We landed 3 wilds this morning and lost many more. Almost cancelled when I saw the rain this morning, but it turned out nice. Flat water, no fog. Lots of boats. Green/white hootchie on one side, and no bananas spoon on the other seemed to work equally well, down 65 and 85 ft, in 450-550 ft of water. I love coho season...
2016 Sooke Reports
- Thread starter Englishman
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vicsurfer
Well-Known Member
I went out today with the girls at noon to catch the flood off the Head in 600ft of water. Landed a smaller spring right away at 120ft. It then went fairly quiet until 3pm when the flood started. Had numerous fish on between 3 and 4. The majority were hitting the herring. Kept 2 and nothing over 8lbs.
Suke Skywalker
Member
Fished in 500-550 ft of water off Otter from 9-2 today. Fishing was slowish but it was a beauty day, and we saw humpbacks, porpoises, and even caught a few fish. We had two hits that we didn't convert, and landed a 7 and 8 lb wild and an 11 lb hatch. The bites were widely spread, and the fish were never caught in the same place, though we tried circling back when we had hits.
60 ft, 70 ft and 120 ft were our depths. All caught on white hootchies, though we tried anchovy and spoons as well.
60 ft, 70 ft and 120 ft were our depths. All caught on white hootchies, though we tried anchovy and spoons as well.
Sam7
Well-Known Member
After a month away from the water it was time to head back out. Apparently I wasn't the only one trying to get back on the water, arrived at the Prestige at about 8:30, 3 boats waiting to launch. I headed straight out just west of Secretary, surprised by the amount of boats on the water. Trolled the ebb down to Otter, after experimenting with different depths and enquiring with a few boats along the way with depths that were working, 42' was the magic number that stuck first. A nice 8-9 lb hatchery. Headed back towards Secretary with a long wait in between bites. About 1:30 ish, in front of Secretary, the bite turned on for me, just finished reeling in another 7 lb hatchery when the other rod goes off. Lost it 1/2 way to the boat. Played another 5 fish up until 4 ish when it was time to pack it in and head back. I was fishing 42'-55' on the rigger with a few more hits on the 55'. Hard to believe fishing in October with a t-shirt on.
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Went over Friday night, and anchored friday/saturday in murder bay, fished all of sat and half of sun.
Saturday caught 4/5 4lbish springs at 100, kept one and the others went back, all hatchery. No coho.
Sunday caught one 4lbish spring which kept, lost one fish around 7lb (think it was another spring by way it fought) and then another when the line snapped (musta been a nick in it).
We left around 1:30, which is apparently when the bite started! Still a really nice weekend, despite not seeing a sniff of a coho.
Saturday caught 4/5 4lbish springs at 100, kept one and the others went back, all hatchery. No coho.
Sunday caught one 4lbish spring which kept, lost one fish around 7lb (think it was another spring by way it fought) and then another when the line snapped (musta been a nick in it).
We left around 1:30, which is apparently when the bite started! Still a really nice weekend, despite not seeing a sniff of a coho.
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I was fishing at Secretary on Saturday 4-6 pm and Sunday 5-7pm in about 350-480ft of water.
On Saturday I dropped the lines and instantly got a bite that didn't stick. Then nothing for the rest of the day. Sunday was the opposite. Nothing until 7pm when I got a double header. Landed a 5 lbs hatchery and a 10lbs wild coho. Magic depth on the downrigger was 60-70ft.
On Saturday I dropped the lines and instantly got a bite that didn't stick. Then nothing for the rest of the day. Sunday was the opposite. Nothing until 7pm when I got a double header. Landed a 5 lbs hatchery and a 10lbs wild coho. Magic depth on the downrigger was 60-70ft.
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SS WHO CARES
New Member
Long time reader first time poster.
Went out of Cheanuh for the weekend. Rod's were busy both days. Sunday being more successful. Fished mainly out in 400-550' of water from Breechy to Albert, until the whales showed up on Sunday. That shut the deep water bite down, decided to go away from "the herd" and go shallow again just after lunch. It was the right call, we picked up these 4 within an hour right outside of Beechey head. #14 wild, #11 hatch, #8 wild, #11.5 wild. Magic depth 90-75' on the riggers. Amazing aerial fights too! Chovies were my go to until the whales came. I switched to white/red hootchies and an old bloody nose spoon and started reeling in the nice coho's!
