Sooke2015

[pachito]

Fantastic year for sooke and august has just begun! in my 50 years of sooke fishing i cant remember a july as productuve as this has been or maybe its just taken 50 yrs to learn to fish lol, semi retirment sure helps though.
10 trips in july and 12 springs 14-38.5# with a 23.5# average , would be nice if more of the old buzzards i fish with would report their catches because i have seen at least a dozen others in the mid to high 30's.
Fished yesterday ,dropped my gear off the mouth 8am and trolled the 120 line west and hooked into a nice one near the trailer park only to have it run into the blasted crab floats and lose both fish and gear, i hope they are getting lots of crab cuz they sure screw up the productive areas for us!
Spent the next 2 hrs in the same area and picked up a 14 and 27 on bloody nose glow 85' in 100' depth and im happy to say my freezer is full , the canner's been on overtime so catch and release for this boy now...enjoy the great fishing guys!

 

[Rockfish]

There are still a fair number of bigger Tyee class fish caught in the Sooke area every year. Are there as many as was caught 30 years or more ago or that are caught up north in the more isolated areas - no but they are still here. You may not get a chance at one in the 50 to 80 lb range but there is still the odd one in the 40's and even perhaps a chance of a very rare one in the 50s.

I understand that the guys who take fish out of the Sooke river system for the Hatcheries still run into some real monsters in the river. Don't forget that as of today there is a Chinook retention closure for Sooke Inlet from the triangle on Possession Point across the mouth of the Inlet to Muir Point at the far end of the bluff to protect those big spawners and the RCA no fishing zone that raps around the Bluffs and Sooke Bay to the west..


Someone just weighed in a 40 on the Sunny Shores board. Lots of guys don't ever post there big fish or even put them up on marina boards and even those who do, often do not post them all for various reasons: not wanting to brag, not wanting to be perceived as greedy, not wanting to provide ammo to those who would use it to push for further restrictions and don't want to end up in debates on forums over the perceived actual size of the fish etc.

Over all this is shaping up to be an exceptional Chinook year, way better than last year.

Englishman you have the skills now,you just have to put in your time. A few years back right off Sooke Harbour we picked up two 31's and a high twenty and had a fourth big one we suspect also in the 30's break us off. It was a busy couple of hours. A day like that makes up for all the hours, days and years of walking past cleaning stations with nothing while others are cleaning big fish, not to mention standing in the weigh in line with a smallish Pink to get in on the draws like I did recently for the Consultants Derby.

 

[kingspring]

Had a good day this past Wednesday. Fished Otter,hit 4 big springs,3 to the boat,2 in the boat. Lost a bigger fish after 10 minutes when I couldnt keep up with his run to the boat.

On our first spring I went to net it and slipped and ended up legs in the air under the tiller arm,my arm must have hit the throttle on it and we were doing doughnuts with my wife somehow staying with the fish!! I manage to untangle and get up and crap,no net,noticing my old Scotty sinking slowly out of sight! Jeez, no net and now only a short gaff to land this spring.

First pass by the boat I get him and flop a stout 20 # over the side!! Decide to fish some more,bang,rod goes off a little bigger,lose this one at the boat, as it broke off when I tried to ease him in with the leader and gaff it.

Ok,we need a net,zoom back to Sooke and buy a net,then back to fishing! Gear down,30 mins later solid hit,and my wife brings in a very fiesty 26 # to the new net. A few pinks and undersized springs later we pull the pin on a memorable and fairly humerous trip.

 

[spring fever]

Good Story! Glad you got the fish-You and the missus will talk about that for awhile!

 

[Englishman]

Englishman you have the skills now,you just have to put in your time. A few years back right off Sooke Harbour we picked up two 31's and a high twenty and had a fourth big one we suspect also in the 30's break us off. It was a busy couple of hours. A day like that makes up for all the hours, days and years of walking past cleaning stations with nothing while others are cleaning big fish, not to mention standing in the weigh in line with a smallish Pink to get in on the draws like I did recently for the Consultants Derby.

Very kind of you to say so Rockfish but I don’t think it is true. I am still doing something wrong/not right. My evidence?

See Pachito’s post below:

Fantastic year for sooke and august has just begun! in my 50 years of sooke fishing i cant remember a july as productuve as this has been or maybe its just taken 50 yrs to learn to fish lol, semi retirment sure helps though.
10 trips in july and 12 springs 14-38.5# with a 23.5# average , would be nice if more of the old buzzards i fish with would report their catches because i have seen at least a dozen others in the mid to high 30's.
Fished yesterday ,dropped my gear off the mouth 8am and trolled the 120 line west and hooked into a nice one near the trailer park only to have it run into the blasted crab floats and lose both fish and gear, i hope they are getting lots of crab cuz they sure screw up the productive areas for us!
Spent the next 2 hrs in the same area and picked up a 14 and 27 on bloody nose glow 85' in 100' depth and im happy to say my freezer is full , the canner's been on overtime so catch and release for this boy now...enjoy the great fishing guys!

My stats are so far off his I am in another far inferior Universe! We fished the same depth, same area , same day and all we caught are the crab traps – same as him, but absolutely no fish – unlike him.

