Sooke Reports - Spring and Summer 2012
- Thread starter Last Chance
- Start date
Andrew P
Well-Known Member
Teaser head for large herring...
Sea Ranger, I have also learned heaps from this forum(thanks GUYS and GALS!!) and other sites and books. And I totally love the idea of rolling a big herring looking for the big one. I have tried a couple of times with a large herring, behind a flasher with a long leader(7'). I haven't had any luck with this...have tried a couple of times. but those times I also didn't have luck on the chovie either. I picked up some Rhys Davis super herring teaser heads that really do swim nicely through the water. Again, no luck on it yet but it sure looks tasty! Here's a pic of the herring vs chovie....I fit a full 6-7" herring in here no problem. Dave S and I jigged up a bucket of herring in Deep Cove which gave us a great supply of herring for cut-plugging and hali bait and now great to try in this teaser head. AP
Sea Ranger, I have also learned heaps from this forum(thanks GUYS and GALS!!) and other sites and books. And I totally love the idea of rolling a big herring looking for the big one. I have tried a couple of times with a large herring, behind a flasher with a long leader(7'). I haven't had any luck with this...have tried a couple of times. but those times I also didn't have luck on the chovie either. I picked up some Rhys Davis super herring teaser heads that really do swim nicely through the water. Again, no luck on it yet but it sure looks tasty! Here's a pic of the herring vs chovie....I fit a full 6-7" herring in here no problem. Dave S and I jigged up a bucket of herring in Deep Cove which gave us a great supply of herring for cut-plugging and hali bait and now great to try in this teaser head. AP
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Andrew P
Well-Known Member
GDW - The herring run in Saanich Inlet starts(generally and shifts very slightly each year but has been fairly constant for the last 50 years of so, according to the limited data avaliable)the last few days of March and then proceeds further in the inlet over the next few weeks into April. This last year there was MASSIVE spawning activity right through Pat Bay, Coles Bay and right into Brentwood. We did an informal survey of spawning areas through Southern Van Isle this last spring and have started the Salish Sea Herring Enhancement Society with a goal to help the herring as much as possible. They are the silver key to our coast. Sorry for sidetracking the Sooke thread with this fish obsessed info...hehee...Unfortunately many of the herring spawned on the creosote pilings in Deep Cove and the eggs died, but there was tons on all of the eel grass and seaweeds so I would expect a massive spawn again next year as they return every year once mature. Now, if DFO would stop the roe fishery we would see soooooooo much life come back to once prosperous areas. I will start a thread soon to get people fired up to help us out next spawn. We aim to cover every creosote piling in deep cove as a start....oh, and we caught them right off the wharf.
The irony is that we finally had a fair supply of Coho in the strait as a result of this and other enhancement efforts and now DFO is deliberately going to destroy this Coho run. Enjoy them now, they may not be around long with decisions like this.
Every sport and commercial fisher and every citizen of BC should be outraged.
Mr. Dan Bate certainly puts the Petty in Petty Bureaucrat doesn’t he. It’s OK according to him because the Dam has already been “decommissioned”. That’s bureaucrat speak for DFO sent some some guys out to vandalize the valve so that the dam could not hold water. Repair the valve on the Bill James Dam Mr. Bate.
It’s also all OK to Mr. Bate because they think that there will be sufficient water for the Coho anyway. Essentially this genius wants us to believe the Dam was never needed in the first place. What a convenient conclusion since Budgets have been cut and DFO has been ordered to spend less on Pacific Salmon.
This dam was put in precisely because the changes mans activities caused in this watershed prevented it from holding sufficient water to keep the Coho alive during the hot summer months. I understand before this dam was built, volunteers ran around with buckets and little nets trying to save a few of the young Coho to release downstream. This was to save a few from cooking in small shallow pools as the creek dried up.
