2019 Victoria and Oak Bay Reports

Status
Not open for further replies.
Had about 15 crabs not one female last week. I have found that bait choice for my crab traps makes a big difference. I’ve been using chicken backs and to keep those females away and lure in the big daddy’s you need to add pork chops. Before you scough at this try it. I like the price reduced at Fairways chops as they have extra fat and bone. Let me know if it works for ya ;-)
(Edit)- my last trap last week was off sax point 70 ft, other recent spots were Esq lagoon & Pedder bay 60-70ft. I haven’t fished oak bay much yet.
 
Last edited:
Original, you dont mention what area you put your traps in. Are you in willows bay or cadboro bay? If so you are the only one getting crab. We use pork, chicken, salmon, etc and still just the odd crab. The commercial guy has cleaned that area out over the last 2 years.
 
Last edited:
Willows, Cadboro gets pounded for crabs without any help from the commercial. Pretty obvious some keep everything. I try to find places a little out of the way, deeper with soft bottom out of range for little row boats. Turkey drum sticks when they are cheap are my favorite.
 
Willows, Cadboro gets pounded for crabs without any help from the commercial. Pretty obvious some keep everything. I try to find places a little out of the way, deeper with soft bottom out of range for little row boats. Turkey drum sticks when they are cheap are my favorite.
sorry Eroyd , I am in Oak Bay everyday and it IS pounded by the commercial guys. It used to be fine when the commercial out of Victoria did a few traps a couple of times a week. Now we have two if not 3 commercial out of Sidney who are laying big sets and checking them hourly four days a week.

beemer
 
sorry Eroyd , I am in Oak Bay everyday and it IS pounded by the commercial guys. It used to be fine when the commercial out of Victoria did a few traps a couple of times a week. Now we have two if not 3 commercial out of Sidney who are laying big sets and checking them hourly four days a week.

beemer

Yeah, I guess that didn't come out like I thought. There can be 40-50+ sporting traps in front of Willow's and in Cadboro at times in the Summer, with a line of Commercial traps running just outside, some within 200 yards of the boat ramp. Quite the recreational demand. Probably OK if everyone follows the rules, but I know that isn't happening off Oak Bay or in Sooke Basin. I have been dropping my traps in front of the OB Beach Hotel. About 45' of water with a strong tide at times, but WAS great crabbing until the commercial string showed up. Hero to zero in about a month.
 
Last edited:
I’ve complained often to the local crab DFO guy here about the commercial crabbers to no avail. Lots of rec traps too just as described. On some summer days you could walk from cattle point to oak bay marina without getting your feet wet there are so many!

With the great weather we had today, I couldn’t resist pulling the cover off the boat for a spin in Oak bay for an extended lunch. ;) Dropped 2 traps in Cadboro bay then hit the flats for some trolling. Crickets. A few very faint marks and one good sized bait ball. Other than that scope was blank. A few boats were around mostly fishing inside Brodie but I didn’t see any nets out. I was fishing the 90ft to 100ft contour.

Picking up the crab traps wasn't much better. Only one keeper.

Great to be on the water again though. Has been a while.
 
I went out yesterday too. I think I saw you out there Irishwolf.
Dropped traps at Saxe and MacAulay Pt by 7:30 and headed to the flats for the flood tide. Worked the area from 80-140’ with one small feeder (released boatside) and a couple of rockfish and ling that were sent back to fatten up for in-season.
Returned to the traps about 5 hours later to find one keeper and one small male and the rest rock crab.
Irishwolf, do have have a contact for the local DFO guy? I’d be happy to be another squeaky wheel!
Beautiful calm day out there, just missing some keeper salmon!
 
Hey RTDub, yup I remember you! Nice boat you have there!

The fellows name is Steven Groves:
steven.groves@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
(250) 627-3455

He was new to the roll last Sept. At the time, I asked why commercial guys are allowed to fish inshore from a safety and FairPlay perspective. Ie they have higher limits and larger traps. I also complained about a submerged float that I almost got caught up on in front of the Fleming launch.

Submerged floats are illegal. He said to take a picture of the offending float showing it’s identification and to send that in as well it’s location.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Flats won’t be good again until March- April for the most part. You might get the off one but in general they will be smaller fish. The waterfront and Constance are the go to for many people this time of year.
 
Got out off Esq again hoping for better results from 8-1pm. Only 1 other boat out fishing so all my go too spots were avail. We were in 150 ft and marking tons of fish, I mean solid from top to bottom and looking like feeding on bait. Not a sniff, mixed up bait,spoons,rubber etc the just as the bite was about to come on we get sided by a US coast guard doing checks with rcmp. All went good but 1 dang barb wasn’t completely bent over. I was like what.... I pinch em all, well they were pretty good and gave me a warning and headed away. My buddy later got boarded by the breakwater with full compliance. Make sure your waterproof flashlights batteries are good. Anyway the fishing report is again the furry black guy with the white stripe. Still a beauty day
what model hummingbird is that?
 
My son and I dropped some traps out front of Willows beach yesterday for a few hours, When we returned and were pulling up our first trap I noticed a small inflatable (zodiac type) boat over by my other trap. I saw this boat zig sagging around earlier but never thought about it, as I pulled my trap it kind of hit me that there weren't any other traps near my first one. As I headed over to that boat all three of them looked at me at the same time, dropped the trap and headed out of there. I was only about 50' away as they left and sure enough it was my empty trap that they pulled. My name and number are there in bold numbers. I had been putting around enjoying the day with my son and fouled a plug on my motor minutes earlier so I was running on my kicker when this happened so I couldn't follow them to get a picture. Keep an eye on your traps at Willows boys!
 
Trap raiding is low... but always important to try to give benefit of the doubt too. I had a brutal experience this summer when someone came over and lost their mind on me while I was sorting the catch from my trap. They were absolutely certain that I had raided their trap... I guess I had drifted close to the float while dealing with mine. I kept cool through the stream of f-bombs... I'm reporting your registration number etc.... explained I had one trap and had not touched his trap etc... no good. I had a couple people who were new to the area with me and this guy pretty much ruined the experience of the day. I also had to move my trap as I was pretty sure he was going to steal it/cut the line. The guy was seriously steamed.. pretty sure he would have tried something except I was in a welded aluminum and he was in a canoe... I'm sure he had his traps stolen/raided before and I caught the brunt of it... but wow was he a dick.
 
Had a great morning off Esq today. Fished between 135-150 ft of water with riggers just up off the bottom. Launched at 8:30. Got a shaker early then a 5lber at 9;30 at 10 am had a good hit but on the rod transfer it got off. 10;30 got a pin popper and landed an 8 lb red female with a small minnow still in its mouth. Two more good hits that poped the pins but fought hard and shook the hooks. All were caught on the same side and the same double glo white flasher, green and white spoon on a 6ft leader. Kept trying different stuff including bait and even tried a matching spoon but no hits on the other side. Crab trap with my not so secret pork chop bait ;-) and a chicken back was so full there were 3 crabs on the outside of the trap. Had to be 25 in the trap, 2 females full of eggs lots of keeper size but soft and white only 1 red rock.Kept 4 beauties.
Looking forward to more winter days like today.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top