2025 Sooke Reports

[Cut Plug]

Yup. It’s been really consistent for springs the last few trips for us too. We’ve been using bait on one side but skinny G’s and white hoochies have also caught the springs. We’ve got a lot more pinks on the spoons but they’re great for action and easy to gaff release if they don’t just release themselves Some of the ones we kept yesterday were an awesome deep red colour. One of my buds cooked one up last night and was really impressed. Low slack and the first part of the flood has definitely been the ticket for us which is good as not guiding it’s nice to avoid the daybreak starts. The tides are friendly for bankers hours these next few days Out again tomorrow. Good luck everyone.

 

[BLing]

Fishing has definitely been consistent. Been staying away from the crowds at the usual spots. Profisher was down from me this AM I believe…looked like you anyway.

Went 4-7 on chinook today, only 1 over.

 

[Kinetic]

Slow for us today at the Trap, picked up a 13lb Spring at 6am, lost one the same size at 7am, then it went dead for us. Released a bunch of shakers. Went out to the tidelines at 10am and got our limit of Pinks quickly. Only saw 1 wild Coho today.

 

[NOOMA]

A little excitement at Pedder Bay tonight, 5 Orcas came right into R dock. A couple having dinner on their boat could not believe their luck, What a show. Couple of boats coming back in the channel stopped to let them pass.

 

[Tsquared]

A little excitement at Pedder Bay tonight, 5 Orcas came right into R dock. A couple having dinner on their boat could not believe their luck, What a show. Couple of boats coming back in the channel stopped to let them pass.

I saw a pod just west of Beachy Head heading east about 4pm about that size, probably the same group.

 

[Tips Up]

Fished Rangers derby yesterday. Got a 78cm spring, hatch coho and a bunch of shakers off the hop then went dead for a while. 11:00 after the tide change a bite came on with only one other boat around us. There was so much bait it looked like it was raining. 8 more springs, a few shakers and a couple of pinks to the boat between 11-12:30. Kept an 80cm on the nose. Unfortunately not a heavy fish at 15.75lb so 8th place. Bait out fished spoons for springs.

 

[Rain City]

Fished Rangers derby yesterday. Got a 78cm spring, hatch coho and a bunch of shakers off the hop then went dead for a while. 11:00 after the tide change a bite came on with only one other boat around us. There was so much bait it looked like it was raining. 8 more springs, a few shakers and a couple of pinks to the boat between 11-12:30. Kept an 80cm on the nose. Unfortunately not a heavy fish at 15.75lb so 8th place. Bait out fished spoons for springs.

Anything top 20lb at 80cm?

 

[Tips Up]

Anything top 20lb at 80cm?

18.75 was top fish.

 

[Stizzla]

Anything top 20lb at 80cm?

Who was it that was betting everyone a 20lb 80cm didn’t exist. Had a bunch of rules about it…
He was passionate about it.

 

[Tips Up]

Who was it that was betting everyone a 20lb 80cm didn’t exist. Had a bunch of rules about it…
He was passionate about it.

Not all scales are calibrated or accurate. This one seemed to be. Another scale locally always seems to weigh high.

 

[Rain City]

Who was it that was betting everyone a 20lb 80cm didn’t exist. Had a bunch of rules about it…
He was passionate about it.

I don't want to bring it up again more than I already have. But I believe him, so I'm always intrigued.

 

[Original]

I fished in the derby on Sat and had the pleasure of having Robert of Peetz fishing on my boat and the guy Darren that won the derby last year so expectations were high. Great early start 5:30am lines down at the head. Steady action all day with springs, and pinks with some wild coho in the mix. Our 2 springs weren’t in contention this yr and we donated all our fish to a great cause. This derby was so well run and organized with a live leader board at the click on your phone. Shout out to the Rangers . Later in the day I had my all Peetz set up down rod,reel,flasher & spoon and hooked a screamer that was my biggest scrap of the year only to reel in 100yds of nothing.
If you don’t hav a Peetz flasher on your boat you gotta get one. His flasher somehow has very little drag coming in and is all steel. You can run it from both ends reversing the rotation. Magic!

 

[PEETZcanada]

I fished in the derby on Sat and had the pleasure of having Robert of Peetz fishing on my boat and the guy Darren that won the derby last year so expectations were high. Great early start 5:30am lines down at the head. Steady action all day with springs, and pinks with some wild coho in the mix. Our 2 springs weren’t in contention this yr and we donated all our fish to a great cause. This derby was so well run and organized with a live leader board at the click on your phone. Shout out to the Rangers . Later in the day I had my all Peetz set up down rod,reel,flasher & spoon and hooked a screamer that was my biggest scrap of the year only to reel in 100yds of nothing.
If you don’t hav a Peetz flasher on your boat you gotta get one. His flasher somehow has very little drag coming in and is all steel. You can run it from both ends reversing the rotation. Magic!

Stainless Steel flasher.

Thanks for the great day Don, and Darren too. It was a lot of fun and laughs, great comradery overall. Thanks for the opportunity to share some of my ideas and gear with you guys. It was my earliest opportunity to test my new prototype rod. I am extremely happy with the way it all played out. Great downrigger action at all depths. I am pretty certain that I will implement it and make it available in the very near future.

Thanks again Don & Darren for the great day. It was a fun, amazing, enjoyable time.