Second piece of evidence see Kingspring’s post below:

Had a good day this past Wednesday. Fished Otter,hit 4 big springs,3 to the boat,2 in the boat. Lost a bigger fish after 10 minutes when I couldnt keep up with his run to the boat.

On our first spring I went to net it and slipped and ended up legs in the air under the tiller arm,my arm must have hit the throttle on it and we were doing doughnuts with my wife somehow staying with the fish!! I manage to untangle and get up and crap,no net,noticing my old Scotty sinking slowly out of sight! Jeez, no net and now only a short gaff to land this spring.

First pass by the boat I get him and flop a stout 20 # over the side!! Decide to fish some more,bang,rod goes off a little bigger,lose this one at the boat, as it broke off when I tried to ease him in with the leader and gaff it.

Ok,we need a net,zoom back to Sooke and buy a net,then back to fishing! Gear down,30 mins later solid hit,and my wife brings in a very fiesty 26 # to the new net. A few pinks and undersized springs later we pull the pin on a memorable and fairly humerous trip.

We fished Otter for 4 hours same day and never had a touch (not counting pinks).

I accept there are good and not so good days. No one catches all the time etc. etc. but this guy leaves and comes back and still catches another!!

(As I have posted before I have only ever caught one 6lb spring at Otter in over a dozen attempts. Had limited success in other areas but not there – don’t know why we tried on Wednesday really, but it had been over two years since I had tried Otter, and like you I thought I had learned a bit. Otter and Kingspring proved once again that I had not!!)

 

[SpringVelocity]

Very kind of you to say so Rockfish but I don’t think it is true. I am still doing something wrong/not right. My evidence?

See Pachito’s post below:



My stats are so far off his I am in another far inferior Universe! We fished the same depth, same area , same day and all we caught are the crab traps – same as him, but absolutely no fish – unlike him.

Second piece of evidence see Kingspring’s post below:


We fished Otter for 4 hours same day and never had a touch (not counting pinks).

I accept there are good and not so good days. No one catches all the time etc. etc. but this guy leaves and comes back and still catches another!!

(As I have posted before I have only ever caught one 6lb spring at Otter in over a dozen attempts. Had limited success in other areas but not there – don’t know why we tried on Wednesday really, but it had been over two years since I had tried Otter, and like you I thought I had learned a bit. Otter and Kingspring proved once again that I had not!!)

Lets keep it to reports..

Look I will offer to come out with you on your boat or you can come with me. I plan to go out tomorrow morning or Monday. You have made a few comments which stand out and I cant promise anything, but this is a forum. Too be honest the fishing been very good..A little slower this past week with the blue moon coming in... You fish probably twice as much as I do (and I fish a lot)... And I cant understand why you still are having issues, and from the tone its sounds like pure frustration. Its is probably something totally minor. If I can help in anyway I will. I am not by any means a master, but maybe if I give you a few things I do it may at least get you thinking differently. Just PM me Roland.

 

[RevyFisher]

What another great morning of fishing. Got lines in at 6 am atbtrap shack as we re headed home today so thought I'd get a couple quick hrs in with my son before we had to leave. Watched others hauling in springs around while we got nothing. Figured Wednesday must have been a fluke. Then 9 am same Anchovies and flasher same laps and it turned on for us. My son hooked into a screamer taking multiple long runs then launched itself out of the water and dove deep fast only to have the new 40 lb leader snap. He proceeded to land an 11 and 15 over the next hour. Out of the leftover chovies we went to spoons for another hr with nothing. Same results we had with spoons earlier in the week. For us it was all about bait. All caught 60-70' down in 80-130' of water. We would circle out to turn around and same as Wednesday we were picking them up on a fast troll going from the currents in to the slower water. Purple onion with purple haze teaser had far more hits today than the silver Betsy and bloody nose.

 

[supermario]

Trolled for was seemed to be an eternity just west off Otter Point this morning. Lots of bait fish popping only to learn that it was likely a bird or a seal that was causing the bait to ball up. I finally had a bite around 10am that turned into an 11lb spring. I was super stoked to put it into the kayak. Caught higher in the water column in about 70ft of water trolling into the current. 11" Moonjelly flasher in front of an army truck teaser head.

 

[Tsquared]

Trolled for was seemed to be an eternity just west off Otter Point this morning. Lots of bait fish popping only to learn that it was likely a bird or a seal that was causing the bait to ball up. I finally had a bite around 10am that turned into an 11lb spring. I was super stoked to put it into the kayak. Caught higher in the water column in about 70ft of water trolling into the current. 11" Moonjelly flasher in front of an army truck teaser head.

Nice job in the yak,Mario. It will get easier to do as the current settles Down next week.
T2

 

[Tips Up]

4 springs (14, 12, 10, 5) 1 coho, 1 pink. Few undersize. Otter and west of.
saw some good fish at the dock that were caught early.

Nice weather made for great day.

