up]

Today was one of those magic days in Sooke. Flat calm, warm and clear. Fishing was non stop action from 7-10:30.
Hooked over 10 springs, and a bunch of coho and pinks. We released 1 over and lost another that would have been. Kept 3 springs and 2 nice hatch coho.
I even caught a floating bag of sausage rolls!! Thanks Roy!
Had sea lions fishing in the same area. Chasing down salmon and then the morning ended with an amazing whale show. Orcas as far as you could see. The furthest ones were coming right out of the water.
Great Day

 

[PHW]

Low tide was 6:40am today so had to have coffee at home until 7:15am so there would be enough water to launch at Sunny Shores. Boat in the water at 7:40am but we grounded on the well-known Sunny Shores dockside “bump”. After 15 minutes my wife suggested one of us went onto the bow to try and lift the engine heavy stern. As the heavier of the two I volunteered and did my best “Titanic” impression on the bow while she heaved on the stern rope. It did the trick and we finally left the dock at 8:00am.

BWD had promised no wind today and that is what we found but acting on information received we resisted the temptation to run down to Muir and dropped spoons at the Bluffs instead, around 8:15am. Gibbs one side and AP sandlance on the other. We fished faster than I normally do and shallower at 45’.

In under 30 minutes there was a big smash hit on the Gibbs and after a nice fight we boated a 72cm, 12lb fish. Got our “composure” back together and I switched the sand lance to an AP herring spoon as it was a bit bigger, more like the Gibbs. Trolled west for a bit then turned with the tide to avoid a debris field and began following more or less the same line back east. Almost immediately the AP spoon went off followed seconds later by the Gibbs again, so we were into a crazy double header!!

My wife was on the knuckle duster reel so we swopped rods and we played both fish for a short while. One minute later the Gibbs fish on my rod escaped and we turned our attention to the original fish on the AP herring spoon. Eventually we boated him and he was an almost exact replica at 73cm and 12lb again.

So at 9:30am we were done and headed out to pick up a few pinks before heading home at 10:40am.

I attach a pic of our two fish. Not anything remarkable about the fish but the early hits and manner of their capture made it a memorable day.
View attachment 96928

Received a report today of a Highliner wearing an orange shirt…now we know who it was!

 

[PHW]

Today was one of those magic days in Sooke. Flat calm, warm and clear. Fishing was non stop action from 7-10:30.
Hooked over 10 springs, and a bunch of coho and pinks. We released 1 over and lost another that would have been. Kept 3 springs and 2 nice hatch coho.
I even caught a floating bag of sausage rolls!! Thanks Roy!
Had sea lions fishing in the same area. Chasing down salmon and then the morning ended with an amazing whale show. Orcas as far as you could see. The furthest ones were coming right out of the water.
Great Day

Those damn sausage rolls again…a week too late!

 

[Kinetic]

Sooke was on fire today, went 4 for 11 on Springs (1of those days), kept 1 Pink and a hatchery Ho. The 4 Springs were 67-72cm. Saw Humpbacks, saw the massive orca show, saw a pack of Sea Lions (didn't see Roy's sausage rolls).
Off the water at 11am.

 

[Mozart]

Fished from 11:30 to 2:00. Started by secretary island and trolled easterly zigzagging in 180-250’ water. Fished 2 rods at 35,55’ and 2 rods at 85,105’. Got into a 74cm #12 in 15 min from line down on the 105’ line. Son and daughter worked well together they got it in no problem. Soon after I landed a hatch coho #9 from the 85’ line. In the next hour. We landed 10+ coho only got another smaller hatch coho all the rest were wild. Around 1:00 the 85’ line got a line popper little precious set hook played it to the surface and lost it. As she was setting down the rod the 105’ line went off. She quickly grabbed it and played it well. The fish made two runs and she got it to the boat side and my son netted it. It was a 76cm #13 spring. By this time we’re very close to the head and we got into a batch of pink. Filled the rest of quota with pinks. Last batch of cold smoked pinks came out really good. These pinks are in the brine now.

