Spent 3 days fishing out of Moutcha and fished exclusively the lighthouse to wash rocks area. Not as consistent action as last year the same time but there are a bunch around. Mostly teeners with a few low twenties. AP Sandlance spoon in silver colours hands down the best lure for both of our boats. Interestingly this year not typically right off the bottom but often 20' up produced more than the deeper line. Tons of shakers can be a nuisance. Hali was dead for us but nice lings and snappers filled the gap.
2016 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Fishing Reports
- Thread starter saanauk
- Start date
Ehand
New Member
Just returned from 3 days @ Moutcha and 3 days @ Critter Cove. It seemed like the big fish are coming, high teens / low 20's early in the week and mid 20's with a few 30's by the end of the trip. A couple at CC landed a 32, 30,& 28 at Beano on Wednesday. We fished wash rock, Beano, and Bajo with the biggest fish being at Bajo.
My son won the "16 and Under" category at Moutcha last weekend with a 21lb'r. The sponsor trophy went to a 17lb'r so he did ok. Thanks to everyone on the board for the tips.
We are back at Critter Cove on the 11th, can't wait.
My son won the "16 and Under" category at Moutcha last weekend with a 21lb'r. The sponsor trophy went to a 17lb'r so he did ok. Thanks to everyone on the board for the tips.
We are back at Critter Cove on the 11th, can't wait.
cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Great report . Actually on the ferry hoping to fish Nootka this afternoon. Where is Beano?
trophy fisher
Active Member
Up the coast from Maquina Point where the rock wall rises up and then there is a bay with a gravel beach. It's nice to hear that the big ones are showing up. I'm there in 10 days. Staying at Moutcha.
Fish On II
New Member
First Week on Summer 2016
Yes, it was very productive for Spring/King, Ling and Halibut.
The pictures say it all. We have not seen Halibut in these numbers in many years.
The Springs/ Kings/Chinook have arrived in GOOD numbers in Nootka at Maquinna Pt., Bajo & Beano Creek. In Esperanza at Ferrer Pt., Outer Blk. Rk & all the regular spots on the World Famous Salmon Super Highway.
“The Catching is going to do nothing but get BETTER as the days move us into July”
“Whale sightings are a daily occurrence- Grey, Humpback & Orca Whales”
They just keep coming by the boat load
45-15Lb Haibut. The largest of 6 Springs boated yesterday. 25Lb all
Caught at the Red Can Esperanza from the highway
The largest Hali of the week. 81Lb caught +
at Bajo Reef
Ken with his 32 Lb Ling caught at the Pins while
fishing for Hali
Sheila caught her 1st Spring ever while on the Highyway off
Esperanza this week. Their boat with 3 abaord limited out 21-28 Lb
Two 15 Lb Yellow Eye. Some of the best white meat in the
ocean- Don caught these off Ferrerr in 150 feet of water.
Howard boated Springs, Hali & Yellow Eyes on a recent Day
Trip to Nootka
Joel with the 1st Tyee of the 2016 Season. Caught on
the Highway on June 26th. Using a 6 inch image blue
coyote spoon. 31.25Lbs
Yes, it was very productive for Spring/King, Ling and Halibut.
The pictures say it all. We have not seen Halibut in these numbers in many years.
The Springs/ Kings/Chinook have arrived in GOOD numbers in Nootka at Maquinna Pt., Bajo & Beano Creek. In Esperanza at Ferrer Pt., Outer Blk. Rk & all the regular spots on the World Famous Salmon Super Highway.
“The Catching is going to do nothing but get BETTER as the days move us into July”
“Whale sightings are a daily occurrence- Grey, Humpback & Orca Whales”
They just keep coming by the boat load
45-15Lb Haibut. The largest of 6 Springs boated yesterday. 25Lb all
Caught at the Red Can Esperanza from the highway
The largest Hali of the week. 81Lb caught +
at Bajo Reef
Ken with his 32 Lb Ling caught at the Pins while
fishing for Hali
Sheila caught her 1st Spring ever while on the Highyway off
Esperanza this week. Their boat with 3 abaord limited out 21-28 Lb
Two 15 Lb Yellow Eye. Some of the best white meat in the
ocean- Don caught these off Ferrerr in 150 feet of water.
Howard boated Springs, Hali & Yellow Eyes on a recent Day
Trip to Nootka
Joel with the 1st Tyee of the 2016 Season. Caught on
the Highway on June 26th. Using a 6 inch image blue
coyote spoon. 31.25Lbs
cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Thanks
cohochinook
Well-Known Member
Got out for a two-hour fish late today. Ran out to wash rocks and managed to 15 pounder. Had one other hit and one small salmon. Got the 15 pounder on a white hoochie at 56 feet
Hi Ehand, welcome here - I was your boat neighbour in Moutcha with the Arima and my sons competed with yours for the Junior prize! Was nice to meet you. Glad you had some more great fishing at CC.
Tell your son he was lucky with his 21# - my son Alex landed a 22# on Mon morning after the derby! That's why you shouldn't fish a day before and after a derby....
lol
Hope to see you again next year or drop me a note if you are in Victoria and want to fish!