We may not be able to fire Mr. Bate, but as an interest group we have more than sufficient votes to make a difference in a number of MP ridings come the next Federal election in only a few short years, especially those who slipped in with small margins of victory, (right Mr. Duncan). Time to start making some phone calls to the politicians and remind them we will be voting issues like this one and others important to sport fishing and BC salmon and trout.
What a lost PR opportunity not saving these Coho is for the Harper Government. They want us to believe they can be trusted to look out for the welfare of hundreds of creeks, rivers and streams and the fish they contain if we let them run pipelines across BC and tankers down our inlets.
If this Dam is destroyed the Harper Government will prove they can’t be trusted to protect even one creek and its Coho. This would cost very little and would buy a lot of goodwill. Instead they will spend millions on PR campaigns to sell their pipeline agenda and trying to get re-elected. For things like that they seem to have lots of money.
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Englishman
Well-Known Member
I shall put up my response to this over in the conservation thread.........
fish stalker
Active Member
tried first and second tide line from 1-5, lost one dr ball and clip as looks like a frayed wire. need new line will ask adivce on other thread uless someone wants to pm best line to use. one good bite, the spit the hook instantly up at the surface. and dragged around a rock fish after going by the bedfords. i think we were actully trolling backwards with good speed lol. gotta get those tides and currents figured out. beauty day. so nice I could hardly believe my eyes.
Little Hawk
Active Member
Good call Roland!
Guy's otta' be checkin' out that thread every day anyhow...
Guy's otta' be checkin' out that thread every day anyhow...
Englishman
Well-Known Member
First time out for two weeks. Of course, it was the first foggy morning in Sooke for two weeks as well!!
Went straight out into 500' of water in hopes of repeating the achievements of two recent posters and finding chinook out there. No such luck of course, but got hits from coho at sporadic intervals all between 85 and 105 feet on hootchies, spoons and anchovies. Released about 6 wild and kept 2 hatch fish about 6lb each. 25% hatch ratio is still pretty good.
Noticed when out there a continuous line of fish echoes (according to the Lowrance) in the 280-340' range over a wide area. Could be a thermocline, or maybe real fish, the JDF being a "fish highway" an' all, according to several forum members. Is it possible to fish a down rigger that deep? Blow back would be a huge problem of course, but maybe if one used 20lb cannon balls, 400' of wire, and trolled at 1 Knot, you could get pretty close. (Would also need high speed riggers and a damn good batteries as well).
I wonder what would happen?
Went straight out into 500' of water in hopes of repeating the achievements of two recent posters and finding chinook out there. No such luck of course, but got hits from coho at sporadic intervals all between 85 and 105 feet on hootchies, spoons and anchovies. Released about 6 wild and kept 2 hatch fish about 6lb each. 25% hatch ratio is still pretty good.
Noticed when out there a continuous line of fish echoes (according to the Lowrance) in the 280-340' range over a wide area. Could be a thermocline, or maybe real fish, the JDF being a "fish highway" an' all, according to several forum members. Is it possible to fish a down rigger that deep? Blow back would be a huge problem of course, but maybe if one used 20lb cannon balls, 400' of wire, and trolled at 1 Knot, you could get pretty close. (Would also need high speed riggers and a damn good batteries as well).
I wonder what would happen?
juandesooka
Active Member
I have often thought about that, when seeing what looks to be massive schools of fish deep. And have once in a while dropped one to 200' plus just to see if anything would happen....nothing did of course. That's with powerpro 150, 12 lb ball, and no flasher, with spoon or plug, to minimize blowback. Regularly fish deeper than 200' for salmon at Swiftsure, but never to 300' for me.
Hi Englishman
In formal I was working for Scotty Plastic LTD which I was working for the marine department that where I built down riggers and repair down riggers.
The 20 lbs cannon ball is very heavy for the old model soctty downriggers. The old modem electric downrigger drags no more than 12 lbs cannon ball. The new modem electric digital downrigger drag no more than 20 lbs cannon ball.
In formal I was working for Scotty Plastic LTD which I was working for the marine department that where I built down riggers and repair down riggers.
