Shaker Reports

Bugs

Well-Known Member
Hey Guys,

I have been bugging people on various threads about this already.... So here is specific report thread. I am peripherally involved with a project looking at the survival of juvenile Chinook and Coho in the Salish Sea (SOG and Puget Sound). I am interested in the potential to obtain info on the distribution of these fish from the recreational fishing community.

I know some folks in the Southern Gulf Islands Area have been seeing quite a few little guys lately, and we are coming up on a period where shakers can be super numerous in the JDF and Discovery Passage fishing areas. I am interested to hear any reports of fish that appear to be in their first ocean year (likely less than 30-35 cm at this point), particularly high abundances. If possible it would be good to know if they appear to be Coho or Chinook.

I am also interested in anyone who catches mature fish with juvenile salmon in the gut. I know this happens relatively frequently in the Sooke fall Coho fishery. If you are feeling reallly helpful you could even freeze such gut contents with info on size and species of the mature salmon and date and location caught... I will come pick up.

Fire reports on here or PM me if you prefer. Thanks for any help ..

Cheers
 
Bugs: I have been getting on average 1 shaker per trip when fishing coho/springs on the tide lines between Beecher Bay and Secretary Island. I am using gear to avoid these shakers: full size hoochies and the occasional 5" or larger spoon.

If you use squirts or 4" and smaller spoons I'm sure you will catch more, thankfully the shakers are not too numerous yet but they could show up in greater numbers any time.

...Rob
 
I am fishing that same paces and gear as Rob although even some smaller spoons and I would say 1 per trip is right on the money. But definitely not the norm for our parts this time of year. By now normally we would be driven nuts by the little guys and run huge spoons and plugs.

-KK
 
Caught three Chinook under 30cms today. Campbell River hump. Probably under 20cms Full size hoochie with large hook.

Thanks for the info guys, keep it coming.

I was out of Sooke yesterday and picked up a couple of Coho, lots of juvenile salmon jumping, and the one identifiable fish from the guts was a pink salmon smolt. See Picture
 

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The numbers of juvenile Chinook hooked during the Vancouver area Sockeye fishery has always been a personal concern so this year I stopped fishing shallower than 40' and a few setups that hooked a lot of Shakers in the past were changed or discontinued.

Results only one Shaker taken all season-released strong.
 
Do you want partially digested contents frozen as well? ie: fish that are not able to be identified visually? My trip out on Friday last week, I caught 1 clipped coho under 20cm in 2 hours. Also took home 2 coho and neither had any identifiable food in their belly.
 
Bugs: Just read the last part of your request after reading Dave S's post above. Yesterday we had one salmon smolt in one of our coho's stomachs. Last week one coho (11 lb.) had 3 salmon smolts in its stomach - nothing else.

I will try and remember to save these smolts in the future if you are interested.

...Rob
 
The numbers of juvenile Chinook hooked during the Vancouver area Sockeye fishery has always been a personal concern so this year I stopped fishing shallower than 40' and a few setups that hooked a lot of Shakers in the past were changed or discontinued.

Results only one Shaker taken all season-released strong.

Interesting Info thanks. I have talked to a few folks over there and understand that some of those shakers stick around all winter.
 
Do you want partially digested contents frozen as well? ie: fish that are not able to be identified visually? My trip out on Friday last week, I caught 1 clipped coho under 20cm in 2 hours. Also took home 2 coho and neither had any identifiable food in their belly.

Thanks Dave... in future we might try to get together a program to sample stomach contents systematically... but at this point just getting hold of identifiable juvenile salmonids from stomachs so they can be ID'd would be great. If the head is intact enough to tell you are looking at a salmonid I would be interested.

If people are checking stomachs it would also be great if they could keep a record of how many fish they checked, where and when they were caught, and how many had juveniles in them.

Thanks
 
Shakers, hey? All this time I thought the proper name for this species was the Pacific Clip Popper.
 
Was out to Salamanca Monday for the change from flood to ebb - fished in close and out along the ridge that comes up from about 600' to just under 200' about half a mile off shore. Caught almost a dozen shakers - from about 10 - 15" at 60 to 120'. They really seemed to like the green coho killer - all but one on it. However nothing else around but a gorgeous day to be on the water.
 
Same story for Sunday - finally changed out the Coho Killer - with it on it was constant little guys. My guess is that's good news, there are lots of them and they have made their way across the Strait of Georgia.
 
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