2025 Sooke Reports

[Doug]

The tides are good on the easter weekend. Pedder bay mud hole is good and out of Sooke I would head to Jordon River area.
I know no one will provide you there honey hole locations.
You have to read the tide flow, weather, bottom contour and the size of your boat matters to know where to anchor up.

 

[Lewy]

Well we started out on the new licences in the bay today and each of us added one keeper. 2 others got off, 1 more undersize and 2 large wild released. Home for lunch. Great day out there today even if a bit wet.

 

[abl]

never fishing in sooke and pedder area. want to go there in easter weekend for halibut. can someone tell me which area is better for halibut on that weekend? i did some research. some people said east of race rock in pedder bay area. some people said west of sooke but didn't said how west. can someone tell me where should i go? thank you very much

Hire one of the available guides and ask questions and pay attention to the anchoring procedure

 

[kaelc]

never fishing in sooke and pedder area. want to go there in easter weekend for halibut. can someone tell me which area is better for halibut on that weekend? i did some research. some people said east of race rock in pedder bay area. some people said west of sooke but didn't said how west. can someone tell me where should i go? thank you very much

Hire @Doug he will dial you in on your boat and has forgotten more than most of us will ever know about fishing in Sooke and Victoria

 

[Newf]

Out off of Pedder today for a couple of hours. Was a bit early and had to wait 30-45 min before we could tap bottom. An hour later and had a 77cm and a 101cm in the boat,,,12lbs and 27lbs. My buddy had another one on but didn’t stick. Flat calm out there today. Salmon belly on one side and herring on the other. 4 nice crab in two pots.
Was out in same area on Sunday with grandson and he pulled up 3 cookie cutter Hali’s that were 5-6lbs. Released at the boat. He kept a nice big flounder so he was happy with that..

 

[Lewy]

I had a good day in the triangle at Becher today at low slack. Managed 4 fish, 1 large wild released, buddy lost another close to the boat and then we landed 2 hatch, 63 and 68cm, the 68 was a nice fatty. Just finished canning that one. Stomachs empty on both. Went out at 9, back in at 1.

 

[A-a-Ron]

Out off of Pedder today for a couple of hours. Was a bit early and had to wait 30-45 min before we could tap bottom. An hour later and had a 77cm and a 101cm in the boat,,,12lbs and 27lbs. My buddy had another one on but didn’t stick. Flat calm out there today. Salmon belly on one side and herring on the other. 4 nice crab in two pots.
Was out in same area on Sunday with grandson and he pulled up 3 cookie cutter Hali’s that were 5-6lbs. Released at the boat. He kept a nice big flounder so he was happy with that..

These Hali reports are getting me stoked, heading over next week for a couple nights, hope to grab my first Hali (third trip over). I finally planned for the proper tides lol

Looking to launch at Sooke public boat launch. Is that launch decent at a fairly low tide? (3-4 ft)

 

[MRW]

Out yesterday for a halibut fish .Was a little rough out there but the fish were biting. Kept two 78/82 cm plus two bonus pacific cod?? Released 6 halibut in the 60cm range. Great first Hali fish .
Strait out from pedder single herring was the trick.

 

[A-a-Ron]

Well finally got that first Hali for my boat. Couple chickens 77 and 80cm. Back out to try to get our bigger one tmw. Nice sized pacific cod too. Bonked a 69cm spring for good measure too, near race rocks. Wicked day out there.

 

[chille51]

Our crew found our limits of hali yesterday out of Pedder Bay. All in the 80-83cm range. One Pacific Cod as well, and a few dog fish ruining the party to a minor degree. First time fishing out of Sooke and first time fishing on anchor. I can take 0% credit for our success, we were on one of the SFBC charters that @wolf offered this year, and he did all the hard work. Definitely recommended to go out with Roy if he offers this deal again next year, or any other time you can for that matter.

 

[Newf]

With great weather and currents I spent two long days off of Pedder. On Tuesday I had 1 dogfish and released 5 halibut in the 65cm range. Wednesday I decided to go a bit further East. While on the hook I got 1 ratfish, 4 dogfish, 1 big skate and released 6 halibut in the 65cm range. Came off of the hook and drifted for an hour and was lucky enough to release one more 65cm hali.
Should have gone further West instead of East.. Great days on the water though.

 

[MRW]

With great weather and currents I spent two long days off of Pedder. On Tuesday I had 1 dogfish and released 5 halibut in the 65cm range. Wednesday I decided to go a bit further East. While on the hook I got 1 ratfish, 4 dogfish, 1 big skate and released 6 halibut in the 65cm range. Came off of the hook and drifted for an hour and was lucky enough to release one more 65cm hali.
Should have gone further West instead of East.. Great days on the water though.

Interesting how there is so many small halibut out there. Never my experience in the past.
Although I’ve only been fishing them for 7ish years.

 

[FRANK WALTERS]

Interesting how there is so many small halibut out there. Never my experience in the past.
Although I’ve only been fishing them for 7ish years.

The size has definitely gone down this year which helps with the new size limit .

 

[Newf]

Not great currents today but a buddy wanted to go out so out we go and dropped the hook at 9am. Couple of dogs and ratfish and then at 11am my buddy hooks up and lands one 18 lbs. I of course release another 6lber. No more hits and pulled the hook as soon as the current picked up. Flat calm out there today. Better than doing my honey do list.

 

[Strait shooter]

Fished the open area of Becher Bay today. Lost one early then landed a15# hatchery spring Both on anchovy.

 

[submerged]

Out from Pedder today. Got a 101cm halibut. Bit stressful measuring that one twice. First in the water, then on the deck to be sure while it was flopping around. Whew. Luck was on our side.

Tried for a ling but no bites. Got one good crab and a bunch of females.

On another note, I had one of my pots stolen from the bay about a week ago. It had a bright red buoy with name clearly marked, so no reason for fisheries to nab it. I also only soak them while I’m fishing. Apparently about a dozen were stolen around that time.

 

[Iska]

That’s a beauty
We also had 3 prawn sets stolen from the waterfront last week ! And NO they didn’t move with the currents, as each one had 36+lb of weight on them and lines were more than long enough

 

[submerged]

That’s a beauty
We also had 3 prawn sets stolen from the waterfront last week ! And NO they didn’t move with the currents, as each one had 36+lb of weight on them and lines were more than long enough

That’s super frustrating. Hundreds to replace those, not to mention the wasted time and energy.

 

[kaelc]

That’s a beauty
We also had 3 prawn sets stolen from the waterfront last week ! And NO they didn’t move with the currents, as each one had 36+lb of weight on them and lines were more than long enough

Currents were slow that day and you had a good search? I've chased my strings of 2 with weights, but more like 15lbs 1 mile in either direction. I've had them sucked under too, I was running a trailing crab float behind my buoys for a while but haven't fished the waterfront for prawns in a year or two now. What buoy were you using and A. or Alex on the name?

We might want to start a lost trap page on Facebook? Yesterday I recovered one of my crab traps that had been lost for 2 months when I discovered it tangled with a single, apparently abandoned commercial trap.

I found a guy's missing prawn traps where he had left them four months after he had set them, found him through Facebook, but I don't know if he ever came over from Van to pick them up. I was going to check yesterday, but I had no space on the boat or time. There are so many traps out there that seem abandoned.