2025 Sooke Reports

[zfish]

I was there and saw the aftermath after the kayak was upside down. I thought he flipped it himself at first but learned what happened as I passed them. It looked like he was offered a rod and reel but turned it down. With all the small fish to deal with constantly it is easy to get busy and not notice the wind is pushing you off course or that a boat is running you down.

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

 

[Stizzla]

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

Was it foggy out?

 

[ThatswhatSeasaid]

From Saturday for about a week.

That's amazing. Where can I find this type of information?

 

[zfish]

Was it foggy out?

no fog factor.

 

[scott craven]

That's amazing. Where can I find this type of information?

Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada Subject: FN0810-RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Areas 11 to 15, 17 to 20, 111, 121, 123 to 127, and Subareas 16-1, 16-19 to 16-21, 28-1, 28-2, 28-7 - Opening - Effective August 16, 2025 Effective 00:01 hours August 16, 2025, until 23:59 August 24, 2025, the daily limit of Sockeye salmon is four (4) in the following waters:

 

[Eden Island]

Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada Subject: FN0810-RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Areas 11 to 15, 17 to 20, 111, 121, 123 to 127, and Subareas 16-1, 16-19 to 16-21, 28-1, 28-2, 28-7 - Opening - Effective August 16, 2025 Effective 00:01 hours August 16, 2025, until 23:59 August 24, 2025, the daily limit of Sockeye salmon is four (4) in the following waters:

You can also sign up for email alerts when new notices come out - select only categories of interest -

Fisheries and Oceans Canada | Fishery Notices

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

[profisher]

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

Just as I told my clients… both of you were likely pre-occupied with gear and or fish and by tge time one of you realized how close you were it was to late…. **** happens.

 

[Kinetic]

Back to fishing reports as this thread should be, fishing was weird today, the Pinks were so thick at the Trap 1st thing that we moved after 1.5hrs because you couldn't keep our gear in the water. They were jumping everywhere and hitting everything. Moved to Secretary and caught a 72cm Chinook within 45 minutes and then it went dead. Back to the Trap and Beachy and it was dead. Off the water at noon.
I will probably join the horde of boats out tomorrow looking for Sox.

 

[the force]

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

Sorry to hear this man, it sucks. Doesn’t matter the vessel size, anyone who wants to fish and put in the effort to get out there should be empowered to do it without fear of being being run down (obviously being vigilant is part of that and not going cross grain to a 30 boat tac). A big boat shouldn’t be mandatory for enjoying the water.

As said above, operators need to be paying attention and you can’t tell me you wouldn’t notice a kayak well before you are on top of them at trolling speed and be a little extra vigilant if your in the same area (unless it is thick fog). We fished around a green kayak on Tuesday and gave a wide birth simply for the reason that he put a hell of a lot more effort then we did to get out to the head and it is very easy for us to fish other waters in a matter of minutes. Last thing I want to do is get distracted with a low vis watercraft around.

 

[N2013]

And back to reports again. Coho pushed into Muir today. Found some nice wild and clippies. Couldn't find a chinook there. Never seen so many little fish in my life. Riggers are getting a work out. Felt like September today. Can’t wait.

 

[Newf]

Out off of Pedder today with my grandson. Pretty thick fog early morning. Just shakers for us first two hours so as soon as the fog lifted we headed for hali. On the hook for two hours and nothing but dog after dog. Glad I had the young lad to do the cranking. Pulled the hook and drifted for an hour and not a nibble. Stopped on the way in and let him jig up a couple of rockcod which he loves to eat. Started trolling again at 2pm and it was shaker after shaker before he hooked and kept a 67cm spring. Called it quits at 3pm. Not a real productive day with respect to keepers but quality time with the lad.

 

[vicsurfer]

We fished out at the Head starting at 1pm. On our first pass at the Head we hit a 75cm spring. Next we hit another 4 springs but they were 3-4lbs. Trolled down to the Trap but it was dead. It picked up a little bit around 4pm but we mostly just had hits. Quit at 5:30 with the spring and a pink. The rain was insane.

 

[kaelc]

I lost an Islander MR3 and a shortish trolling rod that works with my paddle reach, I was offered a spinning set up.
Also I might add that I was quite tight in, fishing in the shallower water, out of the main trolling area where Rollie passed by, but I was already on the aluminum by that time.
My attention was focused to windward, and on getting my gear back in the water. It was a challenging morning. I looked over my shoulder to see the bow of a 27 footer right there, everything went from slow to fast in a blink of an eye, made two paddle strokes my stern and rudder hung up on the aluminum's bow, then I was in the water.

Dam scary, glad you survived. How deep was it?

 

[kaelc]

Got out about 10am- trolled Pedder, lots of bait boiling but we decided the fog wasn’t too bad and ran around to the head. Saw only one nice spring netted in a couple hours. Fished the trap and both spots had lots of shakers, no other substantial fish caught that we saw.

Went to Beecher and after some missed communication released a “good” spring for Victoria in the winter and we were rewarded with 79cm minutes before I had to pull my line at 3:30pm and rush of to Chemanius for the musical footloose. Much better spirits having caught a nice fish, made the musically entertaining even!

 

[zfish]

Dam scary, glad you survived. How deep was it?

I believe I was fairly close to the kelp off second rock. With regards to depth, no sounder. So lets say 65'.

 

[kaelc]

I believe I was fairly close to the kelp off second rock. With regards to depth, no sounder. So lets say 65'.

Guys can Freedive that deep. I was going to try to get together a halibut hunting trip out that way and we could work in trying to get your reel or you could post in the Freedive groups offering a reward. Easy recovery for a scuba diver, more challenging for a freediver but the right guys could do it. Most important thing is having a good gps coordinate to start the hunt from.

 

[Englishman]

Calm day predicted today, so set off for Muir again. Got to Otter in the rain and it was like “Piccadilly Circus” as we used to say back in the U.K.

Went past the giant crowd and dropped lines in 100’ of water and headed for Muir. Just visible in the mist was about a dozen boats off Muir, which is unusual. Had small hit which we missed then a slightly better one which went on a short run before it turned into a long distance release.

Began dodging lots of floating debris and weeds, but boated 2 pinks then it went quiet for a while. Meanwhile by mid-morning the boats off Muir began to thin out and we were down to only 3 or 4 of us. Then we got a decent sockeye which was a nice surprise.

Dodged loads more kelp and debris and release 4 or 5 undersized Chinook. Finally got a very nice 5lb clipped coho but no decent Chinook at all.

At 11:30am put on the sockeye gear and headed straight out from Muir. Promptly got another pink and while we were dealing with that we had the kicker throttled back and it cut out. We then struggled with it for 20 minutes but it would never start again. While drifting with our dead kicker we had a great humpback whale show. One came within 100 metres and they blew very loudly in the silence.

Trolled back to Otter on the main and then called it at 12:30.

P.S. I have put a call for a kicker mechanic on the boats thread with more details. Anyone know anybody, please PM me.

 

[zfish]

Guys can Freedive that deep. I was going to try to get together a halibut hunting trip out that way and we could work in trying to get your reel or you could post in the Freedive groups offering a reward. Easy recovery for a scuba diver, more challenging for a freediver but the right guys could do it. Most important thing is having a good gps coordinate to start the hunt from.

The only person with gps info would be the big aluminum boat. Not sure how the memory works on the plotter but it would be obvious if the tack info is still there from thursday.

 

[Admin]

Hey guys...I get the kayak incident was scary, but perhaps it is time to take the conversations to the PM function and focus on fishing reports here.

Thanks!