2024 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Reports

[RiverBoy]

Thanks for the report. Headed to Cougar Creek monday and fishing with friends boat. They will pick me up at the ramp daily as they will stay at a lodge. Should we be trying go out first light to mittingate winds?

Also is it worth it to bring a hali anchor? or will drifting work?

always a good plan to go out early as possible anywhere in nootka. the inside is an early morning and late late evening fishery. if you want to get off shore, the winds start to pick up as the day progresses.

can’t really comment on the hali anchor thing. i always drifted and did ok but generally i just suck at hali fishing

 

[pescador]

Thanks for the report. Headed to Cougar Creek monday and fishing with friends boat. They will pick me up at the ramp daily as they will stay at a lodge. Should we be trying go out first light to mittingate winds?

Also is it worth it to bring a hali anchor? or will drifting work?

Drift works fine off Nootka. We usually kick the kicker in reverse and back troll. You'll move a bit if winds are reasonable and cover some ground. Never had a problem getting a 2 lb ball on the bottom.

 

[Trophy 2000]

always a good plan to go out early as possible anywhere in nootka. the inside is an early morning and late late evening fishery. if you want to get off shore, the winds start to pick up as the day progresses.

can’t really comment on the hali anchor thing. i always drifted and did ok but generally i just suck at hali fishing

"the inside is an early morning and late late evening fishery. " You are bang on with this Riverboy as all the years I have gone up this is like clockwork

 

[coastalmarinesafety]

"the inside is an early morning and late late evening fishery. " You are bang on with this Riverboy as all the years I have gone up this is like clockwork

Except those that stick it out and fish the midday tide change at camel or coopte, ducking out of that inside afternoon wind…. those folks often have good success while everyone else is napping, lol.

 

[RiverBoy]

Except those that stick it out and fish the midday tide change at camel or coopte, ducking out of that inside afternoon wind…. those folks often have good success while everyone else is napping, lol.

yep. i remember those days. open center console boat getting absolutely burnt to death. you can sometimes increase your success by going deeper in the middle of the day. we used to routinely fish 100’ at beer can bay and scratch up the odd spring.

 

[codfather]

Looks like we have a few days of rain coming.

That will move some fish around. It's always nice to see a weather change.

Things are going to heat up in the cool and the fish will be biting.

 

[saanauk]

Fished the last two days at Sandstone. Lots of chinook being caught. We did well on hoochies, anchovies, wee gee spoon and 3.5 spoon that is blue and chrome. The fish are full of small herring and candlefish. If anyone lost a 7 inch tomic plug at Sandstone let me know what color code it was and I am happy to return it to you.

 

[Robert]

Yeah, as a first time user of the launch I always assess the situation before I even get lined up with the trailer. I park and take a walk down, check the water depth and see what is going on. Everyone was pulling out on the left so I launched on the right. And one guy felt the need to tell me I was messing up the flow. I guess according to him, me, you, the manager who talked to you, the other boat I talked to and literally every one of the 20 other boats I watched launch and retrieve yesterday are doing it wrong. Maybe he should offer lessons to the rest of us?

Seriously though, I agree there are some very simple ways to eliminate any such confusion. Signage for one - could be as simple as a can of spray paint, "launch" on one lane, "retrieve" on the other.

As there is a lot less water on the left side due to the sand bar that has accumulated there, I let the tide decide which side I use.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Spent Wednesday to Sunday out at Critter cove. Fishing was great inside and outside, inside 59-99’. Everything seemed to work and good bites on the tides changes. the wall, camel rock, san Carlos,
Bottom fishing produced but we ended up trolling all our Lings and halibut. Fish seemed to be deeper, and less wanting what we offered when jigging.
Nice to see everyone getting fish

 

[nootkaassassin]

My favourite time of the year the Father/Daughter annual fishing and camping trip at Cougar. This was the 24th year in a row, what a great fishing partner I have.

We fished Friday and Saturday morning at San Carlos and around the corner at the log dump.

Hardly any boats around and lots of fish on the sounder. Action was non stop both mornings with the smaller springs, if you where able to keep the small guys off the hook long enough you would get into some nicer fish.

Chovies with 6 ft leaders worked well for us at 50-75 feet Didn’t matter with or without flasher.

Highlight of the first morning was my Daughter and Father landing there double header. Complete chaos with lines crossed twice and Dad ended up walking around on to the bow fighting his fish while we where landing my daughters at the back. Woot Woot!!!

Second morning was another highlight of the trip when I watched my rod light up and start peeling line and I was just starring into space thinking holly crap that’s the rod with 1 of my homemade plugs on it. My daughter jumped up and started reeling lol until it came to the surface and she noticed it’s was Only around 8lbs so I reeled it in and released it.

 

[Trophy 2000]

My favourite time of the year the Father/Daughter annual fishing and camping trip at Cougar. This was the 24th year in a row, what a great fishing partner I have.

We fished Friday and Saturday morning at San Carlos and around the corner at the log dump.

Hardly any boats around and lots of fish on the sounder. Action was non stop both mornings with the smaller springs, if you where able to keep the small guys off the hook long enough you would get into some nicer fish.

Chovies with 6 ft leaders worked well for us at 50-75 feet Didn’t matter with or without flasher.