Cheers,
Chris
Tell your son he was lucky with his 21# - my son Alex landed a 22# on Mon morning after the derby! That's why you shouldn't fish a day before and after a derby....
lol
Hope to see you again next year or drop me a note if you are in Victoria and want to fish!
Cheers,
Chris
Ehand
New Member
Hi Chris,
It was great meeting you as well. As I told Coop, "It's better to be lucky than good!"
Weights were definitely picking up. I am back up next week and am interested in hearing reports from this week to see if the trend continued.
We will be there next year and I will let you know next time we are in Victoria. You do the same if you are in the San Juans.
Erik
It was great meeting you as well. As I told Coop, "It's better to be lucky than good!"
Weights were definitely picking up. I am back up next week and am interested in hearing reports from this week to see if the trend continued.
We will be there next year and I will let you know next time we are in Victoria. You do the same if you are in the San Juans.
Erik
spring fever
Well-Known Member
Papa Whisky-you are most welcome-I've had lots of help along the way and it's payback time. I have'n t heard of the pins down in Nootka but up off Esperanza there is a place called the pins. Beano -you go out to Macquinna rock(watch your chart) lots of nasty rocks -turn north or right and follow the coast up to a big bay -fish along the wall with all the big caves-then curl out south into the deeper flats fishing the bottom (130 to 140ft deep). I wrote an article on fishing Nootka about 15 years ago on Salmonuniversity .com while some areas are now closed it has maps and shows you all the areas. I believe it's still posted. Watch DFO because I know new regs are going to be in place for this area come July 15th good luck
trophy fisher
Active Member
SF, you wrote that article for SU? That was the best info I could find when we started fishing Nootka 4 years ago. So helpful. Very much appreciate all the information. TF
spring fever
Well-Known Member
Yep that was me--in a moment of weakness-got so much traffic going in there-it was the reason I started fishing Winter Harbour more. My crew are older than me and now they find a Winter harbour trip pretty strenuous so I have been back to fishing Nootka a bit. For me it is a much shorter trip-usually no more than 2 nights on the boat. I don't often fish inside unless I have to.
Dan The Man
Active Member
headed over weds! will report back! cannot wait! will be fishing every weekend till Aug staying at Critter! Come by and have a pop!
RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
SF - fished Nootka since I was 12 with my dad: I remember being in Cougar Creek campsite when it was half empty. Next year it was almost full capacity, the next year you couldn't even get in there. That was around 1990-1991. We fished out of a 14' Lund with a 9.9 as the main power! I remember seeing "Camel Rock " for the first time, and thinking it was some sort of holy land, the stuff of legend.
I remember we had an elderly gent with us from Dauphin, Manitoba. A guy who worked his entire life for CN Rail. He never caught anything bigger than a walleye in his life. My dad went in to make lunch for us, so I trolled the guy just in front of Cougar Creek. I "guided" him into a 29 lb dime bright Chinook. Proudest moment of my then life. He wouldn't stop thanking me. That was 28 years ago....
Moment of weakness or not, that place changed when the road access went in there, not your article.
I always reference the article as a " reminder" prior to heading to Nootka and it always gets me pumped.
greenhornet
Active Member
Sorry for the late reply,yes the pins are off esperanza If you ;look on a chart there're three circles small columns I call it a trench in between them just my own def.I don't have the co-ordinates as my charts are on my boat in gold river.My buddy just got home yesterday he and his wife fished for 7 days straight they did well on the bajo and Beano creek,spring fever is right you go out around maquinna point then fish by the caves into the bay watch you gps its a beautiful spot for sure... good luck !!!!
Tight Lines
Billydoo
Tight Lines
Billydoo
barkerfam
Well-Known Member
Stayed at Flynn's cove from 6/27-7/1. There were basically no fish on the inside. The ones we caught were at inner black rock at the evening tide change. The one day we could get out was productive at the pinnacles. Limits for two boats fishing at 120 in the DR in 250 feet of water. Biggest was 25 with most being small (6-10). Best lure was a small cop car and an army truck needlefish GSB. Ferrer point was nada, but only fished for 4 hours around a morning tide change. Tried ALL of the tackle box on this trip. Not sure I'll return this early in the season again. Typically we go in the third week of july with much better success.
LachlanS
New Member
My Father and I have been fishing out of Rodgers all weekend. First day we were scuba diving in Tahsis inlet to check out the structure and to also scout out what types of shellfish were around. Saw nothing major except for a couple of small abalone. We had the best luck at 6 mile reef for salmon, where we caught three in a morning. We were fishing around 60-90 feet however friends who were with us caught them anywhere between 25 - 180 feet. Quite the range, i know. Saw a 20~ pounder on the surface too, so the fish are really everywhere. White hoochies and bait were what we were generally running. We also got our limit of halis at the pins, nothing over 30lbs however. Today we tried fishing the highway as the weather was perfect, and after 3 hours we didnt even get a strike, although the water looked great and we could see a lot of action on our fish finder. We exclusively ran 6"-8" spoons, but didnt get a strike. Does anyone have experience fishing the highway this time of year? If you have any tips for next year they would be greatly appreciated. Lastly, there was absolutely nothing going on in Esperanza inlet all weekend. we fished Ferrier for around 5 hours and got one salmon. It was very very slow. Recommend heading outside if you are fishing this area in the next week or so.
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