Victoria Reports - Spring and Summer 2012

[beemer]

Dead quiet off Oak bay this morning, saw one landed for about 10 boats fishing...
hope somebody had better luck ?

Nope , fished the flats from 830 to 930 not a whiff , beat it out to the bank and fished from 10 to 12 one on lost it, 8 boats out and only saw one skinny one landed.

beemer

 

[dohboy]

Nice pics of our trip Dave
That guy you were with does have a name , even a handle on here
I think i gotta go on a diet, that fish looks smaller in your pics then i remember when trying to lift it up after the battle, lol

 

[Dave S]

Nice pics of our trip Dave
That guy you were with does have a name , even a handle on here
I think i gotta go on a diet, that fish looks smaller in your pics then i remember when trying to lift it up after the battle, lol

Sorry Sean, I'm bad with introductions. Everyone, I would like you to meet Sean. He has fished out of Sooke for years, and was nice enough to teach me how to catch salmon a few years back. He has since abandoned Sooke and BC for a higher paying job in Alberta.

 

[dohboy]

no need for intro's, i may not have been on much lately but joined 4yrs before you, an i havent abandoned sooke, just can only visit now, lol
someone has to pay for your gas and bait, the place i work supplys that gas
lol

 

[Dave S]

Late report: Hit up the bank a couple days ago and was pretty quiet for a while then it picked up. First fish was a good battle with 2 runs, and when I got it to the boat, I was sad to see that it was a good size wild. Easily would have been my best fish in a couple years. It took about a minute to get the hook out as it was hooked kinda deep inside his mouth. Spent some time reviving him and he was pretty tired, but my fishing partner said that I just needed to dive him into the water head first from about foot out of the water. I had never done this before but gave it a shot. Sure enough, he took off down into the deep. Is this standard practice? I always thought that you were supposed to just lightly hold by the tail and belly and move back a forth until they swim away.I have heard that it takes time sometimes. What do you guys do?
After that we found some hatcheries. 3 fish 7-12lb. Also released one undersized. All right near bottom with glow hootchies and flashers.
I was happy to see that nice wild swim away but can't help but wonder if he would be a sitting duck if a seal found him?

 

[Charter Tofino]

If doing a lot of C&R of larger fish due to slot etc try to avoid trebles. Just pop them off at the side with the gaff. Eliminates having to touch, take off slime, tire out to exhaustion, revive etc. Any siwash should be easy to pop off and only the odd tandem octopus gives a bit of trouble. Takes a bit of practice at first.

 

[scott craven]

With our new regs going into effect June 16, it will get a little more complicated as any wild fish close to 85cm (34") will have to be netted, measured and either bonked or released if over.
DFO will not accept a guesstimate.
I can foresee a lot of nice fish being returned half dead.

 

[pescador]

The seals are going to be well fed which means they will multiply. Perhaps a seal hunt is in our future...

 

[Rum Buddies]

good reminded for guys to use soft release nets, NOT the standard nylon mesh you see with scotty nets.

But man how things have gone down hill in the last 5 years

 

[kingspring]

DFO is managing our West coast Sports fishery to end up like the East Coasts... non existant. Guess it's hard for them to see what's happening here when they have their heads buried up their rear ends.

 

[the rook]

here here!!!

 

[scott craven]

Deadsville on this thread. I can't believe it. In past years this thing was lit up this time of year. No fish, regs, what is it???

Dead is right, would sure be nice to hear something encouraging ?

 

[Whole in the Water]

I hear what you guys are saying and the lack of salmon truly sucks.

If believe if we want things to get better we have to start actively and effectively organizing the angling community to begin to professionally lobby the Fed. govt. to change for the better, while fundraising and building up the $ to mount a legal challenge.

If such a group forms (I think it will soon) then we need to join it and be active in it.

 

[pescador]

Craven, do you think June 15th is going to change things? I have my doubts given that it appears the regular run cycles are later than normal down the west coast. I'm hopeful, but, am a bit skeptical. What happened last year?

 

[scott craven]

Pescador, only thing that will change is that we can keep a 15 lb wild...
but if the fish don't show up it won't matter.
I was out monday night, 2 strikes in 2 hours and both were about 4 lbs which were released.
winter springs in June ????

 

[pescador]

I hear ya Craven. I was out last Saturday at Beechy and didn't catch anything. This time of year, thats not normal. Saw 2 small fish taken over 6 hours. There are a few around, but, its sparse. In any case, I am confident that they will show up here shortly and we'll be into them till late August!!

 

[yammy5]

Any weekend reports? I was out with the Rock on Saturday and dropped the hook off Albert Head in that awful wind and sat sideways in the slop for a few hours. Managed a 30lb butt and managed to keep breakfast down ~ not sure which of those was the bigger accomplishment! Any springs showing off the waterfront or Oak Bay?

 

[scott craven]

Dead slow for us on Sunday, fished 3 hours without a strike.
There was some decent action in May for smaller fish up to about 12 lbs,
but that has really petered out in June.
Hope somebody has something better to report.

 

[NautiGirl]

out to contance today from 11-4 for a few hours hali & salmon. got a tan but not a nibble on the hali, then saw some newby drive up and drop the salmon gear right in front of me and immediately grab a salmon. switch gears, drop our salmon gear and had a small C&R on green and splatter squirt at 70 ft bouncing bottom. Got another two on with long line releases same depth, same gear, one of which put a serious bend in the rod before tiring of my hook. Great hot and flat day on the water.

 

[Tsquared]

Blue hulled boat fishing hali anchored in Parry bay late this afternoon: Did i see this right from my place?--that tug
and log boom looked like he had lots of sea room to avoid you and yet he came close enough to force you to pull your anchor. If it was something different, then let us know but it sure looked like he was trying to be totally ignorant.
T2