2016 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Fishing Reports

[codfather]

WTF?????? History has been made folks. Thursday night was the first time in Hx that I've been at the Lodge guiding when 8 boats go out for the evening fish and came back skunked.

That was a total of 165 years of guiding experience fishing that night by the way between the 8 guides.

Now that is not just skunked when some of the boys come back telling a tail of woe as a guest clamps on the knuckle buster and SNAP. Or one of the other stories that get told back at the dock by a guide that gets skunked and it was not his fault. I am talking about NOT ONE #$&@*(^$@#% bite ALL night.

I seen 150 boats that night trolling and two fish that I saw hit the deck. They must have been snagged from what I saw that night.

Soooooooooooooooooo for those of you that say Nootka has 100,000K of fish coming back this year and it will be a record year WHEN.

I have been guiding in Nootka for 28 years and have done fairly well but have never seen fishing this SLOW.

I know and hope it will get better as I have a new group starting tonight and finally get to offshore because of the wind the last two weeks so I'll keep you posted.

Sorry for the rant but after 34 days out here it's been a struggle.

Mike

 

[twolabs]

I will be at critter cove for the first time starting on the 11th. Looks like the weather is going to be good. Hope some fish show up.
Really looking forward to it

 

[spring fever]

Yeah CF I feel your pain- I've fished Nootka many times a year for the last 20 years and I too have never seen it so bad. WH has had a terrible year for Springs as well so I don't think it is just Nootka. If they are late this last rain should move them in ----if not??? By the way the water is very brown and dirty off-shore- not only at Nootka but also Winter Harbour-I wonder if there is any connection?? Just a thought-maybe a hope?

 

[dennisb]

Yeah CF I feel your pain- I've fished Nootka many times a year for the last 20 years and I too have never seen it so bad. WH has had a terrible year for Springs as well so I don't think it is just Nootka. If they are late this last rain should move them in ----if not??? By the way the water is very brown and dirty off-shore- not only at Nootka but also Winter Harbour-I wonder if there is any connection?? Just a thought-maybe a hope?

Well Gents, I just finished up a 5 day stint at Moucha Bay and had a incredible time with my family. We managed to bring home 14 chinook. .. 2 short of out limits. We probably lost that many. This is my first time and am proud to say I have a total of 5.5 days of experience. You guys have a fantastic resource and should be proud of what you have. My only disappointment was I wasn't able to fi th outside and try for halibut and Ling. We mad it out to the monument one afternoon and got skunk there. Wednesday night we got into a wicked bite on th east side of canal island at Coopte Pt with 7 fish on an only land 1 in 45 minutes. Our best lure was a lure jensen flash fly in all clear with a silver flashing on it. An a very close second was a anchovy with a green glow head.
A big shout out to all who post here as you have been a valuable source of info for me. As I checked out this morning I already booked my 2017 and 2018 dates.

 

[cohochinook]

WTF?????? History has been made folks. Thursday night was the first time in Hx that I've been at the Lodge guiding when 8 boats go out for the evening fish and came back skunked.

That was a total of 165 years of guiding experience fishing that night by the way between the 8 guides.

Now that is not just skunked when some of the boys come back telling a tail of woe as a guest clamps on the knuckle buster and SNAP. Or one of the other stories that get told back at the dock by a guide that gets skunked and it was not his fault. I am talking about NOT ONE #$&@*(^$@#% bite ALL night.

I seen 150 boats that night trolling and two fish that I saw hit the deck. They must have been snagged from what I saw that night.

Soooooooooooooooooo for those of you that say Nootka has 100,000K of fish coming back this year and it will be a record year WHEN.

I have been guiding in Nootka for 28 years and have done fairly well but have never seen fishing this SLOW.

I know and hope it will get better as I have a new group starting tonight and finally get to offshore because of the wind the last two weeks so I'll keep you posted.

Sorry for the rant but after 34 days out here it's been a struggle.

Mike

Wow that's bad! One thing I will say is the Alaskan commercial fishery hammered these fish. It's about time our Federal Government started sticking up for our salmon and instead of just selling them out to fish farms!

