2017 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Reports

[Ned]

Just spent 5 days at Nootka. Critter Cove was a great place to stay.....again.

Started slow with little action Tues/Wed. We heard Ferrer was doing well so we headed there on Thursday. Landed two quickly, but then it slowed down. Both around 17#, one caught on a chrome plug (27') and the other on anchovy 25'. Picked up 6 ling and a 25# halibut heading back.

Friday off to Beano Creek. Caught two springs in the morning. Both on anchovy. Then went off to the Bajo, picked up 6 ling and a 68# hali while jigging in 48' of water.

Saturday we headed home, but not after trying Maquinna Point. We caught six spring in short order (28# was the biggest, most in the low twenties) on anchovy and white turd, 19-25'.

Look forward to the next trip.

 

[big rock]

Xavier and Savy

Thx for the email address. I just sent of my date request.

Cheers scott.

 

[savy]

Xavier and Savy

Thx for the email address. I just sent of my date request.

Cheers scott.

you are welcome

 

[Cmiles]

Well done Ned can't wait til that August trip with yah

 

[BigBoat]

Just spent 5 days at Nootka. Critter Cove was a great place to stay.....again.

Started slow with little action Tues/Wed. We heard Ferrer was doing well so we headed there on Thursday. Landed two quickly, but then it slowed down. Both around 17#, one caught on a chrome plug (27') and the other on anchovy 25'. Picked up 6 ling and a 25# halibut heading back.

Friday off to Beano Creek. Caught two springs in the morning. Both on anchovy. Then went off to the Bajo, picked up 6 ling and a 68# hali while jigging in 48' of water.

Saturday we headed home, but not after trying Maquinna Point. We caught six spring in short order (28# was the biggest, most in the low twenties) on anchovy and white turd, 19-25'.

Look forward to the next trip.

If one wanted to find a white turd in a tackle shop what would one look for?

 

[General Clark]

Headed up on the 27th for 10 days to slay some fish! Caught my biggest ling ever, 40lbs last year (released) and hoping to break that record.

 

[Wiltse]

just got back from Nootka today. went out wednesday, threw traps out and headed to Bajo and started the trip with 3 nice springs on the afternoon slack tide, also got 2 nice lings. water was very nice outside, a few fish around but had to fish close to the kelp to get them. Anchovies with army truck heads behind purple or green flashers worked the best. went in and got 4 keeper crabs after a short set. fished the night bite around camel rock and picked up one more spring again on an anchovy. went back out to Bajo thursday morning, found salmon fishing slow but picked up 1 more spring, lost 2 near the boat. Got a few more lings and tried for some halis for a while with no luck. fished burdwood on the way in and got another spring after pulling a boat off the beach that was calling in a mayday. came in to pull prawn traps and got around 200, got more crabs and tried the night bite again but we didnt boat anymore springs although we lost 2 at the wall. Friday we went back outside, hit some lings, fished the tide change and picked up another spring mid 20s. Went and finished our limit on lings and then limited out on yelloweye and we tried for halis unsuccessfully again. Went in and again lost 2 on the nite bite inside by the wall. prawns and crabs for dinner again. This morning (sat) it was raining and we fished around camel, 3 bay and the wall and we put 3 nice springs in the boat and lost a couple more. i think a few runs are in because some fish were darker and some were very bright and colorful like the fish from bajo. again fishing anchovies hugging the rocks and fishing 35-45ft on the inside. overall a trip with 4 guys for 4 days we ended up with 10 springs, 15 lings, 4 snapper and 4 rock rish. We lost a lot of fish so considering the fishing is so slow it was an awesome trip. be back out in 2 weeks for another turn.

Hi Mervillite,
Heading to Nootka next week and would like to fish prawns. Where you on the inside? Depth?

