Sooke 2013 Fishing Reports

[mikeyman]

Trip to Sooke from mainland Monday-Friday:
Day 1: arrived to much wind to get out for late bite.
Day 2: Wind blowing hard all day spent day in town and pot holes.
Day 3: Finally out, fished otter bite was on, limited out on hatch coho and caught a 25lb spring and released.
Day 4: Got out released lots of wild coho, one spring about 16 lbs, lost 2 other screamers. Gave buddy tow back in after his outboard wouldn't start, he would have ended up past beachy head if not, felt good to help out. He pitched in 50 for gas was nice of him. Thank you. Just to say don't leave anyone out stranded if the bite is on. Have watched it happen, fish isn't worth that much, I am sure we have all been there one time or another.
Day 5: one screamer lost, then non stop double header action, limits, wow! Couldn't even set 2 lines one down fish on clip in fish hits on the surface!
Awsome trip wish I didn't have to come back to the mainland, Island life is so laid back!

 

[Englishman]

Trip to Sooke from mainland Monday-Friday:
Day 1: arrived to much wind to get out for late bite.
Day 2: Wind blowing hard all day spent day in town and pot holes.
Day 3: Finally out, fished otter bite was on, limited out on hatch coho and caught a 25lb spring and released.
Day 4: Got out released lots of wild coho, one spring about 16 lbs, lost 2 other screamers. Gave buddy tow back in after his outboard wouldn't start, he would have ended up past beachy head if not, felt good to help out. He pitched in 50 for gas was nice of him. Thank you. Just to say don't leave anyone out stranded if the bite is on. Have watched it happen, fish isn't worth that much, I am sure we have all been there one time or another.
Day 5: one screamer lost, then non stop double header action, limits, wow! Couldn't even set 2 lines one down fish on clip in fish hits on the surface!
Awsome trip wish I didn't have to come back to the mainland, Island life is so laid back!

Sounds like a great trip to Sooke, Mikeyman. Fishing sure is awesome right now. We lived 24 years in Lower Mainland - boatless except for canoes and dinghies. Families are expensive!! LOL Retired out here in Sooke now (with boat!), so your turn will come one day.

And good on you for towing your buddy in (when the bite was on, no less LOL). May the fish gods always smile on you.....

 

[jaymasta]

Out again today, 7:30-10:00am 7 coho 5 released 2 hatch kept, got a little choppy out there in my small boat so had to call it a day early. Lots of fish being caught again

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Today was just one of those days for us. Yikes. Got out there at 7 and it was Lumpy! Started trolling in a zig zag with the tide down to the trap catching countless fish. But its just to lumpy by now. Not very comfy for fly rods even in a 20' boat. So we pulled the gear and decided to run back to Beecher and get out of the lump fishing in tight for springs. Well I power up and start to adjust the trim tabs to acount for some on the lump when all the sudden out of nowhere the boat dives deep to the left and dumps the bow into the next wave. Holy F%^& im thinking. I pull up on the throttle and waited for the next wave to throttle up. I increase power and begin to go again and then I hear a clunking tapping noise. UH-OH. Bring the boat down to an Idle and throw on the rubber boots I have stored in the cuddy, Climb on the pod. Yup Effin Trim tab hanging by the bracket. Climb back in and after a few curse words slowly made our way in.

But thats not all! Half way back started to loose the response in our steering. I Appologize to anyone I may have motored close to off the head around 10:30. Steering was giving me grief and was just trying not to hit anyone. Trying to limp home is no fun. The thought of needing a tow in those conditions would have sucked!

Now to fix this danm trim tab.

-Oh yeah fish were everywhere But never landed a hatch all morning.

-KK

 

[fish stalker]

holy **** it was lumpy off the head. We were in some nasty ****. I need a bigger boat! That sounds scary KK.

What a wild coho slaughterfest. We caught over 12 with some big beautys and ended up with 2 nice hatcherys, no springs, boo. But got back to the dock and every single person had tubs, I didnt see one clipped fish. Im starting to think theres not alot of ethical fisherman other then a select few. People netting baby coho all over the place, what a **** show.

 

[jaymasta]

I saw the same thing FS, at cheanu marina, we were back before 11:00 and were the only people there, a boat pulled up as we were finishing up at the cleaning station, 2 guys on the boat each have clear plastic bags in each hand with 2-4 fish in each bag. I didn't pay much attention as I mind my own business for the most part, but my wife hung around the cleaning station a little bit longer and caught a glimpse and said of all the fish she saw she could see the adipose fin on most of them. To bad. Unless they dropped 2-3 guys off and had permission to clean there fish they were probably double or triple over there limit and probably most of them were illegal to keep as well.

