Sooke Reports - Fall and Winter 2011/2012

[Xena]

posting

Englishman, I was a little shy posting when I first joined the forum, but I loved hearing what guys were catching. It got me fired up to go out there. This forum is a fantastic way to share and learn. Ya, that slab was sure fun to catch, the highlight of my season to date!

Thx for your post Xena. Not many folks posting so far this winter 'cept you and me. Could be not many going out yet. On Tuesday there was only one other boat out there, so that could be the reason. Anyway tight lines and I hope to catch a fish of the same calibre as your 17lb Coho one day!!

 

[Englishman]

Hate to break it to ya English but the first day of winter is still 3 weeks away.....

Very true LR, very true!!

I am going to take a bunch of salmon out of the freezer this weekend... then smoke it.

Then I will have room (not for feeders as they are pretty much munched fresh)... for the next batch of halis..

Yeah, I have to take my decent summer chinook out of the freezer to smoke it too. I currently have a very old, small smoker that is falling apart so can't do it now. However, I believe Santa is bringing me a bigger, brand new smoker so I'll be out there Boxing Day to smoke some more fish up then!!

 

[juandesooka]

ah yes, very soon time to thaw out some of the summer bounty and smoke it for xmas snacking. The equation in my world roughly being: Happy inlaw visitors = happy wife = more fishing day paroles ;-)

Thanks for the reports. Fingers crossed that we get a nice batch with some size over the holidays ... a few years back it was fantastic fishing over xmas for a couple of weeks, nice size (well into teens) and incredibly fast action. That'd be a good xmas present!

 

[rook 2]

yup,going out tomorrow and sunday to beechy to get our 4 winter springs,,,haven't been out for about a month so looking forward to it,,,looks like no winds either,,sunshine,,hope the crabs are back,,over all had a great season this past year,,,freezers pretty much full with hali,salmon and crab,,have done my smoked salmon allready,,yummmmy,,i need a few of them tasty winter springs,,

 

[the rook]

hey rook2 dont forget your report

 

[Theb55]

Anyone know where the crab are in Sooke Basin? All I get is a trap full of 2" crabs?

 

[peetz]

Was out basking in the sun yesterday , around Frazer Island . Bonked a clipped around 6 lbs .... and not a single crab in the trap

 

[Xena]

Beauty day on the water, out of the new hotel launch. Fished Trailer Park, lines in by 10:30, fished 155 in 175ft of water, 10.5 pounds on anchovy and Silver Betsy, 8 pounds on new Coho Killer both within the hour, then quiet. Had to fight off the seagulls down by the ramp where I cleaned the fish. I also thought twice rinsing off the fish as Mr. Seal was watching!

 

[rook 2]

went out to beechy today,lost about a 12lber at the boat,nice fight,,caught a 10lber nice fight also,,release 5 fish about 16 inches long,,,i will get them later when bigger,,got 4 big male dungees,what a nice surprise,,just fished the bay all day,,going out tomorrow again,,was talking to a younger fellow at the cleaning station and he just got back in from fishing constance bank,he caught 2 nice 10-11lbers but when he was taking some equipment to his car he had left his fish in a tub in his boat and then he seen an otter draging one of his fish out of his boat and good by,,,,gone,,the otter must have had a great meal,,so he only ended up with one fish,,bummer

 

[the rook]

beautiful day on the water, one small winter, 4 nice dungys

 

[Little Hawk]

'Rook-3' anyone?

 

[rook 2]

your real funny little hawk,,,,
went fishing with rook yesterday,,,caught one and release 3 smaller ones,,,we found the crab,,2 days in a row we got 4

 

[profisher]

Out all day, slow the first hour then steady all day. At least a couple dozen small ones released and kept 5, a couple 8's a 7 and a couple 6's. Best action just east of the the tins shed and 120 or 130 on the rigger. Spoons and hootchies working well enough to leave the bait in the boat.

 

[rook 2]

went out to beechy today,,fished all day from the inner harbour out around fraser island then out past the bedfords to whirl bay and back around a few times released one small chinook and had one pin popper and that's all folks,,only seen about 8 boats total out today,,,i quess because of the full moon,forgot to check that out,,oh well we limitted out on BIG dungys,,only had 2 fish checked in at the marina when we came in at 3:30,,and what a flat calm day it was out tyhere,,beautiful,,

 

[Englishman]

Went out late today and fished 11-3 pm off the Bluffs, in bright sunshine. I was adjusting the downrigger after 90 minutes with zero action and there was an odd tap-tap on the rod top. I struck and felt a couple of head shakes and handed the rod to my daughter. The fish promptly took off down and away, the wildly spinning reel gave her a knuckling, and then some loops of line went round the reel handles, I grabbed the rod back and bang – bye-bye terminal gear. Halibut? Seal? Big Chinook ? We’ll never know……..
Anyway an hour later we boated a nice 12.5 lb fish, complete with seal scars. Had one other bite on an anchovy which never surfaced and that was it. The little action we did have was on army truck and mint tulip hootchies at 125 feet.

 

[Little Hawk]

I hear you on that one English.
Was out with a salesman from Slegg Lumber a coupla' summers back when the Pinks were nutzo and we were way out at the second or third tide-line (we could see Japan!) dragging the usual pink & red **** around. After boating a couple of decent ones I was letting my pink-squirt & small flasher back out again when suddenly BANG - I hooked onto what felt like a Louisiana Class nuclear-sub. My rod was nearly yanked clean out of my hand and almost snapped in half in the process. All was gone and silent in about 2 seconds.

Had no clue what it was way out there in the middle of nowhere - only that it was bigger & smarter than me...

It's stuff like this that keeps us coming back.

 

[Englishman]

It's stuff like this that keeps us coming back.

It sure does Little Hawk, it sure does! My daughter now has a fishing "tale" for the family annals that carries far more mystery and speculation possibilities than a regular "fish landed" story. And every time she tells it she is going to remember her sore knuckles!!

 

[Lipripper]

It sure does Little Hawk, it sure does! My daughter now has a fishing "tale" for the family annals that carries far more mystery and speculation possibilities than a regular "fish landed" story. And every time she tells it she is going to remember her sore knuckles!!

And every time the tale is told, the run will get longer and the knot will get bigger.

It will get more epic over time

 

[wolf]

Went out today what a beauty day got 4 nice winter with A few buds biggest was about 12 lbs and battled a seal for 20 mins only to loose all the gear spoons and herring were good.

wolf

 

[Dave S]

Looked great out there. Saw about 8 boats trolling around when I drove by on my way to JR for some surf. Wish I had more time in the day, and some moorage in Sooke would help. Maybe one day.