 

[Kinetic]

Picked up a 14lb Spring at the kelp beds at Pedder Bay this morning. Lost another one the same size at the boat. Kept 7 Pinks as well. Saw the Humpback's and Porpoise's off Church Rocks [video]https://youtu.be/WkSNgz8WlK8

 

[Arjento]

17 and 12 pedder bay for me yeaterday, saw a flasher swimming went to chase it down got close but too far for me; not so much for the guy and hus gf fishing out of a rental. Yelled over told him to cast at it he got it on what looked like a trout rod, good thing he took pics ten min earlier with a pink now he had a low teener spring to take a pic with he was happier than a clam feels good helping people make memories and he got some gear id say he was winning. Not much after that i hooked the 17 karma is good keep up the reports. Im heading back out tomorrow morning the wife is good to me right now august has just begun big fish heading our way!!!! Oh and a nice 10-12 lb coho that we released too funny he fought harder than the springs. Here's to hoping lots of those come our way too!!!!

 

[Misty]

Went out from 7:00 to 12:00 this morning, fished secretary and out. Had a few nice wild coho got to keep one hatchery. picked up one 14 lb spring in about 200 feet of water and released one small one. lots of pinks.
Nice day on the water.

 

[wolf]

Been a while since I posted as i was searching for derby this last weekend, fishing had slowed a bit this last week as sooooo many lil guys and pinks but they have chilled for a lil bit and springs were indefinably good from Thursday on and this Saturday and Sunday Had same crew again this year for the derby and we won the seniors and 11 th place lots of fish in the teens guy won the derby with a fish just over 28 lbs

Day 1 had us into alot of fish coming in with a limit biggest was at 22.45 lbs
day 2 got the 11 place fish at 23 .85 lbs
Rest were all 20 to 14 lbs as you can see

 

[wolf]

And I have to say English told you a long time ago to learn from others on here, told you bite the bullet hire a good charter guy like Rollie as i know you look up to him alot , and get him to SHOW you how what where and when, a few others have with me and you can learn alot of what your doing wrong.

Go for a half day the money you have spent already with skunks could have more than paid for it.

I dont know what your doing to be so unlucky but I really think you need a fresh set of eyes to see what your doing wrong. I think your missing some lil key things and he or any charter guy that does well can help you and maybe build up some confidence. SHOW whoever you go with WHAT you do be upfront tell them before hand what your intentions are most guides will help you learn..... take lots of note as your going to school man "fishing lessons 101"

There ARE lots of fish to be had out there. One word of advice And dont ask me How or why it does work but if you go into a spot feeling like "I dont know why we fished it for" and feeling UNconfident for some reason it wont work . you have to own it

Good luck Wolf

 

[Gerry]

Amen to that Wolf! My best fishing buddy always says before every trip "I have a good feeling about today" and he genuinely means it. And you know what, we always have a great trip!

 

[rook 2]

great comment roy,,i know both rollie and you,,and you two guys are extremelly tallented when it comes to big chinook fishing,,i am sure there are a few more guides out there just like you two,,and you are totally correct when you said fishing 101,,i shall seriouslly think about taking a lesson from either rollie or yourself,,thanks for the great posting and photo of your day,,,

And I have to say English told you a long time ago to learn from others on here, told you bite the bullet hire a good charter guy like Rollie as i know you look up to him alot , and get him to SHOW you how what where and when, a few others have with me and you can learn alot of what your doing wrong.

Go for a half day the money you have spent already with skunks could have more than paid for it.

I dont know what your doing to be so unlucky but I really think you need a fresh set of eyes to see what your doing wrong. I think your missing some lil key things and he or any charter guy that does well can help you and maybe build up some confidence. SHOW whoever you go with WHAT you do be upfront tell them before hand what your intentions are most guides will help you learn..... take lots of note as your going to school man "fishing lessons 101"

There ARE lots of fish to be had out there. One word of advice And dont ask me How or why it does work but if you go into a spot feeling like "I dont know why we fished it for" and feeling UNconfident for some reason it wont work . you have to own it

Good luck Wolf

 

[chris73]

And to prove all this talk, look at the pic below! Another one who thought was cursed is cured! Had a great day with the Governor today! Weather couldn't have been better and we made the right decisions: late start, mid morning at the trap, bang, Governor bangs a 27.5# within minutes of getting the lines down (a hatchery to boot! Biggest hatch spring I have seen on my boat so far) and over to Otter for the mid-day bite and another nice teener, another even nicer teener lost right at the boat and another couple promising hits that didn't stick. A few pinks mixed in made for an entertaining day! The teener we lost, I could swear Trevor - No Bananas picked up as the fish, after it spat the hook raced in the direction of his boat right beside us and seconds later his line went off and he caught a fish exactly the size we lost! Trevor - you mop up champion! lol

 

[Whole in the Water]

Wow great fish! I guess you guys have better luck when I don't fish with you. Looks like you had a great time - good on ya!

 

[cby]

Picked up a couple nice springs 16 and 20 lbs off Beechy Head, 51 Feet both, on new peetz Flasher and Andrew P Spoon. This setup is kiiler. 5th spring on this setup. Only out for 3 hours 4pm-7pm, then wind blew up. Also had 7 pinks to the boat did not keep.