 

[Rum Buddies]

a lot of guys will bonk coho and sockeye during pink years, many can't tell the difference.

 

[jaymasta]

Yep I am sure I have unknowingly done it myself, I even posted up here for the best ways to tell the difference between the big 3 being caught out in sooke right now, as in the past I net the fish and try to determine the kind based in the fishing guide the government puts out often reading each description. Many times the fish has gone through a lot more then it needed to if I am releasing it. I think I have got the coho, spring thing down pretty good. Based on the teeth and colour of gums.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Went for an afternoon fish today from 1130 -330 at otter. Released 15 wild coho, all on a single hook and all released beside the boat and swam off like lightening. Saw boats bonking dozens of fish, have a hard time believing they were hatch. Released 3 smallish springs and kept 1 mid teener. Out of the 16 coho only one was a hatch but it was a beauty, I couldn't believe it was a hatchery fish until it was at the boat, crazy fighter. So go pick up traps with 6 keeper male dungees out of the 12 or so. Get back to the dock and guy is just finishing filleting fish. I notice last two wild coho carcasses going to seals. I say "hey, you know you can't keep wild coho" , he says "I know". I count fillets and say " did you keep 8 fish?" He says "6 pinks and 1 hatch coho" , I reply "not from what I saw"and he buggers off. Anyway maybe I'm an as$h013 but for Christ sakes! Dude was in a tinny, no numbers no name nothing. Didn't wreck my day or anything and I saw people releasing fish but saw lots netting coho then looking at them for a few minutes then out comes the lumber.

 

[profisher]

Time for DFO to send out the guys on the weekends for some surprise visits.

 

[Deewar25]

the stupid thing out of all of this...the DFO says they have to cutback staff as they can't afford it - too bad they can't do math and hire 4 guys, station them at 4 main Sooke launches for a weekend, and the fines would pay for ALL their salaries for a year! DFO, u are reading this right? Wake up - either open coho to 2 any kind and you are done, or get out here and manage your moronic restrictions!

Hell, if they were in plain clothes, a weekends work would pay the salary of 10 guys probably.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

I sure hope so Rollie, got any friends a bird can whisper in their ear?

 

[JustFishing]

Went for an afternoon fish today from 1130 -330 at otter. Released 15 wild coho, all on a single hook and all released beside the boat and swam off like lightening. Saw boats bonking dozens of fish, have a hard time believing they were hatch. Released 3 smallish springs and kept 1 mid teener. Out of the 16 coho only one was a hatch but it was a beauty, I couldn't believe it was a hatchery fish until it was at the boat, crazy fighter. So go pick up traps with 6 keeper male dungees out of the 12 or so. Get back to the dock and guy is just finishing filleting fish. I notice last two wild coho carcasses going to seals. I say "hey, you know you can't keep wild coho" , he says "I know". I count fillets and say " did you keep 8 fish?" He says "6 pinks and 1 hatch coho" , I reply "not from what I saw"and he buggers off. Anyway maybe I'm an as$h013 but for Christ sakes! Dude was in a tinny, no numbers no name nothing. Didn't wreck my day or anything and I saw people releasing fish but saw lots netting coho then looking at them for a few minutes then out comes the lumber.

I was out friday for a couple hours and i thought the same thing.

We probably had about 25 fish to the boat we only netted clipped fish. We were lucky we actually got 4 hatchery cohos. We then started getting pinks, kept 3 of those. Saw a guy at the cleaning table with 12-16 fish and he said they were all cohos i didn't check to see if they were clipped but have a hard time believing they could of been. Also saw alot of boats taking out the nets every hit they got... I don't know how experienced some people are out there but its easy to know if you have a coho on and with a little more care maybe people would bring it near the boat and check if the adipose fin is clipped. I don't usually rant but with all the stuff im hearing on this forum maybe next time i will check at the cleaning table and call people out, doesn't bother me, then at least the " i didn't know about the regs excuse is out".