A lot of people at the dock did not share my success. My season is not over yet.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who posts on this site. You guys have been a major tool and teaching me how to fish. It's been a battle the last 5 years but between this site and dock talk I have started to even surprise myself. This year has been my most successful yet, and I owe a lot to this forum!
Went out of Cheanuh for the weekend. Rod's were busy both days. Sunday being more successful. Fished mainly out in 400-550' of water from Breechy to Albert, until the whales showed up on Sunday. That shut the deep water bite down, decided to go away from "the herd" and go shallow again just after lunch. It was the right call, we picked up these 4 within an hour right outside of Beechey head. #14 wild, #11 hatch, #8 wild, #11.5 wild. Magic depth 90-75' on the riggers. Amazing aerial fights too! Chovies were my go to until the whales came. I switched to white/red hootchies and an old bloody nose spoon and started reeling in the nice coho's!
A lot of people at the dock did not share my success. My season is not over yet.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who posts on this site. You guys have been a major tool and teaching me how to fish. It's been a battle the last 5 years but between this site and dock talk I have started to even surprise myself. This year has been my most successful yet, and I owe a lot to this forum!
Fished Sunday. Was out right at sunrise... ventured off shore and back in trying to tack fish. Nothing. gear from 42-90ft. a few shakers.
Moved right in tight beside secretary. the advice from others on here paid off - 90ft was the magic depth.two in very short order, right as the tide pushed in. saw a lot of boats not doing much out there. pulled the gear and headed in after 45 minutes of no touches again. oh well. back out Thursday.
Moved right in tight beside secretary. the advice from others on here paid off - 90ft was the magic depth.two in very short order, right as the tide pushed in. saw a lot of boats not doing much out there. pulled the gear and headed in after 45 minutes of no touches again. oh well. back out Thursday.
Englishman
Well-Known Member
How ironic. Last Wednesday we had at least 10 hits and released four unclipped coho of good size. Today, we had just 6 hits fishing from 8:30am until 3:00pm, two of which came as we retrieved the gear. Two hits were very small chinook one of which was a hatchery which we kept. Of the other four hits, three came off and we only managed to boat one 6lb hatchery coho right near the end of the session. That last fish stayed on because I removed the single hook from the tiny teaser and replaced it with a small treble. It is almost impossible to boat a twisting, wildly gyrating coho on a single barbless hook. It can be done but you lose 80% of the fish in my experience.
All six of our hits came on the tiny teaser with a small (3-4”) herring. We tried a variety of gear and depths on the other side but never had a single touch on any of spoons, hootchies or Apex lures we tried.
A large humpback went past Sooke but we were much further out than the whale, so we only saw the tail fluke as he dived in the distance.
Will try for an unclipped fish later in the week maybe, but perhaps they have all gone now because they know October 1st has arrived!! LOL
An earlier post above noted fish echoes way down deep. We noticed the same today. Lots and lots of fish echoes in the 290-350' range in 450' of water!
All six of our hits came on the tiny teaser with a small (3-4”) herring. We tried a variety of gear and depths on the other side but never had a single touch on any of spoons, hootchies or Apex lures we tried.
A large humpback went past Sooke but we were much further out than the whale, so we only saw the tail fluke as he dived in the distance.
Will try for an unclipped fish later in the week maybe, but perhaps they have all gone now because they know October 1st has arrived!! LOL
An earlier post above noted fish echoes way down deep. We noticed the same today. Lots and lots of fish echoes in the 290-350' range in 450' of water!
paguy
Well-Known Member
New guy here, first time fishing your beautiful coast line for salmon on sat. Fished from yellow buoy to beecher area in 550' of water with 95' on the down rigger found some nice hatchery fish first thing kept four between six to ten pounds then nothing but wild fish the rest of the day kept four of those between eight to ten pounds. Talked to another guy out in the same area fishing 160' on the down rigger and doing pretty good.
