Sooke Reports - Spring and Summer 2012

[profisher]

Well, in fact the other day I told them that the fish seem to be in a funny mood, like they want to come to the boat to get fed. If you have someone on board who has fished steelhead in the river, offshore tuna, bone fish etc and this is their first salmon trip...what would you do? I usually tell them that the coho of today fight nothing like they did when I was a kid. I guess I would say I keep it straight up. I'm not a good BS'er. The fish fought a bit better today and the people I had out today were farmers from Alberta who never fished before. The guy was in his 70"s and he said he caught more fish today than he has his entire life. They had nothing to compare to and they had a blast..I didn't ruin it for them!!!

 

[Silver Streak]

Couldn't agree more about the lack of fight in the coho. Caught and released about a dozen over the last month fishing chinooks. Not one put up a better fight than a comparable
sized chinook. A few twists, twirls and jumps near the boat and that was it. Even a big hook nosed coho over 12 pounds did nothing. A 6 lb chinook I caught this morning did a
better job than that big coho.

Thought today was going to be a repeat of yesterday. A hatchery right off the bat then wild after wild. Then managed a couple more hatch near the end of the trip for 3. Nothing over 10 pounds today. The big disappointment was the lack of fight from any of the fish today. I even put out an anchovy without a flasher on a super light setup. The stupid things just followed along until they got to the boat then did the coho twirl and that was it. I think a bullhead would fight better pound for pound.

 

[Englishman]

Several members have posted about lethargic coho and lack of fight. Maybe a few samples should go to Alex Morton?

They may not be visibly sick or even sick as such - perhaps they just have something that makes them slow and inactive, like the fish equivalent of a cold, or some sort of vitamin deficiency (or not enough coffee!! LOL).

Anyway, just a thought that maybe something is going on since this is not "normal" behaviour for coho......

 

[fish stalker]

mabey the currents have been stronger when they got around here so there pooped when you catch them? or water temp is warmer so there all relaxed?

 

[Tips Up]

There is nothing wrong with the coho.

 

[Seafever]

They need an attitude adjustment.......LOL

Of all the fish I ever catch these days I never get a "screamer".....be it Coho or Chinook.
The legendary stories of large Coho making reel-smoking runs has never happened to me ever in years of fishing.


In fact I've never had one of either specie that ran me off the spool.

Basically they all do the same thing.....litlle bit of a run initially ( 50 to 75 ft)...then they turn around and head right for the boat. I don't even have to slow the boat down hardly because they are always coming right at me.

Actually best fighters I've had this year have been Ling Cod in terms of minute-by-minute action. But even they can be pretty lethargic a lot of times.

Seal fishing gives you the best bang for your buck.....but it's catch and release.....LOL

 

[chris73]

Crank up your black box and the fish will run! Lol

 

[fishspoon]

I have seen some fishermen who have black boxes. Is black box for catching a fish or is it for running the electric downrigger?

 

[Charter Tofino]

Several members have posted about lethargic coho and lack of fight. Maybe a few samples should go to Alex Morton?

They may not be visibly sick or even sick as such - perhaps they just have something that makes them slow and inactive, like the fish equivalent of a cold, or some sort of vitamin deficiency (or not enough coffee!! LOL).

Anyway, just a thought that maybe something is going on since this is not "normal" behaviour for coho......

6-8lb coho on knuckle busters with 30lb test and stiff drag are not going to give you a good fight? Sending coho that don't fight well would be wasting peoples time.

 

[Seafever]

Fishspoon.....black boxes are for people that can't catch jack-doodle.

Seriously.........a black box is an electronic device that controls the voltage on wire downrigger line. The idea being that a certain voltage will attract fish and certain voltage will repel them.

Some boats have "electrical leakage" issues which affects the voltage on wire line (you don't get this with braid).

They were first used extensively on big commercial boats.

Some sporties swear by them...others think they are a waste of money.

