2025 Victoria and Oak Bay Reports

[PilotAndy]

Another victim of brazen thievery at Esquimalt docks .

Caught a very nice hatchery Nook and 4 good sized keeper crabs .
Cleaned the crabs with seals and otter watch and waiting.
Wife told me to weigh the salmon before I gut it , was still in a large Calcutta fish bag with zipper undone . Step into the boat to retrieve scale , look around and the Mamma Otter took the salmon out of the bag and slipped off the dock .
Lesson learned the hard way ! Later watch her feeding the whole family , so hopefully good Karma will come back to me !

 

[Whole in the Water]

It seems odd that every time fisheries reduces our halibut size limit,we catch smaller fish ,very few overs. Where have all the big halibut gone.Back when I started targeting butts ,we would regularly get 70 lb.plus and usually at least one per season over 100 lbs.. In 2 trips so far I've had 6 on and only one that might have been over,but I managed to break it off before seeing it.It was a PITA trying to release even the smaller ones.you could easily end up with a hook in hand as it thrashes beside the boat.

The data from the IPHC has shown over the last several years that the overall average size of the Pacific halibut biomass is getting smaller. No ones knows if this is a temporary thing or a long term trend. The obvious trend for all fish that are regularly harvested is for the overall average size to decrease over time.

 

[Rayvon]

Had 6 springs on at Conny yesterday in 3 hours with plugs and spoons,kept a nice 11 lb. that had a couple of 8-10" herring in it's belly.

 

[kaelc]

Another victim of brazen thievery at Esquimalt docks .

Caught a very nice hatchery Nook and 4 good sized keeper crabs .
Cleaned the crabs with seals and otter watch and waiting.
Wife told me to weigh the salmon before I gut it , was still in a large Calcutta fish bag with zipper undone . Step into the boat to retrieve scale , look around and the Mamma Otter took the salmon out of the bag and slipped off the dock .
Lesson learned the hard way ! Later watch her feeding the whole family , so hopefully good Karma will come back to me !

Oh my god, that is worse than my hali carcass. Beauty fish, I'm glad you still had a crab bake.

 

[Original]

living the dream today after what looked like a busy day at the launch Sun I got the lazy start today and launched at 9am. Dropped crab trap and had lines down 9:15 then landed a hatch 48 cm at 9:24 tossed it back. I’m quick to mention that may have been our only fish. 9:36 my line is hammered off the clip and I’m smiling and loving it, thought I lost it but still there then got it in the boat 13lb 76cm hatch. Lines back down 9:45 hi fives pics and bang were tubbed out before 10am. Let’s go for a Hali. We were without a bite until 2;30 when a chicken hit the deck. Hi fives and hoping for another but not to be. Salmon were caught on Peetz herring aid spoon, my new favourite and Hali was also Peetz Clacker. Tks Robert for the solid advice. Crab trap was loaded kept 4 but found a small guy in the corner when I cleaned out the boat.
What a fantastic day in the sun with my fishing mentor.

 

[kaelc]

living the dream today after what looked like a busy day at the launch Sun I got the lazy start today and launched at 9am. Dropped crab trap and had lines down 9:15 then landed a hatch 48 cm at 9:24 tossed it back. I’m quick to mention that may have been our only fish. 9:36 my line is hammered off the clip and I’m smiling and loving it, thought I lost it but still there then got it in the boat 13lb 76cm hatch. Lines back down 9:45 hi fives pics and bang were tubbed out before 10am. Let’s go for a Hali. We were without a bite until 2;30 when a chicken hit the deck. Hi fives and hoping for another but not to be. Crab trap was loaded kept 4 but found a small guy in the corner when I cleaned out the boat.
What a fantastic day in the sun with my fishing mentor.

Wow hat trick! Drifting for the hali?

 

[Strait shooter]

2 halibut for us today. Both 90 cm. Herring and mackerel.

 

[eroyd]

Drift fished on Constance this morning for as long as we could keep the lines some what vertical. Cabezon, lings and two good sized springs, both lost near the boat. I'm thinking my short jigging rod and braid are a bad combo. Going to switch back to stretchy mono. Saw several other boats with some good chinook in their nets.

The commercial crabbers have carpet bombed the water front. Maybe there is no tomorrow? I think we were lucky to get a couple for the pot.

 

[kaelc]

Drift fished on Constance this morning for as long as we could keep the lines some what vertical. Cabezon, lings and two good sized springs, both lost near the boat. I'm thinking my short jigging rod and braid are a bad combo. Going to switch back to stretchy mono. Saw several other boats with some good chinook in their nets.

The commercial crabbers have carpet bombed the water front. Maybe there is no tomorrow? I think we were lucky to get a couple for the pot.

Do you have a mono top shot for your braid

 

[eroyd]

Do you have a mono top shot for your braid

About 20ft of 20lb maxima. Usually jigging in less than 100'. Switched out hooks, added a swivel for the hook. Suggestions?

 

[kaelc]

About 20ft of 20lb maxima. Usually jigging in less than 100'. Switched out hooks, added a swivel for the hook. Suggestions?

I'm no expert I've just been thinking about adding mono for my kids reel with braid for salmon fishing. Looks like 30-60 feet is recommended. https://islandfishermanmagazine.com/running-a-topshot-on-your-fishing-reel-2/

 

[kayladog]

Spent all day yesterday getting boat ready after sitting all winter, making sure motors will start so your not "ThatGuy" at the dock holding everyone up, then tis happens when trying to load boat back on trailer. Whole back rack broken off trailer with everyone waiting to get their boats out. On top of that not a bite all day off esquimalt to abert head.

 

[eroyd]

I was the little boat pulling out next to you. How did you get the boat home? Hopefully it works out for you. I don't think anyone was annoyed. We all get it.

 

[Sailfish25]

Agree with eroyd. 97% of guys out there would try and help.

It’s extra fun when you layer in wives and toddlers into the chaos.

 

[kaelc]

Ouch. At least it’s not 30 degrees in August. When I see guys working on their trailers at the launch, in the heat is painful

 

[kayladog]

Yeah, thanks to the guy who fished the back half trailer out of the water and carried it up the ramp. Left boat there, took trailer home and fixed, back in an hour to pick up boat

 

[Deepaaaar]

I'm no expert I've just been thinking about adding mono for my kids reel with braid for salmon fishing. Looks like 30-60 feet is recommended. https://islandfishermanmagazine.com/running-a-topshot-on-your-fishing-reel-2/

I use about 40' of 10lb mono then a 10' of 20lb fluoro leader (on top of 20lb braid) on my jigging setup and the stretch feels just right (shorter custom jigging rod made by a fellow kayak fisher). FG knot on the braid->mono and double uni on the mono->fluoro. Couple that with dual assist hooks and your ratio will increase a ton. This was my first winter season with assist hooks and daaaaaang, I'm a fan.

I run such a light top shot for two reasons: I can break it off relatively easily if I snag up (I'm in a kayak) and the thinner line provides less drag and helps keep the jig vertical when running deeper. Plus it's more fun to have to really play the bigger fish. I didn't break off a fish all winter and I don't do much C&R. All that said, I'll bump up to 20lb mono when I fish predominately for migrating salmon later in the summer.