Highlight of the first morning was my Daughter and Father landing there double header. Complete chaos with lines crossed twice and Dad ended up walking around on to the bow fighting his fish while we where landing my daughters at the back. Woot Woot!!!

Second morning was another highlight of the trip when I watched my rod light up and start peeling line and I was just starring into space thinking holly crap that’s the rod with 1 of my homemade plugs on it. My daughter jumped up and started reeling lol until it came to the surface and she noticed it’s was Only around 8lbs so I reeled it in and released it.

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Thx for sharing . Great memories for you and your daughter

 

[Hot-Streak]

Got delayed by a day so now heading up Tuesday. I'll be fishing off my friend's white kingfisher. Call sign on the radio is Hot Streak. What channel to people chat on?

I'll be at cougar creek so anyone is staying there and sees two guys camping near a red hatchback feel free to chat us up about fishing!

 

[WesternStar]

Got delayed by a day so now heading up Tuesday. I'll be fishing off my friend's white kingfisher. Call sign on the radio is Hot Streak. What channel to people chat on?

I'll be at cougar creek so anyone is staying there and sees two guys camping near a red hatchback feel free to chat us up about fishing!

Usually channel 68 or 69. Fishing should be on fire for you guys with the sunny weather after this rain got em moving around. We’ve yet to come back to the dock empty handed so far.

 

[Scoopy]

Heading up for next Monday, can’t wait! We limited out in 4 days last year same time. We’ll be a family of 4 in a welded aluminum Raider with a puke brown Bimini. Say hi if you see us out there!!

 

[Trophy 2000]

Heading up Aug 6 to 10 and staying at Critter Cove on annual trip. If anyone staying there the same time I am in suite 45 and pop by and have a beer and chat . Larry

 

[The Fighting Hellfish]

Back last night from 5 nights at Critter Cove, fishing was awesome. Morning and evening bites at Hoiss and Cooptee was lights out, anchovies or Irish Flag spoon was the ticket for us, 60-90' deep. Watch the seals at Hoiss, we lost one to them and we know of a couple others that did as well.

 

[adbk]

Hi everyone! Watching this thread with interest, my friend and I will be heading up on the 13th to 16th of August, camping out of Moutcha. We're fishing out of my boat, a 17' whaler outrage2 with a red T-top. I've fished out of cougar a few times but this is the first time out of Moutcha. Good luck to everyone out there!

 

[The Weasel]

Back from trip that occurred July 26-30.
Wash/beano/lighthouse were just ok in the mornings. Always scratched up a couple fish every morning.

The wall was unreal in the evenings.
Many double/triple/quadruple headers.
90-65 feet deep. Anchovies/green flashers.
Most fish were 80-90 feet deep.

Slack tide was the best bite time.

Easy limits for 3 guys.

 

[Hot-Streak]

Just got home from my first trip to Nootka. Camped at cougar creek and got picked each morning up by friends who were staying at the fancy lodge around the corner. Apparently Some former hockey player was staying there and filming a fishing show too (the fancy lodge, not cogar creek).

Did a full day and half of fishing. First day we fished the lighthouse in the morning. slow till the bite turned on and got good chook hits at 50-80ft. Most hit on anchovy but spoon and hoochies also got bites.

Then went off shore (wednesday) with calm seas and did some deep jigging for Ling and rock fish. As long as there was structure we got bites.

2nd day (1/2 day fishing) we went off shore again to jig (as we had fun doing that) and got more ling and rock fish but good god we hit a patch of yellow eye. We spent a lot of time using the seaqualizer to get them back down. We can't keep them, I know they say they are endangered but I don't think they are off of nootka. A few times I thought I had hooked into a ling but turned out to be those damn yellow eye.

Our group also got good hits at camel rock.

For a first time at Nootka it exceeded my limited expectations and the area is beautiful. Would love to go again sometime.

 

[Admin]

The SFBC crew, and a couple of friends, made our way to Port Eliza and had a great time. Fishing didn't disappoint, but the first day saw us dealing with rain from the front that had moved in from the south east. It seemed to create a bit of lock jaw on the salmon as we only scratched out a few that day. Day two was a transition for the weather with the morning still being a little tough, but the afternoon saw a much more aggressive bite window with everyone bringing a good mix of chinook and coho to the dock as well as some nice ling and hali. Day three saw lake like conditions offshore so everyone got out to try for more hali and ling with good success. The coho offshore were very active with a few chinook in the mix with a couple bigger ones that had to be returned to the deep. The afternoon action tight to the shore around sandstone was once again very productive for chinook and was a great way to wrap the trip. Jim and Sue were awesome hosts as usual and everyone enjoyed the trip and getting to know some new people from our great fishing community. Most of the Salmon were caught on small spoons, with green being the colour of choice on the inside. Offshore, our boat was doing well for coho on the blue meanie hoochy and one of the stomachs we opened up had larger bait inside, including about a 6 inch herring. The biggest chinook was 22 lbs and the biggest hali came in at 40 lbs. We had a mixed bag of weather, lots of laughs, and added some more great memories to the bank!








Our youngest guest learning at the cleaning table. He also got to experience dropping the gear on the downrigger. He's hooked!