 

[Waveslayer]

Good day to all I been fishing for the past 3 week and coming back Tuesday for another 3 weeks and I have been doing very well fishing for salmon but I am fishing always outside because I know there is not many fish inside yet.
I have been getting my limit of salmon and even release some small one everyday I go out there so my word of advice to you guys is start thinking out of the box like spring fever said don't go were you use to fish before (I hear this everyday on the VHF ho you remember were I got my big fish 5 year ago well I am going back there now) I have been fishing nootka for about 7 years now and spend about 6 week there every year I keep quiet most of the time but I feel I have to speak my mind here rule #1 I do not chase caught fish if one person got a 1 or 2 fish in the boat I don't move from were I am done it in the past and by the time you get there the bit is off and came on were you left off. So instead of keep on moving around spend time were you are and scout around. I watch people going by me and they watch my customer playing a double header they go by and catch a fish play it and than leave the area. rule #2 when I catch a fish I check the depth right away before I even land the fish since on some fish you can move around a lots and some area it the depth change very fast. Than after boating the fish I got back to the same depth and follow the contour and go up and down a way and also check for bait fish if you see bait on that ledge stay there you will get the fish if you don't see bait than change depth follow next ledge where feed is. don't be shy of fishing were the bait is could be 90 ft. or could be 200ft. I do not use bait on the outside only hoochies and spoon so this way I can go a bit faster trolling than you will cover more area. also when scouting check GPS and structure under neat you like hill stuff that would hold around bait and fish at certain depth line. if so spend more time there and go around it fish could be anywhere also paid attention to tide current back side of the tide is usually better but not all the time I been fool by them before. And if you really did not get fish in that area but you know you did check it out fully. than next day do the same thing in a different area. You all hear stick it out and make it paid. I promise you guy you spend the time to search around with strategy in mind and really check around what you have around under neat your boat you will succeed and 99.5% of the time when you find the fish you will find them again the next day or they will not be very far (check ledge up or down) from were you got the fish the day before. I found myself fishing 99 % of the time by myself in area eg: people fish Bajo reef and most stay by the red can and don't move around much well I can see you guy from were I am fishing and can see that not many net are moving around well check outside you guy and if you see net moving around on the outside well it may be worth to go check it out or at least keep a eye on that boat and see if the net is moving around some more while you are doing nothing were you are. At time we all got to back to basic and start scouting guys there is many fish out there. To be honest I took my name of my boat because people were following me everywhere I when and lost many fish on people gear going to close to me while my customer were playing fish. I am on VHF 06 out there and scan many channel also so I hear all you guy out there. If you want a personal chat with me just call me and we can meet later after fishing.
hope it help you guy and bring your spirit up for future fishing trip. I know I enjoy fishing so much that I cannot sleep the night before going fishing even if I go everyday since my mind tell me well maybe I should of try one more thing out that could work even better smile. hard to shut down a fisherman brain out smile

have a good one and good luck guys

savy

Great Post Savy! You nailed it can't wait to see you and Paul out there next week! Tight lines brother
Steve

 

[greenhornet]

Hey Steve
How are you man we are pumped Savy going tomorrow and I leave wed when you going again ?? Hope you had a good time up in pended bro see you up there

 

[Ned]

If one wanted to find a white turd in a tackle shop what would one look for?

A turd is like a hoothie on steroids. Here is a photo of a white one.

 

[BigBoat]

A turd is like a hoothie on steroids. Here is a photo of a white one.

Thanks for the picture, Ned. Looks like it has a solid body. All of my hootchies are hollow. I would like to give this one a try at Port Renfrew next week.

 

[greenhornet]

Hi Big Boat
You can go to pacific net and twine and ask for the turd they show you them and beside them are other colours.Ive fished them for over 15 years there a super great west coast killer !!! Buy the brown and the uv blue you won't be disappointed fish love them, including halibut when fished on the bottom..good luck

Tight Lines
Billydoo

 

[BigBoat]

Hi Big Boat
You can go to pacific net and twine and ask for the turd they show you them and beside them are other colours.Ive fished them for over 15 years there a super great west coast killer !!! Buy the brown and the uv blue you won't be disappointed fish love them, including halibut when fished on the bottom..good luck

Tight Lines
Billydoo

Thanks Billydoo for the good tips. Hope I can post some pictures of success at the end of the month.

