2023 Victoria and Oak Bay Reports

[Hot-Streak]

Went out on a friend's grady today looking forward to a nice, sunny pleasant, relaxing time at anchor.... but like many nights at home I was teased but let down.

Sat through several hours of rocking side-to-side, white caps, waves, wind thinking "where the heck is my fish?!?".

Saw a few boats pull up and leave around 11... even had the boat near us pull up and come by and ask us if we got anything we told them "no bites so far" and they headed off to try a new spot...... literally 5 minutes just after they left we got our hali (a chicken).

another bite came on about 10 min later and turned out to be skate. after rolling around in the waves some more we called it quits.

Glad we landed a Hali but I was honestly questioning why I was out there today....

 

[Stizzla]

You enjoy the hard meat do you lol

And you definitely like feeding on the bottom.

 

[Bottomfeeder1]

Out with Sam 7 yesterday. Beautiful day on the water !!! Barely any current where we were ( mud hole ). Like it a little faster !!!! Can’t No love for us just 2 dogs and a black cod !!! No fish but a great day to be on the water with a good buddy!! Didn’t see any fish boated and very quiet at the dock ! Can’t wait to get out again with the old Sniff’r. !!!!

 

[eroyd]

Out of Cattle point late Sunday morning. Did one unsuccessful drift for halibut out in Haro but the wind picked up so headed for more sheltered waters. Tough finding any amounts of bait anywhere I jigged. A few quill backs and then some 'so close' lings slow trolling one of those rubber tailed thingies, until it got it's tail bitten off. Only one legal D crab, several females and rock crabs. Kept nothing.

 

[MikeyL]

Started at 8:30am on Sunday. Was a bit rough getting out to my spot so decided to move in from the wind closer to William head in the foul area. Ended up with two Hali's(#15 and #35) and finished by 10:30. Both caught on large 8" herring. i think key is to not load up the hook with bait and keeping it simple. 2 Traps were dropped at saxe and had 6 large dungies. Great day on the water and it was near flat on the way back in.

 

[fishinforever]

went out at 545 this eve and hid from the wind for an hour, got into a decent bite and went 1-4 on springs. Killed a 10# hatch for dinner.

 

[Rayvon]

Tried jigging in Oak Bay on the flood today.Great weather for a change and there were fish there but tight lipped.We only hooked 2 about 8-10Lbs. in 4 hours.There seemed to be more small herring than needlefish on bottom.

 

[Rayvon]

Had another double today,a 120Cm./43 lb. halibut that I kept and about a 20 lb. still swimmin.Out solo again ,way too much work with at least 14 dogfish to the boat sometimes 2 at a time.

 

[scott craven]

Had another double today,a 120Cm./43 lb. halibut that I kept and about a 20 lb. still swimmin.Out solo again ,way too much work with at least 14 dogfish to the boat sometimes 2 at a time.

Must have been a little soggy out there ?

 

[Rayvon]

Must have been a little soggy out there ?

Yup,I almost came in early ,water was fine but that many dogfish on your own is a ton of work in a downpour.

 

[MRW]

Out yesterday mud hole area 290’. Lots of dogfish, a small Hali, and a sablefish released. Dropped traps in parry bay and only one keeper, full of females and undersized. Looks like the commercial guys are in full swing out there. Still great to get out.

 

[eroyd]

Out there early this morning doing a circuit jigging several spots around Oak Bay. Lots of small lings and a couple of bigger ones that let go half way up. No salmon and very little bait to be found. Is it just my timing or is OB not as good as usual this year?

 

[scott craven]

I would say spotty describes it.
there wasn't as many sizable marked fish to be found.

 

[Randy M]

Out there early this morning doing a circuit jigging several spots around Oak Bay. Lots of small lings and a couple of bigger ones that let go half way up. No salmon and very little bait to be found. Is it just my timing or is OB not as good as usual this year?

 

[Randy M]

Went early sunday am for ling cod. tried several spots with no luck. decided to troll for a salmon and hooked a good sized hatchery spring which I released at the side of the boat. Was fishing for less than an hour on the OB flats in about 80 feet of water.

 

[Sam7]

0-3

Out with Bottomfeeder and this time he brought his daughter who was a great sport., launched at 5:30 dropped the crab trap, setup & fishing for hali at 6:15. Long day with no action except for the 1 dog, and 1 small nibble with no bait on the hook when it was brought up. Packed it in at just after 2:00.

went and grabbed the crab trap off Saxx point, …….nothing but a 3’” rock crab , and the bait was barely touched

when she rains she pours

tomorrow is another day

 

[Rayvon]

They usually show up after Sidney turns on ,which it has.Depends on the bait showing up,last year was poor for me jigging.

Out there early this morning doing a circuit jigging several spots around Oak Bay. Lots of small lings and a couple of bigger ones that let go half way up. No salmon and very little bait to be found. Is it just my timing or is OB not as good as usual this year?

 

[MariosCy]

Went out to my honey-hole out at the mudflats was their at 6 few doggies up until 1 and the. 130 double header both landed #37 and #26

 

[ap1]

Went out first light to the fingers yesterday to anchor for hali. Beautiful morning, until the googs started showing up. One fella anchored 200' from me and the other... well check the photo- maybe 100' at times? Incredible. I run a 600' anchor setup- what if they run a 400' and we swing at different rates? I gave vocal warnings and from there about all I could do was throw the hands up and shake my head. Sandwiched in between two boats. Gave up and pulled anchor shortly after.

The beauty about Victoria is that there are many great hali spots. We don't need to be risking boats, gear, expensive anchor setups and frustration out there because someone is on the 'preferred' spot. Sad to see such a lack of courtesy and etiquette. On those really busy days where there's boats everywhere, I would at least try to be around double anchors length away from another vessel to throw the pic. What should the general rule be though?

 

[kaelc]

I’ve yelled at guys anchored close but only had an American drifting in front of us say “anything to get snagged on down there?” “Yeah my anchor” he had a nice spreader bar combo.

Once anchored the swing shouldn’t be a problem but I’ve been just as annoyed as you.