Sooke 2014 Fishing Reports

[Moose Jaw]

Out with wife from 11:30 to 4 pm. Started at the tin shed but no love there. Tide pushed us east. Doing like the Wolf said, fishing north/south across the tide lines 300 ft to 550 ft. Tried glow white hootchie, pink hootchie, army truck spoon and bait. Going 2.5 to 3.5 mph. Tried depths from surface to 130 ft. Caught all 4 coho between 3 and 4 pm in 400 ft of water off the tip of
Secretary and a bit east. 77 ft was the depth for us and best producer was army truck flasher and army truck chovie head. Bloody nose with gold betsy was almost as good. First one we caught was clipped and then 3 wild with a clipped to finish it off. Only had to release one wild. Ours were not as big as Wolf's - 6 or 7 lbs. Had many bites that did not stick. Saw other boats catching fish out in front of harbor and south of secretary.

 

[Rockfish]

Some interesting reports posted here indeed. Looks like location might have something to do with success, as those going west seemed to have more success than those east (Secretary/Beechy etc.) However, speed may have something to do with it as well. I rarely go above 3.0K so perhaps that is a factor? I certainly went across the tide run as Wolf described, from 100' to 500' yesterday, but to little avail. Looks like some folks have had the same experience....however, if you find them you seem to find them big time and a bonanza of teener cohos results. But if Kami-Kazi has yet to contact the mother lode, then I sure it is not that easy to do so. (Except for the really experienced guides......of course )

I would think that the speed helps you cover more territory when you are looking for them and does help somewhat with hookups but is not all that critical for catching Coho, which no one ever accused of being fussy eaters once you are on them. When October arrives I find that there is an advantage to slowing down a bit sometimes. You still catch lots of Coho but you also can begin to catch some Chums while Coho fishing which start to show up in greater numbers into the fall. Sooke is a rather amazing fishery in that in a year with a Sockeye opening such as this one and some Pink runs it is not that difficult to catch a grand slam of all 5 Pacific salmon species. In the first two weeks of October we usually pick up a few Chum as incidental catch and they are great fighters, smoke up well and the eggs are the best for making IKURA ( Japanese style salmon caviar). It is rather fun to have a dinner and have people try to identify which fillet pieces are which species and you can throw in some white and marbled Chinook as well.

 

[elnino54]

Had a pretty good day this morning managed 9 Coho between 10 am and noon. We kept two nice 8 lb wild ones and managed to keep a nice 6 lb hatchery fish as well. All at 65-75' off of Trap in 500' of water.......hope the fishing like this stays for a bit !!

 

[C-J]

Out off Otter from 3-5:30. First and only coho to the boat at 3:15, a 6 lb wild female.

30 ft on rigger in 42 feet of water (not a typo)...white hootchie behind kite-tail. Puttering around in the kayak is proof that they'll bite at pretty slow speeds too.

Tried deeper waters off the point for awhile after that without a nibble. Only other boat out found a couple, both at 120ft down.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Some interesting reports posted here indeed. Looks like location might have something to do with success, as those going west seemed to have more success than those east (Secretary/Beechy etc.) However, speed may have something to do with it as well. I rarely go above 3.0K so perhaps that is a factor? I certainly went across the tide run as Wolf described, from 100' to 500' yesterday, but to little avail. Looks like some folks have had the same experience....however, if you find them you seem to find them big time and a bonanza of teener cohos results. But if Kami-Kazi has yet to contact the mother lode, then I sure it is not that easy to do so. (Except for the really experienced guides......of course )

Speed up! I rarely go less than 3 knots. And dont get sucked into to areas with a lot of boats... Just because there are 20 boat stacked in area doesn't usually mean the fish are there. I rarely fish with lots of boats around... Wolf just gave you good hints above ( even lures)... Also run your logbook every-trip and you will see the pattern... There are definite areas were they are year after year in a given tide. I don't know why you wouldn't go east. Last three trips in few weeks limited out eastward. Good luck...Last time out anywhere from 80 feet to 130 feet was working out 550 feet water... Leave the bait at home.

The speed thing is not a myth...You want more success you have to troll fast.... Biggest thing I believe in that fishery.

 

[profisher]

If you want lots of action...not just the occasion hit...speed up. Yes some Coho will take slower trolled gear just like some springs will hit real fast moving gear...but most prefer lots of erratic action. Changing speeds VERY often will get a following Coho to grab on. I can't count how many Coho strike when I up my speed from 2,7 to just over 3 mph and also change my direction of travel at the same time.

 

[Salmonblaster]

Only 3 boats out last night! Flat calm water last night. Fished from 5 to sunset. 2 beauty Coho in the boat. Out in 350-400ft of water straight out from the harbor, both caught on bait.lol , We were using lures with no luck. So changed it up

 

[spoiler]

flashers?

Well I dont know whats going on but managed 4 wilds biggest was 14 lbs and let about 8 go looking for hatchery this am I start out at about 200 ft and troll south ACROSS the tide and then when I hit them i criss cross back and forth doing about 3 to 4 mph faster the better for coho today was the only day my crew didnt limit out and wasnt from lack of fish couldn't find the hatchery ones ....

Coho fishing isnt hard once you got them keep circling them look for others with fish on, as well

Finding coho killers the best the yellow and green with silver on the back the andrew P spoon (around 3 to 4 ft leaders) and a tiny lime green squirt 24 inch leader and the sockeye red squirt is what ive been mostly using ranging from 50 to 120 on the riggers.

good luck Wolf

Wolf,
are you running the Andrew P spoons behind flashers?

