Victoria Reports - Spring and Summer 2012
- Thread starter Last Chance
- Start date
Many thanks to Esq Angler's, the volunteers and the junior members for getting out of bed at such an early hour to put this derby on. Great job helping all the early risers to launch their boats this morning and just a great organization in the planning and finding the sponsor's to donate all the prizes for a truly wonderful event. Got skunked this year but will be back. My thanks again to all the volunteers who put in their time to make this a fun time for all.
Silver Streak
Member
18 salmon weighed into Esquimalt Anglers' Derby today. Top three were 24-14, 16-15 and 16-6. This was the 60th anniversary derby (1952-2012). Fishing was very slow for the number of boats out and most anglers were skunked.
Any word on the Esquimalt Anglers derby? Many fish caught? Winner?
I'm hitting it up tomorrow.
Thanks to all the folks involved with the Esquimalt derby today. I picked up a 70$ crab trap with a 5lb fish, a pleasant suprise to be sure. We picked up the small spring off Clover point in the same spot, that we had got a 12lber the day before. marked a TON of bait in the water with Gulls on active feeds both days. To make the day even better we got the suprise of the summer, so far, when we trolled up a 15lb Halibut, first time doing that on the waterfront. Everthing was caught on bait.
Cheers
Rich
Cheers
Rich
Falcon
Active Member
We can work out something when I get home, I'm overseas at the moment and won't be back until the 20th of September. It came off a Yamaha HT 8 HP kicker. Virtually brand new! PM me for a reminder.
Tree Days of Wicked Fishing
I got to get out three days this past weekend Saturday-Monday.
Saturday evening I fished Sooke. A brief report is in that thread. It was slow but I still hit a few low teeners. Nothing too exciting and not enough to get me back out there on Sunday.
Sunday morning I hit esquimalt anglers at 6am and a line up of boats to the road is waiting to great me. I knew about the derby but a line to the road are you serious? It actually went fairly quickly and everyone was in a good mood and happy to just be getting out there. Our target was halibut as salmon fishing in the zoo did not appeal to me. First stop was dropping the crab traps. Then the long run off to the halibut grounds.
The current was not that great on Sunday and I knew we would have only a short window until about 9:45am of good fishing. That window was even shorter then I expected and we had trouble keeping our gear down by 9:15. We had to take action to keep fishing.
As the day progressed we hit only a couple of doggies. It was nice to see they are not thick anymore. We were all getting a little restless when my sturdy rod gave a few good thumps then went still again. Hmmm? I had a circle hook so I was a little leary of moving the bait too soon. I picked up the rod and slowly started to reel. There was weight there... a lot of weight. I gave a pull, it felt like the hook was in so I started heaving and cranking, heaving and cranking. After a lot of work this monster slowly rose from the depths.
Too bad it was a skate but it is still the biggest fish I have ever caught. No idea how much it might have weighed there was no attempt to measure it. To my surprise the circle hook was snagged in it's wing! My best guess is it laid ontop of the bait and when I was slowly reeling it snagged into it as the bait pulled from underneath the fish. Thankfully the snag made for an easy relelase as I was able to rip the hook out. I am surprised I got it all the way to the top considering how easy it was to pull the hook free. The skate swam away and our lines went back down.
I didn't have to wait long to get another bite. This one was different. WHAM rod tip in the water drag going out. Yeehaw Hali on! Despite being a much smaller fish it seemed like this chicken Halibut fought better than the huge skate. Not as much weight of course, just a better fight. According to the length/weight chart this was a 22 pounder.
This fish of course motivated us to stay even longer. We put the lines back down and waited. The dogfish had stopped bothering us so we were just sitting and waiting. Then a weird thing happened... line started ticking off my rod. It wasn't ripping off, and the rod tip wasn't bouncing at all. It was just a slow steady pull of line off the reel. I picked up the rod and as before started to reel in slowly. There was a bit of weight there. I kept reeling, finally a bit more weight. I pulled... yup there is a fish on there but it wasn't doing much at all. I passed the rod to my buddies girlfriend who had joined us on her birthday. She started to reel and her boyfriend helped her pump the rod.
The two worked together and the fish came up fairly easy. I was thinking maybe another skate? Maybe a small Hali? What could it be. I would have never guessed it was this brute.
What a fish! It measured 50 inches and according to the charts would weigh 60 pounds! So I had my biggest fish (the skate) and my biggest Halibut all in one day! I know they get much bigger than this guy but it was still an impressive specimen to this rookie Halibut fishermen.
It took a bit to subdue the halibut and I've got to give my buddie credit for the hogtie job. It worked great the fish was trying to rip our arms off when we were holding onto the galf and the harpoon rope but once it was tied it couldn't do a thing.
Went to check the crab traps, 0 crab for 5 traps! Oh well can't win them all.
So after a good day Saturday and a great day Sunday I figured I would be too beat to bother getting out monday. Nah... I felt great in the morning, wind was good and my daughter was keen on getting out on the boat for a few hours. So we went back out and again the current was moving quite quick. I had to let out tons of line to keep my gear on the bottom and it wasn't bouncing at all. We bobbed around for a few hours and I decided to pull the pin. I reeled in the first line and noticed the other rod was crossed over it. So I picked up the other rod, uncrossed the lines and started to reel. Wait a sec... FISH ON! It was a feisty little guy who was popping and pulling the rod the whole way up. I think it took my bait and swam around down there un detected because I had so much line out. We got the little guy in and called it a great end to the day and most likely a great end to my Halibut season.
The charts put this little chicken at 15 pounds. (Check out the cleaning table maybe we should have been salmon fishing.)
