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Visibility today was at times good and at times poor. When it was good you could actually see clouds against a blue sky...when it was poor it was maybe 200ft vis. Sooke Harbour was quite thick first thing this morning.
 
Lame. They are calling for smoke too last until end of week now. Very dangerous if those crab traps and floats are still around off harbour. I am waiting till it clears up...
 
Calling for thunder storms tonight...just what we need is lightning!!!! NOT
 
It has been a while but got out today. Tried inside for Chinook but zip. Went off shore for Ho's and lost some, released some and kept two 7lbers, both on plastic. Lots of bait around and crap on the water in places. Early the smog was not overly thick but by mid morning it was super thick where we were with almost no visibility at all and definitely a nav. lights and radar day. With visibility that thick I left the boys to work the gear and play fish and concentrated on instrument navigation, dividing my attention between the chart plotter, radar and maintaining a watch out the windows for boats and crap on the water. Maintaining that level of concentration for 5 hours tires you out. Especially with the strong flood tide and the South Easter running into it and creating slop. Had to keep the kicker/ boat speed up, not just for the Coho but to maintain course with the current trying to have its way with the boat.
Not that many boats out on the radar but from the radio chatter it sounds like most were getting into Coho. Also managed 7 keeper crabs.
 
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There are anchovies in BC waters but not prolific enough to just assume you will go out and get some.....you have to be lucky and in the right place at the right time. Awesome fishing today with a Sportfishingbc member. We didn't hit as many coho as my last trip 2 days ago but we found 8 clipped. All nice fish up to 9 pounds. We released a couple of wilds that would have topped 10 pounds. Fished the same depths s last trip from 35-70 ft...today 70 was best. Most fish were in the 300 ft area off the Tin Shed. There are a couple of large Scotsman in the area where I've been fishing...not sure what is on the other end? All on anchovies and anything green seems to work best.View attachment 57027

great day, thanks again Rollie!
 
It has been a while but got out today. Tried inside for Chinook but zip. Went off shore for Ho's and lost some, released some and kept two 7lbers, both on plastic. Lots of bait around and crap on the water in places. Early the smog was not overly thick but by mid morning it was super thick where we were with almost no visibility at all and definitely a nav. lights and radar day. With visibility that thick I left the boys to work the gear and play fish and concentrated on instrument navigation, dividing my attention between the chart plotter, radar and maintaining a watch out the windows for boats and crap on the water. Maintaining that level of concentration for 5 hours tires you out. Especially with the strong flood tide and the South Easter running into it and creating slop. Had to keep the kicker/ boat speed up, not just for the Coho but to maintain course with the current trying to have its way with the boat.
Not that many boats out on the radar but from the radio chatter it sounds like most were getting into Coho. Also managed 7 keeper crabs.

What radio frequency are people chatting on in Sooke?
 
Out again this morning for 4 hours. Fished the same general area and depths...found enough coho to keep busy but all wild...nothing to bring home except crab from the traps.
 
Fished around noon at Albert head, no luck, moved out to Beecher bay for four hours... 16 coho were caught , one hatchery 8lbs. 5 wild were 14-16lbs range. Depth was in between 450-550 downriggers were at 70-80ft. Green and green, anchovy’s caught most followed by a holy roller
 
Wow! Super sized coho these days. Must’ve been fun fights!
Fished around noon at Albert head, no luck, moved out to Beecher bay for four hours... 16 coho were caught , one hatchery 8lbs. 5 wild were 14-16lbs range. Depth was in between 450-550 downriggers were at 70-80ft. Green and green, anchovy’s caught most followed by a holy roller
 
I was out yesterday morning until noon , got our 4 hatchery all fat 6-9lb
Stuffed with herring.
From 500-300 feet of water out front of Sooke Harbor to the bluffs.
Many big wild Coho! I had several right off the clip and running coming to the surface and do surface runs!
I had one I actually thought it was a chinook It fought so hard, even pulled all the gear to land it, was a monster Coho pushing easy 15lbs.
Had it beside the boat thinking it's definitely Wild to let go , my jaw dropped when I saw it was actually clipped! I go to net it and the second he sees the net he went ballistic! Right out of the water shaking as hard as he could and spat the hook right back at me! He had a different agenda! Lol. But what a beauty!
So much fun!
 
Fished in the fog out from Spirit Bay this morning. Got 2 nice size hatchery coho on hootchies out in 300' of water. Released a few wild. The fog started to lift, then got so thick it was hard to navigate. Had to leave a crab pot out as we couldn't locate it in zero visibility. Saw some humpbacks. Also a dead sea lion carcass swirling in a tide rip. Looked like something had torn a hole in it. Overall a decent day out on the water.
 
After two weeks of no fishing, I threw caution to the wind, grabbed a friend and got to the boat by 1:30 yesterday afternoon. Immediately flooded the motor! The batteries had been drained a little, so I fired up the kicker to charge up the batteries while we waited for the flooding to clear and 20 minutes later we were off!

Things I didn't anticipate:
1) That we were out in the strongest flood of the month. 2.4knt in the strait according to the sounder gps! Made for some difficult tacks and a lot of zig zags cross-current. When we caught a decent fish, I would mark it on the chart but there was no way in hell we were getting back there!

2) The poor visibility of fog/smoke. It was eerie and very disorienting! Thankfully we left, trolled and returned home without incident Only heard one boat, but never saw them. The visibility was 100m tops. I wouldn't call it "safe".

3) That it is possible to catch one fish with two lines through proper team work and effective communication.

All in all it wasn't "barn burning action". We got a few wilds to the boat (biggest was 10lb) which were safely released and a bunch of shakers. We kept a 47cm chinook as it was hooked through the gills and bleeding profusely.

Winning combo (7-2) was the Cop Car Holy Roller and matching Cop Car Glow flasher. 68' on DR. 450-600ft deep. Fog Smoke Trolling.jpg
 
How is it that I post twice in a row for different days?

NO SMOKE! Thank God.

Got out from noon to 3:30 today off the Head again. First bite was a double header - one lost, and this beauty 66cm hatchery!

A few more good wilds after that (one over 10lbs), but pretty scattered action. 68ft and 80 ft were the magic depths and 500ft of water.

Winning combos are below
 

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Hey guys not a report as I haven't been out. Just wanted all the sooke people to know the boat that was tied at the public launch was finally removed.
 

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742F8970-2DD4-474B-8990-847FC7331A3B.jpeg Out this morning off the Head 500’ off water and the first two hours were decent action. Managed to get two nice hatchery fish out of the 8-10 fish we got to the boat. Next two hours was like someone turned the switch off for me.

80 feet was the most productive today.

Back at it in the morning for a few more hours.
 
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