 

[wolf]

YES i am with a 4 ft leader

 

[Moose Jaw]

Water was glassy this morning so dropped the kid at school, loaded up boat and wife and I wedre on the water at about 9:30. Motored to Secretary and headed out and west with ebb tide. Started getting hits right away in about 400 ft of water, 75 ft down with gold betsy/bloody nose and army truck/army truck. First two to the boat were clipped. Lost a few including one that broke my army truck teaser head. Put MP15 pink on and sent it down to 90 ft. Got hits on it and eventually got a wild one to the boat. Got the last wild one at about noon on MP15 at 90 ft. Before I could bring the bloody nose up, a coho hit. Release with gaff at side of boat. Speed today 2.5 to over 4 mph with tide. Last one was biggest at about 10 to 11 pounds. Wife saw a whale as well. Got a few hits on coyote army truck spoon trolled behind boat on banana weight. None stuck, Ended up out by tin shed and then had to run back against that easterly chop stuff. Good day of fishing again. Coho are out there and you just have to find them.

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Decided to head west today. Troll out of Beecher and didn't have our first strike until we hit Secretary. Did a few loops out there and managed a few more strikes. By noon we had 2 wilds around 10 pounds each in the boat and had let a few more go and lost just as many. As the tide turned we headed into the chop and once we reached the trapshack reef we hit a double and landed our first hatch around 8 pounds and let a wild go about 8 pounds.

We continue on towards the Beechy Head and once we arived just off the head the flood was really pushing I swung the boat around into the the current and my old mans rod goes off. Not the normal kind of hit tho! This thing just slowly lunged and poped the pin. He couldn't gain an inch on the thing and then all hell broke loose as it surfaced and ran making white water and spat the hook. A spring I would guess in the 30's. WOW wasn't expecting that. Down go the lines and just as we got near aldridge my Dads rod pop and starts screaming with a few good jumps he lost what was a low teens coho.

This trip made up for the few where me and Mr Coho managed to miss eachother!

All fish were on Coho killers and coyotes 84 64 ft


-KK

 

[Rockfish]

Went out at 10:00 am to 530 feet off the Bluffs with another forum member and found the tide line and started hitting decent size Ho’s immediately including a number of Hatch. Looked for a teener but could not find any and kept one 5lb hatch and 2 unclipped and one hatch all in the 8.5 lb range. All caught on Chovies except for one caught on glow plastic down around 100 feet. Best depths 70 and 100 feet. Most interesting was an 8lber which hit a chovie on the surface 15 feet out the back of the boat while the line was being held in the hand and was played and released. Conditions were foggy all day for us and the SE winds got a little sloppy around 1:00 pm. Pretty awesome to also see very large (Humpbacks whales we think) turn up only a hundred yards or so away in what was lighter fog at the time, heading from West to East.

 

[wagonmaster]

Lots of discussion about speed of troll. Is not the reading on the depth sounder the speed over ground? Therefore, a huge difference in what the fish are seeing depending on whether or not you are going with or against the tide. At 3 knots against the tide, the flasher would be spinning like crazy, whereas with the tide it may barely be turning.

 

[wagonmaster]

Keep the down rigger wire at 45 degrees and the action will be the same, but speed readings may be 6 knots with the tide and 1 knot against (at least that's what a guide once told me).

 

[seadna]

I go with RPM's on the engine as speed over ground (SOG) is irrelevant to speed relative to the water and it's speed relative to the water that matters.. For a fixed RPM setting, measure the SOG in one direction and without moving the throttle turn 180 and measure it again. The average of the two is speed relative to water. Do that for a few different RPM settings and either make a chart or remember what RPM setting corresponds to what speed relative to water. I don't like to use down rigger cable angle since that depends on the amount of cable out and the drag created by other things (such as flashers etc).

 

[SpringVelocity]

My down riggers are like 20-30 degrees when running a 45 is too slow in my opinion when I am coho fishing. As I said I go fast..Its not a precise thing... If you want to troll with bait then I guess go slow then....

 

[Harbicht]

Fished off secretary 550 to 600, lots of wilds 7-10lbs Irish cream coho killer was the ticket today. Managed our 2 hatchery after releasing 12 wilds .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Karma-Kazi]

Fished off secretary 550 to 600, lots of wilds 7-10lbs Irish cream coho killer was the ticket today. Managed our 2 hatchery after releasing 12 wilds .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

x2 except off the head. 11 wilds and 2 hatch nothing over 10 pounds. Coho killers caught all fish today. 80 ft got all but one fish.


Also I drive my boat with the kicker throttle in my hand I will stall out until the riggers are almost upright and then slam the boat in gear hard and take off most often I get huge strikes this way!

I believe rapid changes in speed make a huge difference. Yes you could just turn 90 degrees or do circles once in a while but speeding up and slowing down is what I like.

-KK

 

[Moose Jaw]

We got 2 wild yesterday including one about 12 pounds. Did not get out till 11:30. No hatchery today. Out in front of harbour to tin shed. Lots of coho but all wild. Bait caught some but MP15 and white glow hootchie did better. Bit deeper at 90 to 110 ft. Changed depth and lute to get away from shakers - must have got 8 or so. Have not caught any shakers for the last few trips so maybe they moved in.

 

[Bugs]

We got 2 wild yesterday including one about 12 pounds. Did not get out till 11:30. No hatchery today. Out in front of harbour to tin shed. Lots of coho but all wild. Bait caught some but MP15 and white glow hootchie did better. Bit deeper at 90 to 110 ft. Changed depth and lute to get away from shakers - must have got 8 or so. Have not caught any shakers for the last few trips so maybe they moved in.

Do you know if the Shakers were Coho or Chinook? And what approximate size? Thanks a lot Moose Jaw!