Sooke 2014 Fishing Reports

[TheSookesOfHazzard]

Was out on the 1st with a buddy that's new to fishing - we headed out of the harbor and fished the Bluffs - Trailer Park area from 9 - 12pm. Kept two decent fish, and let a few smaller ones go. Bites were on a range of gear, but mostly kept to a white flasher / small cop car combo and a green flasher / white glow squirt. On the bottom, (obviously) and got most bites near the Trailer park in 120 feet of water. Lot's of boats were fishing the mouth; would be curious to see how they did! Should mention it was a beautiful on the water as well! Had 4 nice keeper crab as well. Great day!

 

[Seagirt]

Anybody fish herring around here? Anybody knew where they spawn around here? There are historical accounts of spawning in Sooke basin, anything recent? Thanks for the info.

 

[Lipripper]

Not many..... If any

 

[lenardobc]

Out today from 9-1 beecher bay, tryin to get a hali. Got a wee bit lumpy out there. And nothing for our effort.

 

[Seagirt]

Fished out front of Sooke from about 1-3 yesterday (Sun Feb. 17) with no bites. Ran between Secretary and the bluffs, 110 to 180ft bottom, keeping the gear close to the bottom. Saw very little on the sounder. Lots of swell, should have been surfing.

 

[Pink Pounder]

I have heard that the halibut are about 1 mile offshore does anyone have any in put
Thanks

 

[scott craven]

They can be at any depth depending where the feed is...
we usually find them between 150-250' in the Spring
and usually, but not always near structure.

 

[Swingin Dick]

Anyone that knows where Halibut are sure as hell aint posting it on here. Thats good advice from Craven though. More then I would give.

 

[Curtis]

I usually fish for halibut in Sooke with my gear close to the bottom. Lol

 

[wolf]

AND with bait...although I get halibut trolling every year in the summer at otter ,sheringham,secretary and muir....

 

[Seagirt]

Was out Saturday morning for about 5 hours anchored for halibut in 200ft of water and hardly even had the bait nibbled on. And I was out for hali the day before anchored up far west of Sheringham in about 70ft and my buddy brought in a chicken and an octopus (released).

I heard decent reports for chinook caught on Saturday west of Sooke.

More bait balls on sounder than I've seen all winter, but maybe I'm just looking harder. I've been watching for herring in Sooke basin but I haven't noticed any activity, hoping for remnants of that historical population I've heard about.

 

[Seagirt]

Anchored up east of Sooke on a pinnacle in about ~150 feet of water. Sent the Go Pro down and saw lots of rockfish, scallops, and anenomes. Nothing worth eating. No hali hit the gear.

Forgot to mention, last Friday we lost two canon balls while trolling about 300 meters west of Sheringham in about 110 feet of water. Felt like a trap line but there were no floats in sight.

 

[sammyslabber]

Forgot to mention, last Friday we lost two canon balls while trolling about 300 meters west of Sheringham in about 110 feet of water. Felt like a trap line but there were no floats in sight.

it's a minefield out there...traps from Vic - Timbuktu...deep water, sunken floats - even no floats...

 

[Seagirt]

Trolled past Otter this afternoon and hooked up a wild chinook on an anchovy just over the size limit (released). Set up on anchor west of there for a few hours and watched some bait balls drift by on the sounder. A couple hours of Go Pro footage on the spreader bar revealed no halibut, just chimaera, sole, and some sort of cod. I guess I feel better that there was no halibut to catch...? Managed to jig a buzz bomb through a few bait balls with no action also. And the herring jig didn't hook up anything.

Now I gotta go check the boat for bananas.

 

[chris73]

Whirl Bay was Red Hot today. Easy limit for 2 with several lost and a few small released. Great day, no wind, no rain, fish biting, good company...what more can you want? Ticket was hardware on the bottom as usual. Nothing huge but some feisty 7 - 9 lber. Sorry for the schooling Deewar! lol

 

[jjambat]

Nice job Chris. Was there yesterday, with know luck, but saw a big hatchery fish caught at around 155 ft mark at the bottom.

 

[Anyfishlldo]

The itch must be scratched. Heading out on Sunday for the first fish of the season. Putting in at Cheanuh and planning on sticking to the Bedfords,Church, and Whirl. How has it been out there?

 

[Seagirt]

Anchored off the bluffs Sunday morning in just over 200ft depth. Late getting there and set up at slack, fished until heavy ebb current. No significant bites, nothing on Go Pro except for when the lines came close enough together that the LED blinked by... Didn't see any bait balls drift by.

 

[caprice]

The itch must be scratched. Heading out on Sunday for the first fish of the season. Putting in at Cheanuh and planning on sticking to the Bedfords,Church, and Whirl. How has it been out there?

Picked up a 9lber monday on anchovy in whirl bay dragging bottom

 

[westburg]

Anchored off the bluffs Sunday morning in just over 200ft depth. Late getting there and set up at slack, fished until heavy ebb current. No significant bites, nothing on Go Pro except for when the lines came close enough together that the LED blinked by... Didn't see any bait balls drift by.

Hey seagirt, was thinking about getting one of those go pro to see the bottom...any info you can give me, good, bad, etc...cost?