 

[cabazon]

It's a bad news report but very true! I feel better now cause I thought there was something wrong with my boat. Definitely worst year there I've ever seen. Between diminishing numbers of fish, quality and average size. I'm rethinking trips to Nootka. I was fortunate to see the glory days but saddened to see the decline. I think I'll leave it to the mop up crew of Washington Boats and California sea lions.

 

[MacDuff]

Fished Esperanza on the inside over 4 days over the past week - very slow. Plastic, spoons, bait at all depths 20-80 and from Saltery bay to Catala. very, very slow. spoke to a guy moored at westview who has been coming up for the past 20 years - said it is the 3rd worst year. only 10 boats or so at rosa yesterday morning which speaks volumes. perhaps the action is at the highway. not heading out again until there are reports of fish on the inside.

 

[Fish on John]

The facts are pretty clear. No matter how much experience, Guide or Not if the fish are not in yet then going outside may be your only option for consistent catching.
Yes Esperanza has produced better than Nootka inside of the inlet but it also is lacking the normal volume of Spring.
The general thoughts on the Esperanza catch is most of the Springs & Coho are passing fish catch around Catala Is, Double Is, Outer Black, Low Rk. & Pin Rocks. These fish are just stopping to feed on the massive amount of bait milling around the mouth of the inlet.

Now is the time to go to the Highway. Why? because the wind & wave patterns are general calm for the next week.
Check out Wind Finder & other weather sites.
You need to be safe. NO 16ft tinny should be out there at at any time. This is ocean fishing NOT Inlet & Sound Fishing.
Top up the fuel tanks & make sure your navigation equipment is functional. Safety is the key to a successful trip.

The Spring, Coho & Hali are definitely there. 9 out of 10 vessels who venture out (under favorable weather conditions) limit on their target species.

Yes 4 & 6 mile reef have gone brown with algae bloom. Do not stop there continue on until you are out of the bloom in clear green 225- 325 water. Fish deep 25ft off the bottom. Most fisher on the Highway use dummy flashers or none at all. Large flashy/glow Spoons are the producer outside with the largest none barbed hook you can use without killing the lure action.

Titan, Tomic & Coyote 6in spoon ALL work well. Colors- Glow Army Truck, Image Neon Green & Blue, Glow Pilchard, Glow 602 & Cop Car Glow. 5/0 & 6/0 Gamakaysu Siwash. Tomic 6 & 7in plugs also work well in similar colors.

Best of LUCK out there. Be Safe. We monitor CH 6 VHF.
We are all keeping our figures cross that these fish will move into inter-coastal waters SOON.
But until then, when the weather conditions are favorable, it's the Highway for Successful FISHING/CATCHING!!
FOJ

 

[spring fever]

Pretty sound advice from FOJ -IF the fish are still coming and are not MIA!!! there is precedence cause we had a year similar to this back in 08-the Springs were MIA for most of the season-I had a good trip at the 100 fathom mark late August but that was it.Everyone was doom and gloom and what do you think happened--the returns at native streams and hatcheries were on target or higher. Be interesting to see how Matt (Iron Noggin ) is doing with the plug only commercial opening!! These last few days of rain may change things and I see an opening developing at Winter Harbour next week-end. Summer is short-get out there and do it. It's a long winter to sit and "what if" LOL

 

[Gearbox Paul]

Hi Gearbox Paul, yes it is my buddy that has Saavedra Island and I spend lots of time there with Mike.

Can you send me an email and I'll give you some details.

codfathers@hotmail.com

Thanks,

Mike

Thanks Mike, I sent you an e-mail today.
Paul

 

[RiverBoy]

Just got back from a last minute two day tour.

BRUTALLY SLOW.

Stayed on the hook, up at 4:30 a.m. Lines in the water by 5 a.m. trolling before sunrise with light charged glow patterns. Fished until sundown. TWO small springs for our efforts. Both at Hoiss Coopte tack. Mine was caught 75' on a small gold star spoon. Silver with green trim. Other fish caught in 55' on a white glow needle fish. We dragged chovies, herring, plugs, you name it. A lot of long faces around. Chatter on Ch.6 was also negative.

