2016 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Fishing Reports

We were up there July 7-9. The weather was terrible and sadly so was the fishing for springs. We couldn't get outside much. We tried Bajo for a bit when we could get there. Unfortunately that was only for a short window on the Thursday morning early and a bit on Saturday and by Saturday we were having issues with the kicker steering and couldn't do the place justice. We had also fished the Burdwood side as it provided some opportunities for protection from the wind and waves. We couldn't hook into any salmon using bait and white hootchies on the outside.

Friday was a total write off for us. The outside was nasty so we stayed inside and we caught nothings except little shakers. Bait, white hootchies, small spoons... nothing worked for us. We spent two of our nights at Critter Cove. There didn't seem to be any fish being caught on the inside and, while the outside was supposed to be a bit better when you could get there, even that wasn't reported to be very good at all. Not sure where the fish are, but they didn't seem to be in or near Nootka when we were there. Hopefully they'll show up soon.

We caught a nice halibut quite quickly on the last day and some ling cod before the wind and waves pushed us back into calm waters. So all was not lost and we returned home to show off some fish (this really helps with ensuring we can get the family support for future trips!).

Critter Cove was great. The Sound is beautiful even in the pouring rain. Lots of otters and whales.
 
Fishing has been tough if you cant get offshore. Managed 4 on the reef on Saturday 19 , 20 ,22 , 23. Good size fish with lots of fight! all on chovies. Headed back to critter on Thurs - Sunday hoping for some redemption!
 
Fished sun pm ,all mon, and tues morning. Good and bad -worked really hard and picked up a couple of nice fish San carlos sun pm-tons of shakers, tried coopte,hoiss sun pm Fished the monument Dollies till dark-Nada-lots of boats-rough no nets. Fishing is choices and I made a bad one mon. and went to Beano instead of to the Red can- 15 boats at Beano-no bait-2 nets and one was ours. Better lucky than good-saw lots of boats off-shore but because of weather, wind went back to Wash, the flats monument and Dollies-Nada-Tried Burdwood -Good take-decent fish. Raining torrentially-took a break. Hammered
the monument ,wash and dollies till dark along with a pile of guys-no nets, no takes-nada. All the guys I saw had no fish!! Hit Burdwood first light with the aid of radar-nobody there-lots of shakers but we persevered and dug up 3. I was praying that the boys at the red can had hit fish because if they hadn't we would be in trouble!! Met Pescador at the ramp and they went off-shore and suffice it to say -there were fish there. I'm sure he will report, nice to finally meet you Gord! So according to my records the latest the fish have hit the monument is 15 july-going soon you should be in luck. Anchovies, 3.25 GLO cop car, coho killer in Irish cream, and a nano jug glow needle fish worked.
 
Hey Spring Fever, great report thanks for that. funny you should say that July 15th is the latest you've seen the springs show up at the monument. I used to guide up at Nootka and in 96 the fishing was very spotty in early July (you were hoping for 1 chance at a nice spring) then on the 15th, the day the spring closure took effect, the fishing went off. There was no one there and it was slab after slab all day. Hoping that the boys get some love soon out there...
 
Dan, nice to see you hooked up. Beauty update SF. What boat are you running?

What gives on the DFO report that extra extra fish and big ones are coming through? Time will tell.
 
Dan, nice to see you hooked up. Beauty update SF. What boat are you running?

What gives on the DFO report that extra extra fish and big ones are coming through? Time will tell.
Running a Skagit from 2003 with a 2015 yammi 300. I'm hearing some nice fish were off-shore this morning-Hope springs eternal! LOL
 
Fished Beano Sunday, scraped up 2, on Monday went offshore to Bajo and caught 3 more. Sunday night caught one at Camel, this morning caught two at Hoist. Fish were 19-25lbs. Used anchovies and spoons. Catch was 50/50 between the two. My guess is fish are starting to come inside and those fishing it will be rewarded as the run continues to grow over the next few days and weeks.

Bad news on guide that fell over on Monday and his clients didn't know how to run the boat. Good new he was found an hour or two later by the Coast Guard! Man the ocean was rough on Monday........

