2023 Sooke Reports

[wolf]

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.

You are correct!!! you can cut the head off...

 

[PHW]

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.

You most certainly can take the head off as they have measurement criteria for a salmon with no head. We did that on all of our clipped fish. Process is on the back page of any license—check it out.

 

[wolf]

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.

They are every where maybe Sunny shores doesnt but many other do

 

[Aces]

They are every where maybe Sunny shores doesnt but many other do

Pacific Recreational Fishery Salmon Head Depots - Open Government Portal

Location and contact information for Pacific Recreational Fishery Salmon Head Recovery Depots. The sport fishing community has an important role in the recovery of coded-wire tags found in Coho...

open.canada.ca

 

[tigerprawn]

Pacific Recreational Fishery Salmon Head Depots - Open Government Portal

Location and contact information for Pacific Recreational Fishery Salmon Head Recovery Depots. The sport fishing community has an important role in the recovery of coded-wire tags found in Coho...

open.canada.ca

the head recovery Collection crew picked up from my place today and making his rounds in the sooke area today and tomorrow
He told me the head’s being turned in this year are way up . Hopefully more data for the volunteer projects

 

[SpringVelocity]

Great news.

 

[TMan]

Hey there. I just tried that link. I get not a lot. I'm on my phone. Maybe it is not optimized for mobile? Is it just me?

 

[Aces]

Hey there. I just tried that link. I get not a lot. I'm on my phone. Maybe it is not optimized for mobile? Is it just me?

I posted it from my I phone. Maybe try and access it thru Safari?

 

[Ldub]

Late post:

we came from Esquilmalt harbor, great ride out, arrived at the gap just before Secretary and we were fishing through the gap to possession by 6:30 ish. In the previous two encounters we hooked up on smaller fish and we always had a big one hooked up before arriving at possession. Not this time, we went through and started fishing possession for 1:45 without a sniff. We decided to head to Otter. We spent several hours there, and managed a few small small and a couple of small doubles, and by reading the reports, we were fortunate to land a 77cm. We started to head back to Victoria at about noon, and the ride was splendid……… The chop got a bit better by Secretary, and by Beachy it was in comparison a calm ride of 1-2’chop. Got to race rocks and it was smooth sailing . We stopped for halibut on the mud flats for a few hours, but only 1 dog for our effort.

Surprised you’re running out to Sooke from Esquimalt when spring fishing in Victoria has been !

 

[Cut Plug]

You most certainly can take the head off as they have measurement criteria for a salmon with no head. We did that on all of our clipped fish. Process is on the back page of any license—check it out.

Agreed. Likely a subject for a different thread, but check here under the packaging and transport tab:

Salmon fishing information - BC sport fishing guide

Salmon fishing information - BC sport fishing guide.

www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

All you need to do is leave the pectoral and tail atached to one fillet.

CP

 

[Cut Plug]

Still so many fish out there. 2 passes out front of Sooke this afternoon produced a 12 lb red and a freight train smoking line off the reel 79cm white spring before I could grab the rod mid day today. We were just supposed to launch the boat after two weeks in Bamfield but couldn’t resist. Windy for sure but a really strong flood tide made it doable from a wave perspective. The double header on the white with a beauty wild coho was an interesting adrenaline rush to say the least, but isn’t that what it’s all about? Sooke rocks! Hoochies at 45 and 55 did the trick. Back out tomorrow

 

[Saxe Point]

On the water at noon today and had my spring before 1. Saw a few other hookups. Still good out there.

 

[vicsurfer]

Nice, flat water in the rain this morning but the fishing was slow for us. We fished the Trap and managed a pink and a smaller, hatch spring about 55cm which was bleeding everywhere. DFO was at Cheanuh checking catches and warned one guy who was filleting hatch coho while tossing the spine. While I was tagging the spring head for the bin, the officer told me next time to keep the head on the spring (Which isn't required). I commented that it's pretty hard to submit heads if I can't cut it off . Anyways, they were pretty reasonable and it was odd they didn't even want to see licenses (Which has head off sizes on the back ).

 

[kingspring]

Nice, flat water in the rain this morning but the fishing was slow for us. We fished the Trap and managed a pink and a smaller, hatch spring about 55cm which was bleeding everywhere. DFO was at Cheanuh checking catches and warned one guy who was filleting hatch coho while tossing the spine. While I was tagging the spring head for the bin, the officer told me next time to keep the head on the spring (Which isn't required). I commented that it's pretty hard to submit heads if I can't cut it off . Anyways, they were pretty reasonable and it was odd they didn't even want to see licenses (Which has head off sizes on the back ).