I got to get out three days this past weekend Saturday-Monday.
Saturday evening I fished Sooke. A brief report is in that thread. It was slow but I still hit a few low teeners. Nothing too exciting and not enough to get me back out there on Sunday.
Sunday morning I hit esquimalt anglers at 6am and a line up of boats to the road is waiting to great me. I knew about the derby but a line to the road are you serious? It actually went fairly quickly and everyone was in a good mood and happy to just be getting out there. Our target was halibut as salmon fishing in the zoo did not appeal to me. First stop was dropping the crab traps. Then the long run off to the halibut grounds.
The current was not that great on Sunday and I knew we would have only a short window until about 9:45am of good fishing. That window was even shorter then I expected and we had trouble keeping our gear down by 9:15. We had to take action to keep fishing.
As the day progressed we hit only a couple of doggies. It was nice to see they are not thick anymore. We were all getting a little restless when my sturdy rod gave a few good thumps then went still again. Hmmm? I had a circle hook so I was a little leary of moving the bait too soon. I picked up the rod and slowly started to reel. There was weight there... a lot of weight. I gave a pull, it felt like the hook was in so I started heaving and cranking, heaving and cranking. After a lot of work this monster slowly rose from the depths.
Too bad it was a skate but it is still the biggest fish I have ever caught. No idea how much it might have weighed there was no attempt to measure it. To my surprise the circle hook was snagged in it's wing! My best guess is it laid ontop of the bait and when I was slowly reeling it snagged into it as the bait pulled from underneath the fish. Thankfully the snag made for an easy relelase as I was able to rip the hook out. I am surprised I got it all the way to the top considering how easy it was to pull the hook free. The skate swam away and our lines went back down.
I didn't have to wait long to get another bite. This one was different. WHAM rod tip in the water drag going out. Yeehaw Hali on! Despite being a much smaller fish it seemed like this chicken Halibut fought better than the huge skate. Not as much weight of course, just a better fight. According to the length/weight chart this was a 22 pounder.
This fish of course motivated us to stay even longer. We put the lines back down and waited. The dogfish had stopped bothering us so we were just sitting and waiting. Then a weird thing happened... line started ticking off my rod. It wasn't ripping off, and the rod tip wasn't bouncing at all. It was just a slow steady pull of line off the reel. I picked up the rod and as before started to reel in slowly. There was a bit of weight there. I kept reeling, finally a bit more weight. I pulled... yup there is a fish on there but it wasn't doing much at all. I passed the rod to my buddies girlfriend who had joined us on her birthday. She started to reel and her boyfriend helped her pump the rod.
The two worked together and the fish came up fairly easy. I was thinking maybe another skate? Maybe a small Hali? What could it be. I would have never guessed it was this brute.
What a fish! It measured 50 inches and according to the charts would weigh 60 pounds! So I had my biggest fish (the skate) and my biggest Halibut all in one day! I know they get much bigger than this guy but it was still an impressive specimen to this rookie Halibut fishermen.
It took a bit to subdue the halibut and I've got to give my buddie credit for the hogtie job. It worked great the fish was trying to rip our arms off when we were holding onto the galf and the harpoon rope but once it was tied it couldn't do a thing.
Went to check the crab traps, 0 crab for 5 traps! Oh well can't win them all.
So after a good day Saturday and a great day Sunday I figured I would be too beat to bother getting out monday. Nah... I felt great in the morning, wind was good and my daughter was keen on getting out on the boat for a few hours. So we went back out and again the current was moving quite quick. I had to let out tons of line to keep my gear on the bottom and it wasn't bouncing at all. We bobbed around for a few hours and I decided to pull the pin. I reeled in the first line and noticed the other rod was crossed over it. So I picked up the other rod, uncrossed the lines and started to reel. Wait a sec... FISH ON! It was a feisty little guy who was popping and pulling the rod the whole way up. I think it took my bait and swam around down there un detected because I had so much line out. We got the little guy in and called it a great end to the day and most likely a great end to my Halibut season.
The charts put this little chicken at 15 pounds. (Check out the cleaning table maybe we should have been salmon fishing.)
scott craven
Well-Known Member
Nice Hallie's Peter, good work !
Andrew P
Well-Known Member
Hey foggedin,
I can't say it was red hot....but we did put a 12 pound white spring in the cooler at about 630pm. Glow flasher and bait in a glow head. Good fight for a relatively small one. There were a couple other boats out And didn't see any nets, but we weren't really looking much either.
Good luck!
Ap
I can't say it was red hot....but we did put a 12 pound white spring in the cooler at about 630pm. Glow flasher and bait in a glow head. Good fight for a relatively small one. There were a couple other boats out And didn't see any nets, but we weren't really looking much either.
Good luck!
Ap
It wasn't red hot. People told me it was pretty slow. It was very slow this morning. There was a decent bite for the few boats that were on the water between noon and 2 PM ( I got two teenagers) but no big slabs. Full mooon tonight so should be slow tomorrow morning, and probaly the same all weekend. I'd guess one out of 5 boats will get a fish.
Rum Buddies
Well-Known Member
Outfitter boats have been getting some nice fish...
sammyslabber
Active Member
and I might add no feesh..when you get bored you can play dodge :> boat
pescador
Well-Known Member
Real time report. Just off flag pole. Nailed a 36 on chovy at 245 in 60 feet of water 42 on rigger. Epic battle. Had to run around boat solo after big boy decided to sound and dive directly under boat. For all you guys at the wall, stay there. I'll stick to Clover/Flag pole.
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