If you unintentionally foul hook a fish in tidal waters you are allowed to retain it. Jerking the rod or using lures such as 4" buzz bombs, or just a hunk of lead with a lead with a hook/yarn in 18" of water is IMO intentionally trying to foul hook a fish. The spit boys may disagree.

Lots of coho's still in the basin, lots have headed up stream in the last few days.
 
Interesting to hear that I thought they had to be in the mouth to retain. When's chums are chrome they will hit jigs and spoons through my experiences. Soon as they turn colors they aren't interested in anything.
 
I had 5 chum in a row take my fly in the mouth yesterday, no idea what caused them to start biting. Maybe the rain? Im clueless when it comes to freshwater.
 
they are less spooked in the rain, but more likely the tide change speeding up the flow over the point, big school and competitive instinct, hungry fresh fish getting last bite before heading upriver, luck, and more luck.
 
I have been out in the past where a dozen people are fishing and no one is catching anything with spoons, spinners, wool, or buzzbombs, including me. I switched to my fly rod and put on a vary sparse streamer pattern or clouser minnow with some green, some black, and a tiny bit of crystal flash/silver and the small presentation and less splashing and pounding entices them. It must be like mortar fire with all those buzzbombs hitting the water and banding the bottom. Get away from the crowd and a more subtle presentation is less likely to give them a headache and turn off the bite.
 
Things did go a little crazy there in the estuary the last few days. At the start of the ebb, huge schools barreled over the bar toward their final destination. There were brief periods when the coho were actually acting like coho. Three silver salmon landed in less than 45 mins. a few chum as well. I hit the basin today. Ended up switching to my spinning rod when the wind picked up. Did have a couple of fish on briefly, one for sure a coho, but things were pretty quiet.
Checked out the river. Way up! Fished it above the first "riffle" and quite after landing six. Lost a bunch but those ones were probably fouled. Impossible to land a chum sideways in that flow. River came up a foot in the couple of hours I was there. Lots of debris became a pain. Leaves, branches and huge logs bobbing past. Visibility went from a few feet to about 10". If your going to brave it on the weekend, don't forget your T14.
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Fly fished the river 4 times this week and easily got into over 100 chum landing about a third of them. Plenty of fun on the 8wt and some of them are dime bright!
 

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I visited there Saturday. The water was down from last week. Made a few casts, fouled a few chums, including flossing a few in the mouth. Watched people wade out onto active spawning beds and swing sinking lines through spawning salmon, sometimes in less than 18" of water. Not impressed and I won't be part of that show again.

Check out the second half of this video an tell me if there is any sport to that?
 
I went and tried it once and it's definitely not for me. The whole time I was there my old man's voice was echoing in the back of my head where he once said... "if I catch you messing with those spawning salmon in the river, I'll kick your butt around the block". :eek::eek::D
 
Not a fan of that video from 3 minutes onwards. I find it funny how he is digging them out of spawning beds in a foot of water and still struggling to hookup. Fishing for salmon in rivers is open because not everyone has the opportunity to catch salmon in the ocean. I enjoy fishing the Sooke river because the guys who fish it are great, very good fly fisherman and very ethical, and its alot of fun. Although most guys are pretty good on the Sooke theres always going to be some idiots,
 
Ive been out there a handful of times now and I can see both sides of the argument. Most of the more "respectful" fishermen use circle hooks, fish the deeper pools, let their flies work through the flowing water as opposed to casting out in 2 feet of water every 10 seconds with a quick retrieve looking for a snag. Unless you tie your own, its hard to get your hands on circle hook flies. Its also about 1000000x more satisfying hooking a fish fair, and I imagine its also very satisfying hooking a fish on a fly u tied yourself!

A couple weeks back there were two guys in a white canoe (said they were from a local band although they looked caucasian to me, but lets not get into that) casting spinning rods with buzz bombs through a shallow riffle, and every fish they snagged ended up back in the canoe, flopping around because they couldnt be bothered to bonk them. They seemed pretty impressed with themselves too judging by all the highfiving and shouting. They took both coho and chum. That was disappointing to witness, to say the least.

With that said, Ive been out there a few times and had a lot of fun learning some of the basics of river fishing and flyfishing. I try to do so respectfully, while minimizing my impact on the fish and their spawning grounds. A lot of the old timers there are super nice guys too, that have a real love for fishing, and a respect for nature and the fish.

So its not all bad, fellas.
 
