2024 Victoria and Oak Bay Reports
- Thread starter 2xeagle16
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Hot-Streak
Well-Known Member
Went out today to see if coho where around. Dropped the kid off at school and biked to the boat. Met up with friends and headed out. Lines down by around 10 or so. Checked in with a few others from the boat club and they hadn't got anything. Trolled first 10 minutes and got a bite off saxe and landed a nice coho on an AP anchovy spoon at 70ft on the rigger. Trolled around for about 1 hour and not a sniff, decided to up gear and go halibut fishing.
Dropped lines east of pedder bay (mud hole?) and flopped around in a weird wind/tide combo. Waves coming from the beam and lines angle slightly forward due to the wind going against the current at an odd angle.
About 1 hour later went to adjust the lure and BAM got hit with a decent bite. Brought it up and low and behold a nice hali off my hoochie with circle hook (herring and salmon belly). Bonk, bleed and clipped over the side off a rope to bleed out. Dropped lines again for a bit but eventually had enough of the side to side waves on the beam.
Pulled up anchor, set the autopilot and headed home. Checked traps on the way back and got 5 keepers. So a "west-coast trifecta" but it wasn't easy and felt like a bit of a grind today. Still fun and had good time with my fishing buddies.
Back to the dock, clean up, cut fish, put it in the kitty litter bucket I use as my e-bike storage. (If you see a black ebike with a green kitty litter box on the side with a halibut/salmon tail sticking out of it give me a honk and I'll wave)
Hope there are more coho to come. Was throwing back some nice large wilds over a week ago...
Dropped lines east of pedder bay (mud hole?) and flopped around in a weird wind/tide combo. Waves coming from the beam and lines angle slightly forward due to the wind going against the current at an odd angle.
About 1 hour later went to adjust the lure and BAM got hit with a decent bite. Brought it up and low and behold a nice hali off my hoochie with circle hook (herring and salmon belly). Bonk, bleed and clipped over the side off a rope to bleed out. Dropped lines again for a bit but eventually had enough of the side to side waves on the beam.
Pulled up anchor, set the autopilot and headed home. Checked traps on the way back and got 5 keepers. So a "west-coast trifecta" but it wasn't easy and felt like a bit of a grind today. Still fun and had good time with my fishing buddies.
Back to the dock, clean up, cut fish, put it in the kitty litter bucket I use as my e-bike storage. (If you see a black ebike with a green kitty litter box on the side with a halibut/salmon tail sticking out of it give me a honk and I'll wave)
Hope there are more coho to come. Was throwing back some nice large wilds over a week ago...
islandboy
Well-Known Member
I had a roller-coaster row from 1 - 4 pm in front of Macaulay. No wind chop, but crazy seas changing direction constantly. At one point some serious swells. Only a couple boats out.
Not much in the way of bait compared to 30th/1st. Creel counter said fish were being brought in by fellows who had been out since the morning. None for me.
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Doug
Well-Known Member
Fished today for Coho, just west of Race Rock, 730 to 1045. There were 10 boats out in the area and we never saw a net out.
We had three hits and got one wild Coho in the boat and that was it. I have never seen it so slow for Coho fishing and comparing it to a week ago when we released 14 fish at the boat and kept 1 clipped in 2 hours.
Bonus is, the two carb traps we dropped earlier had 12 keepers and some extra large ones and they all had hard shells. A few crabs were bigger than the measuring stick.
We had three hits and got one wild Coho in the boat and that was it. I have never seen it so slow for Coho fishing and comparing it to a week ago when we released 14 fish at the boat and kept 1 clipped in 2 hours.
Bonus is, the two carb traps we dropped earlier had 12 keepers and some extra large ones and they all had hard shells. A few crabs were bigger than the measuring stick.
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Sam7
Well-Known Member
Headed out to the mud hole for some halibut this morning, but before made it out that way I dropped a couple traps off in front of Saxx point.
My old spot hasn’t been producing so I tried another one. Dropped the anchor about 7:45……..and I was drifting so I dragged over the area and then I decided to reset the anchor. Brought the anchor up to the ball..so I thought. I started to bring in the rope and then discovered the anchor went back down to the bottom. I was already committed, so I hand balmed the anchor and chain up from 320’. The reason I was dragging was the anchor chain got caught between the tines. Reset the anchor and started fishing again …..so I thought, anchor still dragging. So I drifted a bit more and then I decided to bring up the anchor again. This time the anchor stayed with the bouy. But….. this time there was a big chunk of something (looked like a piece of bait) and some fishing line that prevented the tines from sticking in the mud. So third time the charm……nope! Didn’t set up again and I was drifting again. This time I said screw it. Turned on the trolling motor to slow down the drift and covered some new ground. 10:45 the rod goes off and I have a fish on. I bring up a 80cm halibut. I bring up the anchor, and again the chain was in the tines preventing it from grabbing bottom
. I packed up and headed to Brochie to see I can grab a coho or two. Trolled for a couple hours, but only managed 1 hit that didn’t stick.
