2016 Sooke Reports
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advTHXance
Well-Known Member
Are our expectations high, or is the fishing poor, or is it some combination of both. Id say the truth lies somewhere in the middle. One thing is for sure, you can check any fishing report thread on this board and they all say the same thing - fishing is slower than usual, really have to work for our fish, skunked again, lots of small feeders, etc... There is a definitive pattern to the reports.
Personally, I found fishing was lights out for the first 3 months of the year, but has slowed drastically since then. Im probably guilty of setting too lofty expectations and/or buying into the hype. With DFO's forecasted return of many 4th and 5th year fish, I just kind of assumed Id be filling the cooler with tyees by now. Oops! Im all for being patient and taking the "lets wait and see" approach, the fish will arrive eventually - but maybe not in the numbers we expect them to, at least if the fishing reports are any indication.
How have you found the fishing overall this year, SV?
Personally, I found fishing was lights out for the first 3 months of the year, but has slowed drastically since then. Im probably guilty of setting too lofty expectations and/or buying into the hype. With DFO's forecasted return of many 4th and 5th year fish, I just kind of assumed Id be filling the cooler with tyees by now. Oops! Im all for being patient and taking the "lets wait and see" approach, the fish will arrive eventually - but maybe not in the numbers we expect them to, at least if the fishing reports are any indication.
How have you found the fishing overall this year, SV?
scott craven
Well-Known Member
I couldn't agree more, so far it's as bad as I've seen in the last 20 years.
obviously the forecast for huge returns of WCVI Chinook was a tad off.
Striper Sniper
Well-Known Member
Hey Scott, I have lived on the Island now for almost 10 years and pretty much every year such predictions have occurred......and while fishing in the areas I fish have been productive during this time.......I fail to recall the predictions ever occurring.........
Cut Plug
Well-Known Member
[oQUOTE="Striper Sniper, post: 794462, member: 313"]Hey Scott, I have lived on the Island now for almost 10 years and pretty much every year such predictions have occurred......and while fishing in the areas I fish have been productive during this time.......I fail to recall the predictions ever occurring.........[/QUOTE]
I believe expectations are way out of wack this year. Not to get too side tracked from the reports, but two specific things really confuse me about the discussion thus far.
1. Didn't DFO actually predict a really poor return of fish to the Fraser this year, and don't Fraser fish make up a big portion of our catch during the summer? Aren't we under the most severe level of restrictions they place on this stock? Once I understood we were facing a year of lower Fraser returns, my expectations for a great early summer fishery went down accordingly.
2. From what I understand, DFO has predicted a large return of 4 year old hatchery origin WCVI chinook. Period. It isn't a coast wide thing, but one specific stock of hatchery chinook. From what I know about the behavior of this stock, they migrate through the near shore areas of the west coast of Haida Gwaii and WCVI on their way to Nootka Sound (Conuma Hatchery), Barkley Sound (Robertson Creek Hatchery) and Nitinat. They arrive at the top end of WCVI about now, with the peak migrations into the terminal areas (the sounds) in August. Pretty much none of them make it here. If you look at the stock composition information for Juan De Fuca Straight, they make up a super tiny portion of our catch in the Victoria\Sooke area. The closest production hatchery for these fish to us is Nitinat, and those fish typically start to show up at Nitinat in August. Why would this prediction have an impact on a fishery in Sooke and Victoria in June and July?
I'm not too sure where all these great expectations for the 2016 JdF chinook fishery came from. It sure as heck isn't based on any of the information I've received about predictions for this fishery this year. Can somebody please help me understand what I'm missing? I'm confused.
CP
[/QUOTE]I believe expectations are way out of wack this year. Not to get too side tracked from the reports, but two specific things really confuse me about the discussion thus far.
1. Didn't DFO actually predict a really poor return of fish to the Fraser this year, and don't Fraser fish make up a big portion of our catch during the summer? Aren't we under the most severe level of restrictions they place on this stock? Once I understood we were facing a year of lower Fraser returns, my expectations for a great early summer fishery went down accordingly.