My fish was starting to turn dark. The other fish was dime bright, and full of **** and vinegar. Sign of new / fresh crop of fish showing up? I dunno.....
Anyways I am done with Nootka for this year. Heading to Bamfield next weekend for a week of camping / fishing. Will offer a report on the Bamfield thread.

 

[Aces]

The fish are thick offshore.

Fish where they are not where you want them to be

 

[RiverBoy]

The fish are thick offshore.

Fish where they are not where you want them to be

We went offshore Sat. to fish Bottomfish. We were going to venture up to the pins but the boat we were on has limited fuel capacity so we headed back to CC for fuel. The guys offshore were doing well for sure.

 

[coastalmarinesafety]

Just back from our annual 3 generation Nootka trip. Above report from CF pretty much sums it up. Very slow on the inside. Ended up with 6 springs for a 3 day trip. Biggest 20lbs. Hit our fish 20-70ft, along the wall mainly. Hois, San Carlos and camel were dead for us...the "bite" was really only 6-730am each day from our experience and those we talked to. We went outside to the open side of the red can yesterday afternoon to try it out, brown water as SF mentioned, we found no bait and found no springs. Tried several depths.

Great trip, always is. Looking forward to next year already.

 

[hambone]

Anyone been checking what's in the stomach of their Nootka fish??

Headed that way in a week. Excited for the 100K that will be showing up at the same time as us.

 

[Joe]

Anyone been checking what's in the stomach of their Nootka fish??

Headed that way in a week. Excited for the 100K that will be showing up at the same time as us.

When I was there a few weeks ago, the springs ( all offshore) were STUFFED with a 1-2inch shad type bait.

 

[Fishtech1]

Just got back from fishing for 5 days, the same report as everyone else the fishing is the slowest I`ve seen in years. I did check the stomach of a spring that I caught out by wash rock, it was stuffed with small anchoives. I switched and went to fishing herring strips and that seemed to work and small spoons. Got off shore and did well with lings and a nice hali at 56lbs. Tried to make up to fish the pins and T but got blown off long boat ride that day.

 

[Reel Obsession]

As we swing into August the fishing around Esperanza has impressed so many this year, and is still holding strong. The last week we did see a few days of tougher salmon fishing. The winds were blowing North west 25-35 most of the week limiting where we could get to.

The salmon bite was slow at six mile reef (the guitar) on the morning bite until the flood tide kicked in. Once the flood started the bite was good with lots of fish in the 20-28 pound range. The best depths have been 100 feet to bottom. Hoochies in pistachio and the UV white terd have been working well. When the bite has slowed down medium sized herring have been a good bet. Bloody nose and glow green have been our colors of choice behind a super betsy or glow/silver flasher.

Ouside the "T", also known as the outside corner to the commercial fleet, has been very consistent. If the weather permits, limits of springs have been taken in short order if you can get out there. 180-200 feet have been the best depths the past week. Today (August 6th) was beautiful, and all 4 boats got out there and limited on springs and halibut by lunch.






Adrian O'Connor, Owner
Reel Obsession Sport Fishing
1-888-855-7335 | adrian@reelobsession.ca
www.reelobsession.ca

 

[Derby]

Anyone been checking what's in the stomach of their Nootka fish??

Headed that way in a week. Excited for the 100K that will be showing up at the same time as us.

give me a call

 

[Derby]

Fish Goldie from Sunday tell Thursday ...fishing was a grind at best with the Monday morning being our the best morning inside with us going 3 for 6 in the morning then maybe 1 a morning after that in the Coopie to Hoiss point area.. Saw you there Spring fever the one morning..... If you can get outside go... much better results to be had out there in the Banjo area with us going 6 for 8 to 28lbs..... Anchovy's in the mud was the ticket with the spring stuffed full of perch and small herring... Seems some people didn't get the memo about the closed area and they were fishing in that area.. the DFO Aurora plan did a fly over on weds and did a circle around so I'm sure there is a few tickets on the way got our over Hali for the trip and some toothie critter pitching for them on the lighgear..lots' fun to say the least gear..lots' fun to say the least ..