 

[Englishman]

BWD predicted a great windless day today and indeed it was a beauty with no fog. So launched at 6:15am and we took the opportunity to run down to Muir for the first time this season.

Lines in around 7:00am and we had Muir to ourselves to start but a few boats joined us mid-morning. Couple of pinks showed up right away, then we had a “release” at the net of a coho. Probably unclipped anyway! Then in very short order we had another what looked like a nodding pink bite but the fish shot to the surface like a coho and fought quite well at a distance before coming to the net where it turned into a 71cm chinook (10lb).

I thought we were going to be home early if another chinook hit quickly but it was not to be. All went quiet for the next two hours as we trolled back and forth east and west of Muir. Then when the tide changed it turned into pink city. We abandoned the herring and put spoons on. 4” spoons were still gobbled by the pinks. Only 6” spoons avoided them but the chinooks did not like them either!! Trolled the spoons around Otter and called it at 1:00pm.

So Muir was a bit disappointing in the end after a quick start. But that is fishing!!

 

[Sam7]

Left Victoria about 5:40, we arrived at the head about 6:10. Started fishing going west towards the Trap. Slower start, managed a pink here and there. Did about 4 loops in the trap area with no results. We did see a boat go back to back with springs. But our turn didn’t arrive. Trolled back down to the head searching for a spring, but only found a couple shakers and a pink. So with the tide still ebbing, we made our way down to possession to give that a whirl. Much more action along the way, before we arrived at the gap, we had a triple pink (biggest of the three was about an 8lber that made a bit of a run)

Did a couple of loops, before we got into a decent fish. I took my wife and her friend along for the ride (friend had never fished before) so it was her time to perform the “rookie lap” and reel in the spring. I can honestly say I really enjoy when the newbies complain that their arm is burning…..AND then I had to break her heart because she landed a beautiful 87cm that we had to toss back. Unfortunately it ate the spoon and the hook was all the way down in the gills. Got the hook out, quick picture, and back in the water. It swam away but I’m not sure she was going to make it. My wife then lost another spring about 25feet behind the boat.

Wind picked up and the rookie was feeling a bit queasy, we packed it in about 11:15 and headed back to Victoria with 8 pinks.

Now I know it’s unrelated….sort of, but we had 3 traps at Saxx point, 1 trap we pulled had 18 crab in it. 3 keepers and several that were just off by 1/4”

 

[eroyd]

Parking lot full at Prestige shortly after 0600.

Started strait out from the harbour and hooked into our first spring right away. About 8lbs. Figured we could do better. Joined the train of boats doing repetitive passes of Possession. Lots of action but only saw a couple of maybe decent springs around us. A clockwise lap around Secretary Isl. with constant dealing with pinks and shakers.

Heading West from Possession decided to drop my gear down to 110' in 120' of water. Buddy laughed at such an un sooke'ish depth but minutes later a nice fish on. Bonked a very thick 74cm fish.

After the tide change, the current got heavy and the wind picked up. Kelp everywhere. Too much work. Went home.

 

[Original]

Further to my earlier report: if I’m not getting the fish I’m targeting I’ll switch it up as many of you do. Sometimes I’ll just switch it up to catch a break to eat something which was what I did here. I sent down a Cocaine Hootchie with a 6 ft leader behind the good ole Betsy flasher kinda old school except usually a 3ft leader. Put it down deep sat down and the rod goes off the clip but nothing there. Never seen this happen. If you happen to catch a derby winner with a mouthful of Cocaine and half a Betsy 6ft behind pls share.

 

[islandboy]

You might want to try a breakaway system:

To work the line pins in the jaw need to be sliced off.
The release clips are on Amazon.
Uncedaran Line Clip Snap Weight Release Clip for Offshore Fishing Planer Board Kite Heavy Tension Snap Release Clip Downriggers Outrigger Release Clips (7pcs Black), Downriggers - Amazon Canada https://share.google/tqDhwEhdKycrreMlL

 

[Admin]

Had a chance to enjoy a spectacular, sunny day on the water. We managed to hit an 80 cm White Chinook at Aldredge. We also manged to pick up a keeper Coho and had to throw back a couple non-compliant! We didn't see a whole lot of hookups around us, so it feels like we got lucky with the two we got. The weather couldn't have been better and we took it easy on ourselves by leaving the dock at 7 and home by 12:30!

 

[Englishman]

The heat wave weather and BWD wind predictions last night persuaded us to go out again today. We have not been out on two successive days for a decade!

Not a great decision on two fronts. The fishing out front was dead slow and except for a small chinook of no more than 6lb which we lost close to the boat all we had were a couple of pinks and lots of baby chinook and shakers. To avoid the little guys we even tried large spoons again at various depths, but nada. Did not see any decent fish netted either.

The other aspect was BWD updated his wind prediction from east 5 when we checked it at 6:00am to east 15 sometime later. So we spent a lot of the morning unexpectedly pounding though the chop stirred up by the strong easterly. Kept it cool though, despite the heat which hit 34C in Victoria this afternoon!

Other fun facts were we had kicker trouble (may post on another thread about that) and we ran into a kelp island which we did not see in the chop while trolling east with the sunlight bouncing off the waves. 20 minutes of chaos there but we got all our gear back!!

We called it a day at noon. Resting now and will probably stay on the beach until the rain band has been through over the week-end. Perhaps that will shake things up!!