The 20 lbs cannon ball is very heavy for the old model soctty downriggers. The old modem electric downrigger drags no more than 12 lbs cannon ball. The new modem electric digital downrigger drag no more than 20 lbs cannon ball.
scott craven
Well-Known Member
We use 15lb balls on the older model and they seem to work fine ....
We use 15lb balls on the older model and they seem to work fine ....
What I heard about that It should be ok but I prefer to use 12 lbs cannon ball on the older model down rigger is better and safe.
wolf
Well-Known Member
Same here got into them early of off secretary a bunch landed 4 hatch seen what you are discribing english dont know what it was but the current was really being churned so who knows. went in off of possesin for a few tacts NO springs but did see a couple of fish on surface on the way in springs,coho,chum who knows they were right off of wiffen spit .
thats it for me now as I go moose hunting sat morning been a long season need to have fun with buds and tip a few
good luck Wolf
thats it for me now as I go moose hunting sat morning been a long season need to have fun with buds and tip a few
good luck Wolf
Lots of fun out there today for Ho’s in the fog or early when it was just overcast once you got out of the harbour. Put away all our chovie gear and its spoons and plastic from now on. They were a lot of Ho’s around and the largest clipped was a 9lb buck. The larger ones seem to be in closer today and got some in 140 feet of water early. They were also not as deep in the fog and most were caught between 22 and 80 feet down with 60 feet being very good but did catch one at 114. The middle trip planer rod was hitting some at about 22 feet. When the fog lifted and the sun came out, the bite went off but when the fog came back so did the bite. It seems like with a little shade they come up higher. Not a lot of boats made for some nice fishing, (I love the fog) and not much salad and acceptable current, so we stacked one side for part of the day with a glow spoon.
The deepest Chinook for us off Sooke so far was 295ft down on an 20lb ball close to slack tide and it was clipped. The deepest Coho so far was 155ft down.
prettyboyfloyd
Active Member
Great day on the water, fished straight off Beechy to about 550 ft, released a few small ones up at around 40 ft, than got into a keeper hatchery around 1 hour in. Moved towards secretary around 10:30 and got in to 3 wild Ho's around the 10lb mark all within 30 minutes... missed 2 pin poppers a little later there in front yard. Great day... I think I am waiting until Oct.1 for next trip... releasing these wilds is too hard for me.
English, what you see on your sounder will most likely be indeed fish. There are thousands and thousands of salmon through the JDF to the Fraser and Puget Sound. You can see this endless band of fish especially in pink and strong sockeye years. What you saw could be coho or chum schools. Of course there are some other school fish in JDF as well. An ex commercial told me once that during parts of the year there are huge schools of Hake in the strait. And then there are dogfish and others too... Now why they seem to hang in that 200-400' depth in particular I don't know either. Maybe the temp and O2 levels are pleasant there or the currents are easier to navigate there. When pinks and socks were running and I have seen the signals closer in 200' depth I have tried several times to catch any of them right at that depth to confirm what it is down there. To no avail even though I must have almost snagged them. I believe that the schools that hang that deep are just in lazy drift mood and don't feed. Then when some of them get hungry they will break away from the main school and hunt around in smaller troops. Those are the ones you will then catch in 0-100' depth. Anyway, that's what I pieced together over the years...
Englishman
Well-Known Member
Thx Chris
Very interesting! I can well believe those fish are just hanging there and not feeding. They are still 150' above the bottom in that depth of water so no bottom dwelling food and I doubt pelagic plankton and microfauna feeders like herring would be over 300 feet down. However, just as as in the rivers salmon (in theory) do not feed but can still be induced to bite a fly or lure, maybe something could trigger a bite from these deep "travellers" ? (If that is what they are - not so interesting if they are just hake).
Someone with a fast down rigger and 20lb cannon balls needs to experiment. Or maybe, thinking out of the box, drifting with the current and letting a 12oz banana weight plus plug cut herring drop down there would work...no need for riggers then...LOL
