Nootka sound / Esperanza reports Spring/Summer 2013

[Drewski Canuck]

Bigger question is whether there will be a commercial opening. Last year was a poor year, yet there was over 100 gill netters set up after the August Long. They caught about 2000 fish in their 24 hour set. Imagine the damage if the run is in.

As far as it goes, the 15th will be good if there is no big week of rain, otherwise the fish will shoot up the rivers.

We will be at Moutcha Bay in a Campion 215 Fishing machine, "De Fish N Sea", starting Saturday for a week. Anyone on the Board there, drop over and say hi to Drew, Big Dave and Little Dave. I will let you figure out which Dave is which.

Drewski

 

[tidal shot]

Bigger question is whether there will be a commercial opening. Last year was a poor year, yet there was over 100 gill netters set up after the August Long. They caught about 2000 fish in their 24 hour set. Imagine the damage if the run is in.

As far as it goes, the 15th will be good if there is no big week of rain, otherwise the fish will shoot up the rivers.

We will be at Moutcha Bay in a Campion 215 Fishing machine, "De Fish N Sea", starting Saturday for a week. Anyone on the Board there, drop over and say hi to Drew, Big Dave and Little Dave. I will let you figure out which Dave is which.

Drewski

We will be staying there on the 15th-20th, let me know how it is. Never been there before.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Great report SK01 , what size were your Coyote spoons ? How deep were you fishing

We were fishing 36 but should have tried 60-90 later in the afternoon inside as some guys were and had great luck, must have been 3 inch coyote spoons.

 

[AJS]

Great fishing in Nootka

Fished Nootka Sound starting Friday, July 26th and finished up on Monday, July 29th. There are lots of boats fishing the sound now so we tried to find places where the fish were and the people weren't. We had great success fishing San Carlos Pt and that side of Bligh Island every single day. We only used one rig the whole trip, red flasher with a white hootchie or white glow green splatterback hootchie. Most of our fish in the first two days were 15-22 lbs and then the final two days most fish were 22 - 30 lbs. Here are a couple pictures for y'all, we got our limits without any problems and even picked up a few coho at San Carlos Pt. All of our fishing was very shallow. Terrible fishing for prawns though... where are some good prawning spots? If any? Next year i think i'll leave the prawn traps at home.

Cheers,
Angler Jim

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[JustFishing]

any new reports on the inside? heading out there wednesday..

 

[codfather]

jffisher, there are lots of fish on the inside. Any of the usual spots are holding fish. The morning bites have been the best. I've been offshore ever day and catching limits at the reef. There has been no wind for a week now but it's building a bit now.

 

[JustFishing]

Awesome thanks

 

[Klob]

Hey Mike: I'm heading over on the 15th, staying at Critter. Come by for a beers. 24' Wellcraft, "Plan-B"
Brian

jffisher, there are lots of fish on the inside. Any of the usual spots are holding fish. The morning bites have been the best. I've been offshore ever day and catching limits at the reef. There has been no wind for a week now but it's building a bit now.

 

[Roofus]

Friend of mine just came back from there not sure what he was using but he had 16 springs all over twenty pounds in a cooler from 3 days fishing

 

[splittail]

Just booked our free fishing trip in August to Moutcha that I won from the Campbell River Eagle radio station - 2 nights accomodation and 2 days boat rental with $100 gift certificate to spend at Conuma Grill I don't think I have had to pay for any fishing trip for a few years now due to this incessant need to win fishing trip contests.

Looking forward to the reports from now on!

 

[saanauk]

Just got back. Fished two mornings on the inside at Nootka got 9 fish all in the teens. Not lights out but was decent. Lots of big fish being caught off shore. Had the wife and 3 year old daughter so stayed inside. Quite the gong show at the Gold River boat launch. Sorry if I pissed off anyone from here but my truck and trailer came from Tahsis so I didn't need to drop someone off at the dock. Passed 5 boats in line to motor onto my trailer that was in the middle of the ramp not blocking anyone. Only took 3 minutes to idle onto the trailer, hook the boat, and then three cranks. Had people yelling at me to wait my turn but I did not affect anyone and didn't have to wait an hour to get my boat out. Sorry if I am used to ramps that lack docks. Every time I use the Gold River launch in August I say to myself I will never do it again.

 

[knucklebuster11]

hi saanauk

i always load up in the middle i dont know why people dont makes no sense .that is the worst ramp on the coast for boaters loading ang unloading dont know why great ramp

 

[wet spot]

Great Nootka Trip

Just back from 6 days in Nootka. Had my limit early so went into catch and release mode and experimented with all the gear in my tackle box. On Bajo everything was working but hard to keep the coho off - the ratio of wild to hatchery fish was 12 to 1 so very hard to find keepers....eventually I went to large plugs (#500 and purple haze) and large spoons(greeny yellows or blues trolled fast) to keep coho off and was quite successful. On the inside all the usual spots were productive but particularly enjoyed the corner where Hoiss and Tahsis inlet merge near Canal Island in the late afternoon sunshine - translucent white needlefish hootchey and a green-yellow chrome teaser worked for me - my biggest fish was 32lbs caught at 7pm just west of camel....best trip to Nootka so far!

 

[pescador]

Great reports. I'm up this Sunday for 6 days. Sounds like we'll hit some fish. Agreed on the GR launch. I find it's a bit of a battle ground. The people that run it are nice, however, it could use some improvements. Not sure about anyone else, but, I always find loading onto my trailer is a challenege given the steep angle of the ramp. The rear is floating and front contacting front bunks.

 

[Drewski Canuck]

Just got back as well. If someone is going, try going as hard as you can before the release clips will pop, then stall and let them fall. Fished 80 feet, limited very quickly once we started this gun and stall tactic. Absolutely deadly. Fish are not very big, but lots, so still good.

Had motor trouble so we were not willing to go outside for coho, but still a good trip.

Drewski

 

[IslandFisher]

Any reports today? Heading up in the morning...

 

[Salmonface]

Was up for the weekend. Solo trip with my daughter. Lost more than landed but amazing weather and action. Biggest was 23 and lost another that looked to be in the mid twenties. All action for me was on chovies. Not one hit on spoons, hoochies or gear of any kind and I worked that hard. Biggest observation was that you need to have the lines in by 5:30 am as the bite is truly a first light bite. Most boats had easy limits by 7 am but again they were out early. I was on the water by 7 but in hindsight was getting the tail end of the bite. As said, I lost several ...... Well 5 fish in two days. Had them to the boat and the hooks slipped. Was using a single barbless treble on my choive rig...... Any suggestions welcomed to help improve success ratio. Should I be adding a stinger? Cheers.

 

[Fish Nutz]

Got back on Saturday after a 4 day stint. Easy limits were had by our group of 9. None of us fished that hard or were out for the super early morning bite. Had good luck at all the hot spots, the wall, San Carlos, Hoiss. Biggest was 27 with the majority being in the 15 lb range. Probably half and half on rubber and meat at all the usual depths. Some fish starting to darken up but still super scrappy!

Cheers

 

[Bifmalibu]

Fished 3 days at Nootka. Got up late and got fish at the tide changes. Most productive spoon was the . Most fish were in the teens. Fished the San Carlos, Camel Rock area mostly.

 

[JustFishing]

Came back yesterday from cougar creek,

Bite every morning was real early 5-630. We managed 14 Springs, Most fish are 15-20 lbs.

Mostly fished Hoiss.

JF