Went to retrieve the crab traps, and wozzers! 1 trap had 13 total, the other had 17 total. I was by myself today, so I grabbed 4 large firm crabs and threw the rest back to live another day. In total there were 8 keepers. I had several huge females in the mix as well.
My old spot hasn’t been producing so I tried another one. Dropped the anchor about 7:45……..and I was drifting so I dragged over the area and then I decided to reset the anchor. Brought the anchor up to the ball..so I thought. I started to bring in the rope and then discovered the anchor went back down to the bottom. I was already committed, so I hand balmed the anchor and chain up from 320’. The reason I was dragging was the anchor chain got caught between the tines. Reset the anchor and started fishing again …..so I thought, anchor still dragging. So I drifted a bit more and then I decided to bring up the anchor again. This time the anchor stayed with the bouy. But….. this time there was a big chunk of something (looked like a piece of bait) and some fishing line that prevented the tines from sticking in the mud. So third time the charm……nope! Didn’t set up again and I was drifting again. This time I said screw it. Turned on the trolling motor to slow down the drift and covered some new ground. 10:45 the rod goes off and I have a fish on. I bring up a 80cm halibut. I bring up the anchor, and again the chain was in the tines preventing it from grabbing bottom
. I packed up and headed to Brochie to see I can grab a coho or two. Trolled for a couple hours, but only managed 1 hit that didn’t stick.Went to retrieve the crab traps, and wozzers! 1 trap had 13 total, the other had 17 total. I was by myself today, so I grabbed 4 large firm crabs and threw the rest back to live another day. In total there were 8 keepers. I had several huge females in the mix as well.
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kaelc
Well-Known Member
Headed out past Constance for Hali, had a few dogfish on and switched to salmon heads. No bites. Jigged for coho, while enjoying dolphins and birds feeding. Had a half dozen hits but only one nice wild coho in the net. Didn’t do as well with crab as you boys but got a few. Had a wicked day.
Aces
Well-Known Member
Those crab are worth everything else
Original
Well-Known Member
Had a late start Sat launch around 2. Stayed in close hitting my favourite marks. Had decent action even got a couple feeder springs Sent them back and set a date to see em in Jan ;-)
Landed a 8 lb wild around 330 then it was quiet. I had dinner plans for 6 so last tack at 5 just out from the launch boom a scrap was on and another 12 lbs wild hits the deck. I want to somehow start my day with that last tach luck I’ve been having. It was so hard to roll up thinkin the bite was on but i made dinner on time.
Landed a 8 lb wild around 330 then it was quiet. I had dinner plans for 6 so last tack at 5 just out from the launch boom a scrap was on and another 12 lbs wild hits the deck. I want to somehow start my day with that last tach luck I’ve been having. It was so hard to roll up thinkin the bite was on but i made dinner on time.
The Green Bastard
Active Member
I went out to the mudhole for Hali with my son and grandson yesterday. Late start anchor down around 12. I thought currents wouldnt be so strong but they were ripping pretty good. My anchor started slipping right away but I dont think we could have kept the gear on the bottom if it had held. Ended the day with one bite one Hali at 37.5 lb on the bait the 4 year old brought for me to try. My first time catching a halibut with chicken finger as bait
Mausermike14
Active Member
It's amazing what they'll bit on. Had a friend tell me a story once, about fishing hali years ago. Him and his buddy where out fishing border bank. They had been anchored up for a few hours with not much action. They decided to see what there wife's had packed them for lunch for that day, to there delight it was last nights chicken wings!! They decided it was lunchtime and started devouring the wings. As they finished every wing they threw the bones over board, not thinking much of it. About 1hr later, bam one rod goes off. After a 45 min battle they had a 95lb Hali on board. When they got back to the dock and cleaned the fish, it had a stomach full of chicken bones. You just never know how what they'll bite on, lol.
Took a chance that Monday am fog would lift and arrived at OB flats around 10 am with 3 other boats for company. Fog kept lifting, we kept trolling and finally at 1130 got our hit of the day. it was a fiesty 7 lb hatchery spring for my friend's licence.
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