Nootka sound / Esperanza reports Spring/Summer 2013

[cohochinook]

Just got back from Esperenza. Had some fantastic fishing for Springs. Got into a bunch over 3.5 days. Biggest was a 30 caught by my 9 year old Son who was thrilled. Had a 28, 27 and 24 for other large ones. Offshore was best in the 165 to 200 depth dragging bottom with splatter back hoochie, large 7 inch Tomic plug and choives. Our springs on the bottom were full of small shrimp or prawns and needle fish. Did a day of bottom fishing. Took awhile to find them, but got 2 halis around 18 and a number of nice yellow eye and snapper. Hit some nice Lings as well. Biggest was a 20. Pinks were a challenge to keep off. Some big ones out there for size. Got one that my Son kept and weighed at 8 pounds. All in all a great trip! I will try to post some photos shortly.

 

[cohochinook]

Here's a couple of photos of our catch!

 

[cohochinook]

One more photo

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Thats just awsome! What a trip! Congrats.

-KK

 

[staying alive]

The excitement is building heading to critter on the 28th for 4 days for our annual trip there ,been going for about 10years now,last year was a bit of a struggle for springs but came back with lots of white meat that keeps the wife happy,anyway it's always a good time regardless , I'll see everyone there I'm in a 23.6 Crestliner

 

[spring fever]

Has anyone any recent info on fishing in the inside of Nootka-good or bad-all helpful. Thanks.

 

[Fish Nutz]

Has anyone any recent info on fishing in the inside of Nootka-good or bad-all helpful. Thanks.

Fished all day inside on Saturday it was super slow with only a handful of nets to be seen. Went offshore this morning and got into a couple smaller springs and got our coho. I heard the inside was better this morning with a few more fish being taken.

 

[Prawn Star]

Has anyone any recent info on fishing in the inside of Nootka-good or bad-all helpful. Thanks.

I was there from Friday to Sunday (yesterday). Fished Bajo mostly tons of Coho only 4 hatch, two springs 24 and 20. Bottom fishing was poor from most reports so we didn't venture too far out. Two ling and a 20lb hali in 85 ft of water. Hundreds of people scratching their heads wondering why the bite shut down after being so hot earlier in the week. With my luck I will see reports today of giant springs being caught. The old saying "you should have been here yesterday".

 

[SlabChaser]

Just got back from our trip to Critter Cove and it was awesome. Great weather, great resort, and pretty darn good fishing. We fished the reef Friday and Saturday and fished until our fingers bled on cohos. Got a couple of smaller springs in the mid teens. We fished inside at night hunting the springs and we got a few and lost a few up to 18 lbs. One that got knocked off by an over zealous netsman was pretty big, likely mid-20's. Yesterday before we had to head back we fished the Wall and Camel rock and got 5 hits between 6 and 7.30am and pulled in a couple just shy of 20lbs. The bite was on for sure yesterday morning and we saw lots being caught...we didn't want to leave! We caught our limits without too much trouble this weekend and had a trouble free trip. Quite a few people were talking about nailing fish into the low 30's, but the biggest I saw was about 27 lbs at the cleaning station. Awesome place to fish and we are already booked in for next year. We have a 17 foot Arima Seachaser and the run from Gold River to Critter is easy. The run from Maquinna to Bajo was a little bumpy but we made it in about half an hour and it was well worth it. Pea soup fog for a lot of the mornings, but with GPS, compass, charts, etc. it was ok.

We made a stop at Friendly Cove and checked things out and that was worthwhile. We talked to the light house keepers and checked out the Church that was having a wedding that afternoon. Very cool church totally decorated for the wedding with cedar boughs, flowers, carvings, etc.

 

[pescador]

Thanks for sharing. Nice picture of the Church. Did they charge you to moor your boat at Friendly to go into the church? If so, what dock did you use. I know there are two there.

 

[SlabChaser]

Funny thing about docking at Friendly Cove. Everyone said that the Indians charge $10 per head to get out of your boat. We tied up and were chatting with a couple of Native guys heading in for the wedding and asked who we had to pay. They went and grabbed a guy who came down and we were B.S'ing with him and offered him a beer. That seemed to be payment enough! Friendly Cove indeed!!

 

[pescador]

ok, I heard $ 20 last year which seemed pretty steep. But, maybe its worth given the history of the site. Did you use the Gov dock or the one on the right?

 

[bushwackin]

Funny thing about docking at Friendly Cove. Everyone said that the Indians charge $10 per head to get out of your boat. We tied up and were chatting with a couple of Native guys heading in for the wedding and asked who we had to pay. They went and grabbed a guy who came down and we were B.S'ing with him and offered him a beer. That seemed to be payment enough! Friendly Cove indeed!!