I went and tried it once and it's definitely not for me. The whole time I was there my old man's voice was echoing in the back of my head where he once said... "if I catch you messing with those spawning salmon in the river, I'll kick your butt around the block". :eek::eek::D

I'm the same. It felt dirty. Intercepting them on there way, tidal or non is one thing, but once they are on the beds, they are home. Leave them alone. They are doing what they have fought all their lives and beaten tough odds to do. Doing it all on quickly fading batteries. Dragging them sideways, backwards, frontwards isn't doing them any favours. I bet less than 1:10 actually bite, including those hooked in the mouth.
 
Very good points guys, I see both points and it is a shame some people have no respect for our rivers. Also @eroyd I used to never think chums bit, but since ive started fishing the river more, some of the fresh fish are aggressive and really will take a well presented fly, or it would seem.
 
The reaction to being hooked in the mouth or near is going to be the same whether by accident or on purpose. The fish I caught that believe bit, were mostly hens that took the fly on the hang down. (the fly wasn't swinging) I did have an aggressive buck obviously attack a fly as well. Otherwise most were flossed, snagged, or ran into sweeping hooks. I noticed most guys thought fishing was better when the water was lower (see vid). I also noticed when the seals came through, panicking the salmon, there was usually a flurry of hook - ups.
I know a lot of people really get a kick out of this fishery. I did for a while. A lot of new fly fishers, buying gear and licences, but perhaps taking a short cut to feeling the tug of success. I think it would be really cool if people show some restraint. One of the old timers suggested limiting yourself to 10 fish played. Then just enjoy being a spectator in such an amazing place. Lets not forget that even in a catch and release fishery, there is a mortality. I would suggest that the mortality is particularly high. There are lots of dead salmon, still with round bellies in the pools that are most heavily fished.
 
They could fix the problem and close it passed the campground. There's lots of room at the campground for lots of fly fisherman but its not as easy to hookup because the fish move around and its a bigger area of water at the bend.. Now guys go up river and wait for the tide to drop and you see what happens in that video.. The other issue is why bring the chum 10 yards up to the camera ? Leave the fish in the water and let it go ?? Hero shot with a striped chum ?? lol. On a side note i witnessed some FN guys pull up with there pickup at the campground and go to work with the buzz bombs.. Filled the back of the truck and off they went. It was sad to watch. I would of felt better if they had used a net or speared them. Just my opinion !!
 
@eroyd I saw the 10 hookup idea, really like it. Totally see where you're coming from on your points of the sooke river, for me I enjoy fly fishing the river because it's pretty much the only stream within an hour and a half of Victoria that has a solid chum run, and the scenery, as well as people I've met and memories I've made with fishing partners is experiences I'll never forget. @Fins -n- Skins i agree with what you've said about the videos and the 'hero shots' as well as I am dissapointed about the FN disrespecting the river and retaining salmon in a way that is far from traditional. Also I'm unsure if youre referring to me as a 'striped chum hero shot', but I haven't caught to many chum as chrome as that that have really attckes my fly, and to hold it up for a quick picture before reviving it and letting it swim away safely is well within my rights. 99% of the time the fish I catch in rivers are tailed in knee deep water where I'm wading to, I pop the fly out of its mouth and let it swim away, never dragging it onto the rocks or holding it for long periods of time.
 
It's not just the Sooke. Many streams on the Island, some only a rod length across get this kind of attention. And not just fly fishers. I guess I just don't get it.
 
Ive been out there a handful of times now and I can see both sides of the argument. Most of the more "respectful" fishermen use circle hooks, fish the deeper pools, let their flies work through the flowing water as opposed to casting out in 2 feet of water every 10 seconds with a quick retrieve looking for a snag. Unless you tie your own, its hard to get your hands on circle hook flies. Its also about 1000000x more satisfying hooking a fish fair, and I imagine its also very satisfying hooking a fish on a fly u tied yourself!

A couple weeks back there were two guys in a white canoe (said they were from a local band although they looked caucasian to me, but lets not get into that) casting spinning rods with buzz bombs through a shallow riffle, and every fish they snagged ended up back in the canoe, flopping around because they couldnt be bothered to bonk them. They seemed pretty impressed with themselves too judging by all the highfiving and shouting. They took both coho and chum. That was disappointing to witness, to say the least.

With that said, Ive been out there a few times and had a lot of fun learning some of the basics of river fishing and flyfishing. I try to do so respectfully, while minimizing my impact on the fish and their spawning grounds. A lot of the old timers there are super nice guys too, that have a real love for fishing, and a respect for nature and the fish.

So its not all bad, fellas.

Did you report this white canoe?
 
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