 

[tigerprawn]

Morning Sooke anglers lots of Hatchery chinook showing up .
These could be from our Sooke Netpen project.
PLEASE if you can turn in the heads .
Very important to keep this project going.
Thank you for your cooperation
Tight lines
Tiger Prawn

 

[wolf]

Morning Sooke anglers lots of Hatchery chinook showing up .
These could be from our Sooke Netpen project.
PLEASE if you can turn in the heads .
Very important to keep this project going.
Thank you for your cooperation
Tight lines
Tiger Prawn

YES PLEASE guys ive been doing it I think 5 this week so far.
Today 2 whites in the mix with some nice reds

 

[Cut Plug]

YES PLEASE guys ive been doing it I think 5 this week so far.
Today 2 whites in the mix with some nice reds

Can’t over stress the importance of turning in those heads! Not just now but all year. Back from 2 weeks in Bamfield and looking forward to hitting home waters again asap!

 

[SpringVelocity]

Yep

 

[Mozart]

Headed out at noon today headed back in around 3:30 chased by rain. As far as fishing goes…… what fishing. We ran into kelp, weed and more kelp and more weed. In between would hook up to tiny springs the biggest was a #2er. Only kept a small #3 hatch coho. Zigzag through 250-400’ water. Fished at depth from 25’ to 115’.

 

[vicsurfer]

Headed out at noon today headed back in around 3:30 chased by rain. As far as fishing goes…… what fishing. We ran into kelp, weed and more kelp and more weed. In between would hook up to tiny springs the biggest was a #2er. Only kept a small #3 hatch coho. Zigzag through 250-400’ water. Fished at depth from 25’ to 115’.

Yep, the weed was ridiculous this morning between the Head and the Shack. Bull kelp on the rigger multiple times and eel grass everywhere. We couldn't find a spring so just kept 6 pinks and left after having enough of the weeds.

 

[pachito]

Yep, the weed was ridiculous this morning between the Head and the Shack. Bull kelp on the rigger multiple times and eel grass everywhere. We couldn't find a spring so just kept 6 pinks and left after having enough of the weeds.

Roland caught them all saturday

 

[Englishman]

Roland caught them all saturday

LOL Tony!

But 'twas not me.

We hooked just 3, but from the posts for the day I count 21 reported hooked between Tips and Kinetic alone, plus Mozart got into a few.

Sounds like weed hell today, so glad we missed it....

 

[Rockfish]

Can’t over stress the importance of turning in those heads! Not just now but all year. Back from 2 weeks in Bamfield and looking forward to hitting home waters again asap!

One of the issues with this that I know of is that more anglers than you would think are not local. They come from other parts of BC and Alberta etc. with their boat campers etc. and stay for some time at a local marina or other campground/arrangement. Sometimes they come with friends or family and family/friends come out and stay with them for a few days at a time and they make local friends who fish on their boat because they have been coming for many years and contribute substantially to local coastal economies. No, they are not guiding. They can fish a fair bit and a fair number of clipped Sooke Chinook are caught on their boats. Their problem is that they have to leave the head on to transport the Chinook to prove its slot size status, both to back home and also sometimes to a processing plant like St Jeans. Locals can take them home, cut off the head and drop it off at a depot but guys from Kelowna or Alberta cannot so I think a lot of these heads from clipped Chinook never get submitted. There are a lot of problems with the Chinook slot rules, but that is another discussion. I suspect even some locals don't want to bother with a head once they have the fish home. I think there would be advantages and disadvantages in terms of fisheries management in allowing anglers to remove a head at a ramp or marina cleaning station but perhaps it should be considered. One disadvantage from a DFO enforcement perspective is that they would perhaps think they would need to do a few more enforcement checks on the water and at ramps and marinas when boats come in before the head is removed at a cleaning station to keep people honest.