I ran one for quite awhile when I was using wire.

My advice (after many sessions of "tweaking" voltage,zincs,electrical issues and 'dialing in' the box):- switch to braid.....and save yourself many a headache.

Many guys use a black box as an answer to the existing electrical issues on their boat...as if the black box was a magic cure-all. It isn't.....if you don't fix the issues first, adding a black box won't do you much good.

If everything is "good" on the boat to start with, adding a black box may arguably get you better results.

At any rate, the Scotty black box although pricier is a better choice than Pro-Troll, which IMO isn't built as good.

But like I said........run braid and you'll be happier

 

[Karma-Kazi]

I would assume you dont cant springs or coho's in the high teens and low 20's because holy crap they fight. Got a 17 pound wild the other day. Hand to pull all gear and chase him in fear of him fighting himself to death. Wven then once I was able to get it close to the boat I had to revive him for over a minute. Took a couple of 150+ runs and got clear of the water a few times.


we also had a few just shy of that one that scrapped hard one we thought was bigger but ended up being about 15 pounds.

-KK

 

[Englishman]

There is nothing wrong with the coho.

Now where have I heard that confident, unequivocal statement that there is nothing wrong with our fish before.......Oh yeah, right the DFO!!

All I'm saying is knowledgeable respected forum members with years of experience (e.g. profisher for one ) have commented on how lethargic the coho are. This is obviously not normal behaviour or people would not be commenting.

Now I don't know about you folks but I can't tell from just looking at fish that they are "all OK". I'm just suggesting a bit of actual scientific evidence, one way or another, might not go amiss.....

 

[Xena]

Out first time since end of August. Fished in 500ft of water out from Sooke Harbour mouth. Got a strike early on 110ft. never saw it, but it felt big. lost another close to boat before we could check for adipose fin. spent another hour or two trolling in the bumpy water. Finally got a hatchery, 60 ft down with Silver Betsey and green and white hootchy. Another hour.............getting blown down towards Beechey, strong tide. Closer to Secretary, hubby got a beauty wild to the boat 8 lbs? released with gaff. Last fish of the day, my line 60 ft same gear. It felt odd from the start, heavy I knew it was foul-hooked. It took forever to get it to the boat and unfortunately, it was also wild. The poor $$#@@!!, his belly was almost opened up from the hook snagged there. I almost cried having to send that fish to it's most certain death. Thanks DFO, sure left a bad taste in my mouth, now I know why we haven't been out since August......who wants to kill non-clipped coho????????????????? pissed off Xena

 

[Discus]

I have seen some fishermen who have black boxes. Is black box for catching a fish or is it for running the electric downrigger?

The black box for catching more fish. I don't need it... It waste of money.

Why not you can use scent on the lures or bait?

 

[profisher]

I've caught Coho up to 25 pounds, only 3 over 20 pounds total Quite a few between 15 and 18 pounds. Yes those fish do fight. You know you have a decent fish on when you tie into those. It seems like 13 or 14 pounds and up is the magic number. I just went to Trotac and bought some 15 pound main line and some 20 pound leader. Going to rig up my ultra light rods and see if I can get more out of these fish. I already use very light gear year round but will go even more extreme to try and get more out of them. I doubt it will do much unless we get a real good one hooked up. But at least I'm doing what I can.

 

[outback]

my guess is maybe people are reeling in fish already caught (regarding lethargic coho) i know i sure wouldnt fight like hell after being battled in a second time.

 

[Seafever]

We used to get big Coho off Lasqueti Island......high teeners....

I've had Dogfish put up a better fight.

Should use Geritol for scent when fishing for Coho....

 

[Lipripper]

I caught the bottom part of a bikini once.......

 

[profisher]

Lippy if that bikini had a women in it I would guess she put up one hell of a fight trying to get away from you!!! LOL

 

[Lipripper]

There was a tug at the beginning... After that it came up like a September Sooke Coho..