Hmm, they should be reasonable, curious to DFO reply re submitting the whole fish vs just the head!!
Lol

 

[Ruben]

Nice, flat water in the rain this morning but the fishing was slow for us. We fished the Trap and managed a pink and a smaller, hatch spring about 55cm which was bleeding everywhere. DFO was at Cheanuh checking catches and warned one guy who was filleting hatch coho while tossing the spine. While I was tagging the spring head for the bin, the officer told me next time to keep the head on the spring (Which isn't required). I commented that it's pretty hard to submit heads if I can't cut it off . Anyways, they were pretty reasonable and it was odd they didn't even want to see licenses (Which has head off sizes on the back ).

I went through a DFO road block in Lake Cowichan a couple of weekends ago. I decided to keep our fish iced and cut the heads off for transportation. They had no comment or issue with how i transported the fish. Fish was gutted and iced, tails on and head off. That is how the license reads.

 

[Tsquared]

Chinook salmon	20-1 to 20-5	45cm	Barbless Hook & Line	2/4/10	Open (See Restrictions)
	20-6,20-7		Barbless Hook & Line	0/0/-	Non-retention until Oct 15 (See Restrictions)
Chum salmon	20	30cm	Barbless Hook & Line	4/8/-	Open (See Restrictions)
Coho salmon (hatchery)	20	30cm	Barbless Hook & Line	2/4/-	Open until Dec 31 (See Restrictions)
Coho salmon (wild)	20		Barbless Hook & Line	0/0/-	Non-retention until Dec 31 (See Restrictions)
Pink salmon	20	30cm	Barbless Hook & Line	4/8/-	Open (See Restrictions)
Sockeye salmon	20		Barbless Hook & Line	0/0/-	Non-retention (See Restrictions)

Got this off DFO site this morning. Let’s have some fun!

 

[tigerprawn]

Was out yesterday at Otter we release a 90cm female Chinook and managed to find a couple under 80cm in the fog.
The sealions have been working the shore line and I always hate hooking up around them.
We managed to net a nice sample of sausage rolls from the wolf .
Tight lines

 

[Tips Up]

Wolf damn good at the anchovies rolls and the sausage rolls!

 

[Englishman]

Well out again after 6 days off, mainly due to the howling winds and rainstorms.

I bit late but lines down at just after 7:30am. Not quite as many boats as I expected for 1st Sept.

Decided once again not to run toMuir but adopted the same tactics as last Saturday. Gibbs spoon one side and AP herring spoon the other trolling west off the Bluffs with riggers at 45’ as before. Got as far as the tin shack with only a hatchery coho, plus one unclipped coho released to show for it.

Turned back east against the slowing ebb and around 8:45am in the harbour mouth had a big hit on the AP spoon. The fish ran very hard , with some shorter runs after so he gave a good account of himself for the 12lb fish we finally netted.

Spoons back down after the “gear clearing” policy we always follow with fish on. Got another smallish hatch coho on the AP spoon and debated whether to keep it but we released it. The gods must have smiled upon us for that release because just 3 minutes after the coho the AP spoon went off again. Yet another exciting fish that ran away hard then rushed back to the boat. Eventually we boated a beauty of 16 lbs (78cm).

Gear down again and trolled around in the same area and got another nice hit yet again on the AP spoon. This one stayed down shaking and did not run but messed about under the boat. When he came up he was just 10lb, but still great and it was only 10am.

The Gibbs did nothing all this time so we swopped it out for an AP sandlance for a while, then tried little herring in t.h. on that side. Only got a couple of very small coho on that which went back.

However, with end of the ebb and the start of the flood it all went dead and even the AP spoon ceased catching. So just before noon, as the ESE wind got up, we called it a day.

All in all, yet another great morning off Sooke!!

 

[pachito]

Incredible sept 1st day out of sooke for us. Gear down about 8am an made a couple passes off the harbour mouth to posession but no action and lots of boats so decided to troll west an catch the flood at otter.
Got a big wave from the highliner wearing the high viz orange t shirt and i knew the luck would change. Got almost to the trailer park and the bite came on. Between 10 and 11 am we had 5 on and landed 3 including a 91cm hatchery red male(head in the bin) 81cm white, 77 cm red. Bait an spoons at 50' to 60' in 90' depth did the trick. Awesome season with great weather!
Time for coho