For all the hype of record returns and 5 & 6 year old fish, why are most fish recorded at Critter Cove below 20 pounds this year, and the numbers posted are not that significant? I appreciate that Nootka is an August fishery, but there are fish on the outside, which I would expect would be bigger this year???
Are most of the teeners being caught males, with the Females to follow? Last year was great, but again, most under 25 with lots under 20. I suspect that this is the major thrust of the Canuma Hatchery, as it means less attrition at sea, but I sure have fond memories of big fish from the past, which I hope to rekindle.
Drewski
See you Sunday afternoon John,keep them biting!!!!! Also let .Kathy know sometime around 1 PM for us.John is leaving early Sunday I think.Hi fishers. Talk with the head person of DFO Science for WCVI recently & combine with the Area "F "troll DNA report it is presumed that the Conuma run HAS Well as many other runs are LATE this year. Why ?? Who know for sure BUT it seems Water Temp are driving the the delay. We saw huge catches at the Highway today. Which usually means more fish streaming into the inshore spots Ferrer & Bajo soon. Biggest Chinook today 31lb caught on they "T" Highway, Yesterday 34lb at Salty PT.
Looks like the FISH ARE BACK EVERYWHERE!! Life/ fishing is good!!
After returning from our 3rd trip to Esperanza with limits of 15-25 pounders for 4 of us, we are also wondering where the big ones are. The inlet and mouth of the inlet was again very disappointing 3 trips in a row with us catching only a couple per trip and seeing maybe one out of 10 boats catch one per morning. Not even remotely close to last year. We had no trouble at all getting our limits just inside the surf line each day of unders and overs. We noticed at least 90% of the springs in our 3 trips were females and thought that was odd. Only caught 2 coho so far this year which seems consistant with everyone elses reports. As of tuesday that brutal dark brown algae bloom was still present even when we ventured 14 miles offshore trying to escape it. Didn't try for salmon out there but got a few halibut finally. Anyone else we talked to got pretty much skunked offshore on the highway or at the T recently and it seems everyone is blaming that terrible algae bloom, hopefully that clears up really soon......