2. From what I understand, DFO has predicted a large return of 4 year old hatchery origin WCVI chinook. Period. It isn't a coast wide thing, but one specific stock of hatchery chinook. From what I know about the behavior of this stock, they migrate through the near shore areas of the west coast of Haida Gwaii and WCVI on their way to Nootka Sound (Conuma Hatchery), Barkley Sound (Robertson Creek Hatchery) and Nitinat. They arrive at the top end of WCVI about now, with the peak migrations into the terminal areas (the sounds) in August. Pretty much none of them make it here. If you look at the stock composition information for Juan De Fuca Straight, they make up a super tiny portion of our catch in the Victoria\Sooke area. The closest production hatchery for these fish to us is Nitinat, and those fish typically start to show up at Nitinat in August. Why would this prediction have an impact on a fishery in Sooke and Victoria in June and July?
I'm not too sure where all these great expectations for the 2016 JdF chinook fishery came from. It sure as heck isn't based on any of the information I've received about predictions for this fishery this year. Can somebody please help me understand what I'm missing? I'm confused.
CP
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Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Much of the buzz was generated by projections for a big Columbia River (hatchery) return. The Strait of JDF funnels them back home and WCVI pecks away at them as they dip in to places like Barkley Sound to put the calories on.
The mystery for me: the HUGE anecdotal evidence of shakers everywhere. That's how my Bamfield trip went and I'm reading about others who had the same experience. And if I recall correctly, none of them I caught had an adipose clip
I'll probably get flamed for this but taking all those shakers into account and all the guys pounding on them, isn't that a great argument for SINGLE barbless hooks??????
I'm continually amazed how many guys still use trebles---what's up with that????
The mystery for me: the HUGE anecdotal evidence of shakers everywhere. That's how my Bamfield trip went and I'm reading about others who had the same experience. And if I recall correctly, none of them I caught had an adipose clip
I'll probably get flamed for this but taking all those shakers into account and all the guys pounding on them, isn't that a great argument for SINGLE barbless hooks??????
I'm continually amazed how many guys still use trebles---what's up with that????
MadJigga
Well-Known Member
Couldn't agree more about the trebles, those shakers are our future fishery! No sense leaving a trail of floaters behind the boat!
jriptide
Member
This was a smaller version, I tried the larger spoon last year and did not have great success over bait or other spoons.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
All answer your question. I will repeat same as Wolf did. If people keep making it unconformable on here to post/contribute anything on here than this report page is completely useless. That also goes for sending offline messages.
The winter and spring fishing was excellent, and I found it better than most years. Early May and to June where very good as well, but a little depressing as we had to release some fish based on slot limits. It went slower about mid June. (it has done this before in my logbook). Big ebb currents and a lot of days that were ideal for fishing were in the afternoon. Problem is there has been a lot more wind last few weeks than I usually see in that time frame. We also have less boats. On weekdays like Wolf said we see a lot less boat traffic so you get less reports.
I am out right now out as much as three to four times a week. I also don't hang me gear up I fish this place year round. Obviously don't go out daily as much as guides, but I also don't just fish weekends. There are fish out there, but I didn't say it is lights out. But I also say it is not impossible to find fish right now.
The last three days people should have noticed we are getting a lot of immature feeders. A lot of these are hatchery fish. That seems a little strange, but it's not uncommon. Yesterday we fished Trap first light down to the Head. We boated one BBQ hatchery fish, and saw maybe one other fish caught about 10 minutes after ours got caught. It was slow, but we must have release 15 to 20 small fish. I did stop at Aldridge on way back about hour before that report, and we saw tons of bait on sounder but didn't want to stay. I am not surprised it went off there. It was the ideal current change at that time, and when I came in no one was fishing it at all.
I have changed my fishing ways this year all I can say. I am not scared to go deeper than normal, and sometimes away offshore. Sometimes that pays off. In a nutshell I would say we are just a little below par than last year. But keep in mind we have no pinks this year, and people mad about slot restrictions. I would say in another week or so it will pick up, and you will also see more people on the water.
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advTHXance
Well-Known Member
First off, I wasnt directing my entire post at you SV, just the question at the end. Sorry if I made it seem like I was singling you out. It was just a general response to the conversation at the time, with a question for you (an angler whos had enough success this year to feel like the fishing has been at least "okay") tacked on at the end. None of my rambling in the first couple of paragraphs was meant directly for or at you, so sorry for the confusion about that!