But yeah, fishing is great be safe out there lots of boats on the water.

cheers.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Ya jff me and the boy fished otter on Friday too. At times it was bedlam. We did end up with 4 hatch pretty early on but we released a pile of wilds. No chinooks though..... Hit sherringham hard too. Was hoping for a tyee repeat of previous week

 

[rook 2]

Went for an afternoon fish today from 1130 -330 at otter. Released 15 wild coho, all on a single hook and all released beside the boat and swam off like lightening. Saw boats bonking dozens of fish, have a hard time believing they were hatch. Released 3 smallish springs and kept 1 mid teener. Out of the 16 coho only one was a hatch but it was a beauty, I couldn't believe it was a hatchery fish until it was at the boat, crazy fighter. So go pick up traps with 6 keeper male dungees out of the 12 or so. Get back to the dock and guy is just finishing filleting fish. I notice last two wild coho carcasses going to seals. I say "hey, you know you can't keep wild coho" , he says "I know". I count fillets and say " did you keep 8 fish?" He says "6 pinks and 1 hatch coho" , I reply "not from what I saw"and he buggers off. Anyway maybe I'm an as$h013 but for Christ sakes! Dude was in a tinny, no numbers no name nothing. Didn't wreck my day or anything and I saw people releasing fish but saw lots netting coho then looking at them for a few minutes then out comes the lumber.

i fished the trap shack today with my buddy,the rook,we caught one 20lb chinook,3 pinks and 4 clipped coho,nice day on the water
as i was cleaning the fish at the cleaning station i seen this guy comming up the boat launch,from fishing,with a very large fish,and to me it looked bigger than 85cm,this is at cheanah marina,he went over to the weigh scale and weight the fish,then he came over to the cleaning station,i asked him,how much the fish weight and he told me 24lbs,caught at secratary,i asked him how long it was,he said he didn't know,,i told him that it sure looks bigger than 85cm,he said ,what does that mean,i told him that you can not keep wild chinook over 85cm long,,he said he knew nothing about that,,
why do us guys that fish the most have to play by the rules when you get all kinds of guys comming out to fish that only fish a few times a year and do not even know the regs and don't care and take all sorts of illegal fish,,and probably more than their limits,,this is BS
i think that us,as members should have authority to hold these guys at the ramp,and there should be some dfo guys close by to bust their butt's

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

i fished the trap shack today with my buddy,the rook,we caught one 20lb chinook,3 pinks and 4 clipped coho,nice day on the water
as i was cleaning the fish at the cleaning station i seen this guy comming up the boat launch,from fishing,with a very large fish,and to me it looked bigger than 85cm,this is at cheanah marina,he went over to the weigh scale and weight the fish,then he came over to the cleaning station,i asked him,how much the fish weight and he told me 24lbs,caught at secratary,i asked him how long it was,he said he didn't know,,i told him that it sure looks bigger than 85cm,he said ,what does that mean,i told him that you can not keep wild chinook over 85cm long,,he said he knew nothing about that,,
why do us guys that fish the most have to play by the rules when you get all kinds of guys comming out to fish that only fish a few times a year and do not even know the regs and don't care and take all sorts of illegal fish,,and probably more than their limits,,this is BS
i think that us,as members should have authority to hold these guys at the ramp,and there should be some dfo guys close by to bust their butt's

I will be calling dudes out at the ramp from now on.... I play by the rules so should we all. Not that many will care but It pisses me off

 

[Discus]

Yesterday, my friend and I fished from 6 am to 12. We had a blast time. The weather was perfect for us and the ocean was great smooth. We caught and released 7 wild coho and kept 4 hatch coho, one pink, and a 34 lbs spring red it was a male. one spring about 10 lbs lost about 10 times missing and 8 time lost. I caught a 34 spring from sherringham. The 34 lbs spring is my first time ever I caught in sooke!

 

[fish stalker]

Ive had words with snaggers on the san jaun. After thinking about this is the same. These people dont care. Ignorance is bliss. Its a self righteous self serving attitude. 'I pay tax, I live here, It cost me money to take my boat out, I deserve any fish I catch.'

My boyfriend was livid at the dock. He wanted to start calling everyone out. The only explanation I could think of that I might agree with was how some people may be protesting the clipped only. As we know true wild fish make up a fraction if that and these are all unclipped hatchery fish. Some people may be protesting this by taking the risk and saying 'i will just take the first two fish and not risk killing or damaging other fish'. By the amount people had and the size of fish I dont believe this is true those old guys knew exactly what they were doing. You can easily tell the differences between fish once you catch a few esp coho and springs. I didnt think calling out an entire group of people with knives on a reserve was the best idea. I was picturing flinging fish guts everywhere.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Well fish stalker, my gf is convinced now and will also have a voice. She is a sviac member and is now going to be heard here too. Thanks for that!

 

[profisher]

What this does prove is that we are all the same. You can imagine what kind of infractions occur in river with the nets by the same sort of individuals who think the same way these so called sport fishermen think. Its a mess. We need to go back in time when it comes to enforcement. One set of laws for everyone. You should need a commercial license to sell fish....period. And money needs to be found to get the enforcement people out of the office and out into the field where they can make a difference.