 

[scobo]

Headed up to Moucha Bay Resort with my wife and 9 and 11 year old boys this year for the first time (Aug 19-22). I fish a bunch around Vancouver area and usually head to Winter Harbour with the buddies but the guilt trip hit hard this year because the kids just love to fish and have done pretty well this year for lings and definitely got the itch. Nootka because and i heard the water is fishable pretty much every day with good spring action. My mission is to get my wife and kids into some decent action and two of them their first springs. Don't need monsters, just some decent action. So far I have picked up to scout out Camel rocks and Hoiss. I suppose what i am looking for here is some feedback as to my timing and where i should consider targeting at the get go so i at least have a slight lead out of the gate. Also, any tips for inshore starting points would be awesome too (of course pm only as i know how precious these can be!). Any feedback is appreciated and i certainly will be sure to post how we did and if you are going to be there with some kids in the 9-11ish range we should hook up!...or next year ask me what i know after my first 4 days....Cheers!

 

[scobo]

just a little tip on the turd too....get a blue flashing light and insert it in the hoochie....we fished one with and one without...the light was 2:1. we called it blinky. i found the blue light from the tackle shop in port coquitlam. Berry's might have them too but has to be a blue light we found (they make white, red, green, blue). I couldn't figure this out until i watched a geographic show where they netted squid at night and damn be if they didn't blink blue...match the hatch.

 

[Nasty017]

Hard to miss the usual spots. Make your down the inlet and you'll see everyone on both sides with lines down. Hoiss and San Carlos were the tickets last year, even if short lived. You'll have a blast.

Headed up to Moucha Bay Resort with my wife and 9 and 11 year old boys this year for the first time (Aug 19-22). I fish a bunch around Vancouver area and usually head to Winter Harbour with the buddies but the guilt trip hit hard this year because the kids just love to fish and have done pretty well this year for lings and definitely got the itch. Nootka because and i heard the water is fishable pretty much every day with good spring action. My mission is to get my wife and kids into some decent action and two of them their first springs. Don't need monsters, just some decent action. So far I have picked up to scout out Camel rocks and Hoiss. I suppose what i am looking for here is some feedback as to my timing and where i should consider targeting at the get go so i at least have a slight lead out of the gate. Also, any tips for inshore starting points would be awesome too (of course pm only as i know how precious these can be!). Any feedback is appreciated and i certainly will be sure to post how we did and if you are going to be there with some kids in the 9-11ish range we should hook up!...or next year ask me what i know after my first 4 days....Cheers!

 

[BigBoat]

just a little tip on the turd too....get a blue flashing light and insert it in the hoochie....we fished one with and one without...the light was 2:1. we called it blinky. i found the blue light from the tackle shop in port coquitlam. Berry's might have them too but has to be a blue light we found (they make white, red, green, blue). I couldn't figure this out until i watched a geographic show where they netted squid at night and damn be if they didn't blink blue...match the hatch.

I like it. I have used light sticks in the larger rubber squid for halibut, but this sounds worth a try particularly if deep trolling. Have any of you tried the E-chip on the flasher? I tried it for the first time the other day and didn't see much difference from the regular flasher. Of course, when the fishing is crappy I doubt that the E-chip is going to fix it.

 

[Waveslayer]

Hey Steve
How are you man we are pumped Savy going tomorrow and I leave wed when you going again ?? Hope you had a good time up in pended bro see you up there

Hey bud! I'll be up with Colby and the boys on Friday. So will be inside Friday night.. I can't wait.. I'll call you on 06 when I'm on the water bro.

 

[NootkaSounder]

Just got to Tuta Marina today, went fishing looks like the fish are on the inside went for an evening fish and picked up a 24 1/2# and a 15. Picked them up just around the corner from Tuta Marina.

If anyone is looking at coming up, shoot me a private PM. I am figuring out the computer situation for them now.

 

[bones]

If one wanted to find a white turd in a tackle shop what would one look for?

I have never seen a white turd..... The color brown does come mind.