It also wasnt my intent to "make things uncomfortable" by asking about your personal fishing experiences. Its just that many better fisherman than myself have found fishing to be slow this year, and it seems to be the popular opinion among almost all anglers, so thats why I asked how youve found the fishing this year, not to antagonize you, but because its only fair to look at both sides of the coin. I think that anybody who posts an opinion here or shares an experience is contributing to the discussion whether I personally agree with them or not. Most of the things we discuss on here arent cut-and-dry issues with a simple yes or no answer! So with that all said, I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts and your experiences on the matters at hand and Im glad youve had decent success fishing this year! I also hope youre right when you say that the fishing will pick up soon. After all, thats what we're all here for.
With all that out of the way - and feel free to call me crazy - but maybe a stinker of a year in terms of the chinook fishery is exactly whats needed. Our current methods of "management" are far from sustainable, and we never seem to learn our lesson. Just harvest a resource until its depleted and/or extinct and move on to the next one.
It also wasnt my intent to "make things uncomfortable" by asking about your personal fishing experiences. Its just that many better fisherman than myself have found fishing to be slow this year, and it seems to be the popular opinion among almost all anglers, so thats why I asked how youve found the fishing this year, not to antagonize you, but because its only fair to look at both sides of the coin. I think that anybody who posts an opinion here or shares an experience is contributing to the discussion whether I personally agree with them or not. Most of the things we discuss on here arent cut-and-dry issues with a simple yes or no answer! So with that all said, I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts and your experiences on the matters at hand and Im glad youve had decent success fishing this year! I also hope youre right when you say that the fishing will pick up soon. After all, thats what we're all here for.
With all that out of the way - and feel free to call me crazy - but maybe a stinker of a year in terms of the chinook fishery is exactly whats needed. Our current methods of "management" are far from sustainable, and we never seem to learn our lesson. Just harvest a resource until its depleted and/or extinct and move on to the next one.
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
and Ive also never sent anyone a message harassing them about their fishing reports either - not sure where that came from :S
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
No I changed my post it wasn't directed at you but in general. Back to reports.
wolf
Well-Known Member
Basically i have gotten Emails and some phantom texts from a certain phone number saying **** about things i do ....Im not saying who it is cause this form of harassment is childish and frankly I really dont CARE... grow up or meet me at the dock after my trip ... and talk to me in person.....if you have a beef.....whats the difference between and asshole and an opinion?????everyone has one!!!!!!!
Im so done with all of this so im signing off for a bit ., enjoy fishing and take a kid and show him/her the "VALUES" of our sport....
must add lots of boats yesterday today a ghost town maybe 15 boats out no one is fishing so once again HOW are we taking SSOOOO many upper fraser fish when hardly anyone out there enjoying what we have ....
Good luck Wolf
Im so done with all of this so im signing off for a bit ., enjoy fishing and take a kid and show him/her the "VALUES" of our sport....
must add lots of boats yesterday today a ghost town maybe 15 boats out no one is fishing so once again HOW are we taking SSOOOO many upper fraser fish when hardly anyone out there enjoying what we have ....
Good luck Wolf
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Robert Robinson
New Member
advTHXance
Well-Known Member
Well thats certainly crossing the line, wolf! Sorry to hear youve had to deal with bs like that, but dont let antics like that get to you. Youve been a valuable resource to this forum and its members countless times in the few years ive been reading this site, and it would be a shame to lose that!
MadJigga
Well-Known Member
Well, looking forward to your return.
TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
X2
Hope you don't stay away for too long Wolf. Lots of guys appreciate everything you contribute. Those guys that have been harassing you are way out of line. Everyone has different opinions, but there is no excuse for taking things to a level of personal attacks or harassment.
I hope to see you posting again soon. All the best
Beauty day on the water with glassy calm water. Released 3 nice sockeye for the net crew to take and 6-7 16 inch Springs. Luckily the guys were having fun and wanted to fish an hour overtime. 15 minutes later we finally hit a 18 pound hatch at 3rd rock. The only fish we seen taken all morning. Heard of a couple taken further west and one other at Otter that was lost. A bit of a grind but still a nice day to be on the water.
