A
acdrew
Guest
can anyone recommend the best place to beachfish around the sooke area for salmon. I have just moved to the area and looking for any recommendations.
danthewire
Active Member
Otter point,Beechy Head.Just do a search upper right there was a long discussion last year.Welcome.Dan
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acdrew
Guest
thanks for the info. Heard about Otter point but when drove up and down the highway was unable to find where people were fishing.
A
acdrew
Guest
thanks for the info. Heard about Otter point but when drove up and down the highway was unable to find where people were fishing.
A
acdrew
Guest
thanks for the info. Heard about Otter point but when drove up and down the highway was unable to find where people were fishing.
TheRock
Active Member
I used to fish there all the time.. its a bit hidden from the road.. you have to park on the road, when you hit the otter point curve look for cars parked along the side of the road, not much parking I haven't been there in years but I think they added a no parking section right on the corner.. you may have to park a bit farther down on the straight away and then walk back up the road to the curve and then walk in and find a clearing through the trees, walk along the rock bluff and you will find trails that will lead you down to the point.. 2 min. walk from the road down to the point..
If you fish Beachy head, its about 20-30 min. hike in from the east sooke parking lot and some steep rock cliffs you have to climb through and down the steep face of beachy head to get to the point to spin cast.. wear some good shoes or hiking boots its a bit of a trek in. I used to do it all time when I was younger, if you haven't ever been its worth doing its a nice hike.
C
cliffjumper
Guest
acdrew, you do have to wear heavy-soled boots. Standing on those sharp, pointy & uneven rocks is murder on your feet. I love the old-style Vibrams, but the new ones have so much plastic they will slip pretty easily.
Otter's a pretty small area.
Couple suggestions: 50#-65# braided line. pinch down your barbs, you'll release a lot of really small ling, rockcod & greenling. They'll bite whatever you toss for salmon, which you have to be barbless for anyway. Watch the legal ling cod size. Regardless the 65# test, you'll still lose a lot of gear. And if you get a good fish, you have to pull them through the kelp, and that means tough line.
Take all the treble hooks off your lures replace with 2/0-4/0 singles, siwash or eagleclaw spoon hooks. Don't go heavier than 2x, or you'll lose lures easier than 1x, which you can straighten and save your lure.
Look for hooks with larger rings or eyes to fit over the split rings. Add a second split ring before the hook. This keeps the alignment right and gives more resistance to the fish shaking off your lure. Add a front-end sacrifice style hook. You'll improve hookups over 40%. I tie 2/0 Gamy finesse wide gap short shanks on braid loops for that. The nice thing about them is you can't break or bend them on a fish, but you can on the rock snags.
Buy a lip-gripper, or rig your net so you can toss it in the water to haul up your catch. Quite a few spots are 10'-30' up from the water. Attach a whistle to your jacket or vest. You might need a hand at some point, it might help grab a bit of attention.
At Otter, most of your casting is out onto the gravel flats and they run full width & 300'-400' out before it drops-off well past the kelp. that drop, 400'+ out is where the boats troll. I presume they're marking fish, they keep at it.
Salmon are most likely available just before & during high tide. Otherwise, depth ranges 20'-30', and they're small lings. On the rockpile just east-end of the west beach, you'll see a bit of a depression/drop-off in the gravel, about 225'-300' out, slightly s-w of the rock. Try that, but only room for one guy at a time on that rock.
The east end of Otter is a rock-snag & weed zone. Lots of small ling, rockcod & greenling, and a rip/cross-tide zone. A nice drop-off about 200'+ out.
East Sooke, all spots, take a lot of lures, and give thanks for 65# test line. I'm a regular there, and at Cdn Tire & the tackle shops for refits. There's a lot of attractive spots from Iron Mine Bay to the point east of Alyard Farms... You might get a salmon, but mostly groundfish & rocks... I keep trying though. You can park at either end & walk to Beechy. I wouldn't plan on fishing past Beechy regardless your parking spot. From either end it's a good walk, and you want to fish. It's an expensive sport there.
When the tides start running, you may as well quit unless you need the excersise. They really rip around those rocks.
And, really, strip-off those trebles. You'll enjoy yourself a lot more.
I'm the guy with the wool paid shirt, fishing vest, big boots, hat with readers attached, and way, way too much gear. See Ya!
Good Luck
Otter's a pretty small area.
Couple suggestions: 50#-65# braided line. pinch down your barbs, you'll release a lot of really small ling, rockcod & greenling. They'll bite whatever you toss for salmon, which you have to be barbless for anyway. Watch the legal ling cod size. Regardless the 65# test, you'll still lose a lot of gear. And if you get a good fish, you have to pull them through the kelp, and that means tough line.
Take all the treble hooks off your lures replace with 2/0-4/0 singles, siwash or eagleclaw spoon hooks. Don't go heavier than 2x, or you'll lose lures easier than 1x, which you can straighten and save your lure.
Look for hooks with larger rings or eyes to fit over the split rings. Add a second split ring before the hook. This keeps the alignment right and gives more resistance to the fish shaking off your lure. Add a front-end sacrifice style hook. You'll improve hookups over 40%. I tie 2/0 Gamy finesse wide gap short shanks on braid loops for that. The nice thing about them is you can't break or bend them on a fish, but you can on the rock snags.
Buy a lip-gripper, or rig your net so you can toss it in the water to haul up your catch. Quite a few spots are 10'-30' up from the water. Attach a whistle to your jacket or vest. You might need a hand at some point, it might help grab a bit of attention.
At Otter, most of your casting is out onto the gravel flats and they run full width & 300'-400' out before it drops-off well past the kelp. that drop, 400'+ out is where the boats troll. I presume they're marking fish, they keep at it.
Salmon are most likely available just before & during high tide. Otherwise, depth ranges 20'-30', and they're small lings. On the rockpile just east-end of the west beach, you'll see a bit of a depression/drop-off in the gravel, about 225'-300' out, slightly s-w of the rock. Try that, but only room for one guy at a time on that rock.
The east end of Otter is a rock-snag & weed zone. Lots of small ling, rockcod & greenling, and a rip/cross-tide zone. A nice drop-off about 200'+ out.
East Sooke, all spots, take a lot of lures, and give thanks for 65# test line. I'm a regular there, and at Cdn Tire & the tackle shops for refits. There's a lot of attractive spots from Iron Mine Bay to the point east of Alyard Farms... You might get a salmon, but mostly groundfish & rocks... I keep trying though. You can park at either end & walk to Beechy. I wouldn't plan on fishing past Beechy regardless your parking spot. From either end it's a good walk, and you want to fish. It's an expensive sport there.
When the tides start running, you may as well quit unless you need the excersise. They really rip around those rocks.
And, really, strip-off those trebles. You'll enjoy yourself a lot more.
I'm the guy with the wool paid shirt, fishing vest, big boots, hat with readers attached, and way, way too much gear. See Ya!
Good Luck
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