N2013
Well-Known Member
Some fish around but were scattered for us. Started deep but lots of little shakers so we moved. Everyone was lined up out deep but we kept searching 120-350'. Lost a nice size one at the boat to start, 90', green/white spoon. Ended up with a 16lb coho off Secretary @42'. Purple haze/white hootchie. Didn't mark any bait all day. Some biguns out there! Way better than last year's rats.
Really late report. Sorry. Fished Sooke for first time Friday afternoon through Sunday am. About the same as everyone else. Lots of boredom followed by 10 min of hookups. Took home (Roche Harbor) 5 fish. All ours on chovie or Herring. One really nice hook nose wild and one smaller clipped king. Hootchies and spoons no love. 65-190 on DR. Stayed on boat on dock at Sooke Marina Resort. Ate dinner at Buffy's pub. 2 guides we talked to on dock were really nice. Flat water all trip. Good to get lay of the land. Will be back next year. Good Luck to anyone in Derby this weekend. If you are having trouble keeping fish on with barbless hooks don't use a treble just keep boat in gear while you reel them. They will stay on guaranteed and you won't kill any fish you can't keep. Tight lines. Peter Warren
Englishman
Well-Known Member
Very interesting day today. Started out at 8:30am about 1K off Secretary and headed way out where everyone else seemed to be, tiny teaser one side and large herring on the other. After 15 minutes had a hit on each side about 5 minutes apart but lost them both. Carried on through the morning heading out and then heading back in to and fro, across the tidal flow. Got no more hits on the big herring but the tiny teaser had several more hits – boated a small 5lb unclipped, released one of similar size in hopes of a bigger one, and lost two more, one, maybe 8lbs, right at the net. All action was 50-70'. By late morning we were getting nothing but shakers, so even though the main boat pack had drifted way off west with the tide we headed back in much closer to Secretary. Had the area to ourselves. Around lunchtime took off the Krippled K that had done nothing and put on a pink striped hootchie and decided to drop it to 96'. Got a big hit within minutes and after a strong fight and a few pokes with the net we managed to boat an unclipped beauty of 12lb! My largest coho for about 5 years.
Replaced the treble which had one broken hook and put the hootchie back down. Put the tiny teaser down there as well, which was a mistake because in minutes had another big hit on the same hootchie and a big strong fished managed to wrap around the cable on the teaser side as we raised it and snapped the leader. taking with it my only hootchie of that type. Should have left the teaser side up higher!! Decided to risk two rods same depth again, this time with a different hootchie on both sides; green and white and blue and white. Sure enough another big hit on the the blue and white side and we netted a nice unclipped fish of around 10lb, which we successfully released. Now it was raining and since we figured this pocket of large fish we had found was likely all unclipped anyway, decided to head in at 2:00pm.
Replaced the treble which had one broken hook and put the hootchie back down. Put the tiny teaser down there as well, which was a mistake because in minutes had another big hit on the same hootchie and a big strong fished managed to wrap around the cable on the teaser side as we raised it and snapped the leader. taking with it my only hootchie of that type. Should have left the teaser side up higher!! Decided to risk two rods same depth again, this time with a different hootchie on both sides; green and white and blue and white. Sure enough another big hit on the the blue and white side and we netted a nice unclipped fish of around 10lb, which we successfully released. Now it was raining and since we figured this pocket of large fish we had found was likely all unclipped anyway, decided to head in at 2:00pm.
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Fished today out of Beecher, was definitely better for most than on Sunday. 5 fish to the boat, 4 kept. 3 hatchery and one nice 11ish pound wild. ran gear at 90-100. Of course i find the hatcheries after the opening...
Have found full-sized hootchies to out-produce squirts and spoons so far for coho. Green, pink, uv, glow. all seem to work without much difference between them. Perhaps give those a go nextime fishhook?
Hope it keeps up for the weekend!
Have found full-sized hootchies to out-produce squirts and spoons so far for coho. Green, pink, uv, glow. all seem to work without much difference between them. Perhaps give those a go nextime fishhook?
Hope it keeps up for the weekend!