If the head is removed from a clipped Chinook at a ramp or marina and the head is deposited in a drop off freezer at the ramp or marina, DFO does not really lose an opportunity to check a fish and be told that the head is tagged and in the freezer and the two can be matched up if necessary to prove slot size, at least until the heads are picked up for processing. Now sure, once the Chinook is in a cooler in the trunk of a random car on the road, DFO could not check for slot size compliance or in some rare circumstances easy species identification compliance, but realistically, how often does that kind of vehicle stop ever happen?

There also seems to be fewer drop off depots than there use to be and not all ramps or marinas have drop off freezers and if it is not very easy and convenient to tag and drop off a head in a freezer, more than should can end up in crab traps or compost. This should be something that can be corrected. It would not hurt to post a list of all the locations that heads can be dropped off in each area.

 

[Admin]

Between Friday at 5 pm and Sunday 3 pm my buddy and I put in 27 hours of minor hockey evaluations. Between reading the reports and hearing from a few of the hockey Dad's that managed to fish on Friday or Saturday, and all the "it was lights out" commentary, it was tough to be trapped in an arena! We were determined to get out for an evening fish on Sunday and hit the water by 4:30, only to have the wind turn us around at Beechy. Fortunately, the fish God's appreciated our determination and offered up a nice keeper at Alldridge. We saw a couple other nets out around the same time but that was it for us except for a small Chinook and a Pink. The weeds and the wind made for tough fishing, but it was a great way to unwind after watching all that hockey!

 

[tigerprawn]

YES PLEASE guys ive been doing it I think 5 this week so far.
Today 2 whites in the mix with some nice reds

 

[the force]

One of the issues with this that I know of is that more anglers than you would think are not local. They come from other parts of BC and Alberta etc. with their boat campers etc. and stay for some time at a local marina or other campground/arrangement. Sometimes they come with friends or family and family/friends come out and stay with them for a few days at a time and they make local friends who fish on their boat because they have been coming for many years and contribute substantially to local coastal economies. No, they are not guiding. They can fish a fair bit and a fair number of clipped Sooke Chinook are caught on their boats. Their problem is that they have to leave the head on to transport the Chinook to prove its slot size status, both to back home and also sometimes to a processing plant like St Jeans. Locals can take them home, cut off the head and drop it off at a depot but guys from Kelowna or Alberta cannot so I think a lot of these heads from clipped Chinook never get submitted. There are a lot of problems with the Chinook slot rules, but that is another discussion. I suspect even some locals don't want to bother with a head once they have the fish home. I think there would be advantages and disadvantages in terms of fisheries management in allowing anglers to remove a head at a ramp or marina cleaning station but perhaps it should be considered. One disadvantage from a DFO enforcement perspective is that they would perhaps think they would need to do a few more enforcement checks on the water and at ramps and marinas when boats come in before the head is removed at a cleaning station to keep people honest.

If the head is removed from a clipped Chinook at a ramp or marina and the head is deposited in a drop off freezer at the ramp or marina, DFO does not really lose an opportunity to check a fish and be told that the head is tagged and in the freezer and the two can be matched up if necessary to prove slot size, at least until the heads are picked up for processing. Now sure, once the Chinook is in a cooler in the trunk of a random car on the road, DFO could not check for slot size compliance or in some rare circumstances easy species identification compliance, but realistically, how often does that kind of vehicle stop ever happen?

There also seems to be fewer drop off depots than there use to be and not all ramps or marinas have drop off freezers and if it is not very easy and convenient to tag and drop off a head in a freezer, more than should can end up in crab traps or compost. This should be something that can be corrected. It would not hurt to post a list of all the locations that heads can be dropped off in each area.

Head-off equivalents are listed on the back of everyone’s license… to my knowledge you need one side intact with tail and pectoral fin (second side can be split in half with proper labeling/packaging) but no head required for transport…unless I’m missing something.