Myself and the family went to Friendly Cove today for a picnic and nap on the beach. A very friendly native named Jordan approached us and said it was 12 bucks per adult and 5 bucks per kid, which would have been 34 dollars. I was a bit low on cash so I jewed him down to 20 bucks in about 3 seconds. Hadn't been there for 2 years so it was definately nice hanging out there again.

 

[Derby]

Just came out of Nootka Sunday from our 4 day trip...pretty successful over all...Got agree that it seems the toothy critter pretty much disappeared this year ..the worest I'll seen in my 10 years up there...did scratch up a couple lings and a few hali in our group...Would have seen a bunch of you at the reef weds/ Thursdays ...cohoes were crazy did fairly well on the springs with the biggest being 28lbs... Inside was alright get a few nice ones .....the largest being 25lbs.. The fish were sure in nice shape this year...

 

[FishNmemories]

My gal and I spent Friday to Sunday in Zeballos. We were blessed as our friends lent us their house to stay in for the weekend. Met some nice folks living there and was pleased with the hospitality. We did head out fishing Friday and Saturday, but only for bottom fish.

Both of us were a wee bit... queezy, didn't have sea-legs for sure so we only made it past Black Rock (Catala Island) for a couple of hours each days. I had not been to Catala for over 20 years, so it was special to go a shore for a spell. Never found Hallie holes, but my Gal landed some big lings, me I just got some rock cods of various species... the China rocks were quite tasty!! 3-4 guides in Zeballos seemed to be busy and their client were happy too.

There is boat gas and vehicle gas available in town, as well as sea ice from the Tally Shack, John I think his name was, the Mayor, supplying the ice from his house. Laundry facilities, restaurants, a pub, $5 bucks to launch and park for the day, RV park, some fishing gear at the fuel dock pretty much everything you would need.

It was quite foggy in the morning, but GPS and charts helped out alot. Winds kicked up in the afternoon. Prawning sucked but we did manage a couple of feeds.

The road to Zeballos was in good shape, as was the road to Fair Harbour that we drove out to explore on Sunday. Fair Harbour had more activity as far as boats went, but we never saw any fish brought in on the boats. Natives run the store, parking, launch, and the campsite, which has been increased in size in Fair Harbour.

We had a great time and look forward to exploring the area some in the future!!

 

[bushwackin]

Just came out of Nootka Sunday from our 4 day trip...pretty successful over all...Got agree that it seems the toothy critter pretty much disappeared this year ..the worest I'll seen in my 10 years up there...did scratch up a couple lings and a few hali in our group...Would have seen a bunch of you at the reef weds/ Thursdays ...cohoes were crazy did fairly well on the springs with the biggest being 28lbs... Inside was alright get a few nice ones .....the largest being 25lbs.. The fish were sure in nice shape this year...

Heard that there was a big commercial ling opening a couple months ago and they cleaned up big time.

 

[Derby]

That would do it...I know there was a dragger hanging out in the area all winter also.... there nothing left that's for sure...

 

[Bullwinkle]

Fished a few days from the 14th to the 19th out of Westview,the 14th was our best day.Fished Ferrier as it closed the next day,and glad we did.....got 4 springs and 5 coho for limits,and I just got lucky and got a 48 1/2" 59# hali on my light salmon pole,20# test,flasher and PH hootchie! Took a little over an hour to coax him in probably the best tussle I'll ever have on that rod.Fished some also on the inside with a few caught,lots of weeds and jelly,bad..Lots of wind after that,seemed the lings were either not on the munch or maybe took a big hit from the commercials,nothing even close to the bite last year.Another nice trip in the books,will be back for the derby at Westview...Bullwinkle on the radio if you want to chat fishin!!!!!

 

[SlabChaser]

The one on the left side closer to the lighthouse. I believe the Natives charge you no matter where you set down...even the beach in a kayak! I liked our beer negotiation better though!

 

[xavier]

Fished Nootka Sound on the weekend. Would say fishing overall was good, not great or excellent. Was there for 4 days and would say yesterday was great for those of you who are on your way...looks promising. First and last light produced far more than other times of the day. Hoiss, San Carlos and Camel all produced fish. 35 to 40 feet in early am and late pm. Scrounged up a couple in the afternoon @ 75 and 105 feet. Hootchies and small spoons. Large spoons did squat for us which was quite different from the last few years. Stomachs were either empty, or full of very small baitfish.