Great trip, will be headed back up on the 23rd
 
Fished outside Bajo today from 2 till 7. Slayed 7 springs. Biggest were 32,23 and 20. The rest were 8-16lbs. Great fishing. Was nice and flat till around 5:30 then the swell started to pick up. All springs caught on nano glow white hootchi. Have heard that the inside is starting to pick up.
 
Just got back to Vancouver from Nootka. Fished almost exclusively at Bajo our whole trip. We tried inside but just didn't have any luck at all. We heard of a few being caught inside, but, compared to previous years it was not the same. Maybe they're late. Anyway, Bajo produced better than I have ever seen. Every day was good. Monday morning was best for me and crew. Dropped lines at 0625. Had first hit at 0645 at 20 lbs. then dropped lines down and 5 minutes later a 25 lb fish. After that my crew picked 3 more fish all 20 lbs or over the following 2 hours. We had doubles and lost 3 other fish due to water conditions. It was very snotty. I've got bruises all over from trying to hang on as we got thrown around the boat. I mean ugly. In fact a guide out of Rodgers fell off a boat and ended up floating we heard 2 hours in water before he was picked up by another boat. We heard we had his pfd on. Thank God for that. Oh, and on Saturday one of our guys hit a freight train that pull 700 ft of line off his reel ending up breaking the leader. It was a hog. We heard of a few similar stories. Most fish on chovies 40-60 ft. Good to meet you and your crew today Mike.
 
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Well here is some news I received from a very good source starting on the 15 of July,from what Iam told a line from beano creek around bajo out through the red can to a point in line with the furthest way point of the existing rca then up north to a certain point then back in and around ferrier point there will be no fishing period. In return beano creek,maquinna,wash rock the monument or light house, dollies are all open to 2 chinook over 45 cm. I've been looking on Dfo website daily and can't find any new maps,supposed to be out any day now doesn't it make you sick that they change huge regs and nothing on the website. I personally haven't seen anything yet but I'm told this is 100% happening so make sure you do some homework and get the correct information so you don't get fined because there to $&(;@? In slow to get out the proper info.

Tight Lines
Billydoo
 
So--oooo a lawyers field day as usual!!! Guy goes fishing today(nothing posted yet) gets caught in the "proposed area" on 15th july-no internet or phone readily available-doubt they will have it on the bulletin boards by the 15th --really interesting how they could possibly make a fine or penalty stick if the guy refused to pay and went to court. Supposed common knowledge ,alias hearsay and rumours don't count. Guess that's my rant for Wed. afternoon-better not have a beer or 5 or I'd be in fine form!!LOL
 
Fished outside Bajo today. Managed 3 big springs to the boat. Lost 3 more at the boat and losts of lings and red vermillions. All spring from the bottoms. Buddy get 4 coho fishing shallow. Good day but the weather started to pick up later in the afternoon.
 
These are the best reports I have heard this year. Hope it keeps up and some of these fish come around Sooke!
 
The last week has been very successful fishing Esperanza. Salmon fishing in shore has been very slow, but off shore has been epic! The last few days we have had Humpback whales by the dozens feeding on krill and herring that are in biomass's like I have never seen before. Chinook are coming in double headers on the morning bite. On July 9th we had 5 double headers by 8:30 am and had landed 12 springs. The fish are deep between 170-200 feet. Later in the day if you are still fishing salmon drop the gear down up to 250 feet. 12 miles south west of Catala has been the hot spot. Fishing on the 6 mile reef on the flood tide has been very good for springs as well. The UV white terd, glow hoochies and no bananas spoon in 4 inch and 6 inch, have been top producers. Purple glow/silver and red glow/silver flashers have been a good bet. We are starting to see a few Coho in the mix right now, and some very large fish for this time of year. Coho up to 14 pounds have been caught while fishing Chinooks.

Halibut has slowed up the last week. We are still limiting out all guests, but we are having to work for them. We have seen some very large fish to the side of the boat this year. In the last 2 weeks we have released 2 fish over 200 lbs and many others between this and the legal slot size. Salmon bellies and Mackerel seem to be the best producers. Dog fish have not been a problem lately. Shallower spots have been best for larger fish. Any of the under water structure around 6 mile is producing good size fish.

Tuna anyone? Our next open boat is August 17-19th and this will be one of our first tuna trips.

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Just got back from 12 days in Nootka as I have to go back to work for 2 days then back to Nootka until September. I'll try and give a report later as it's going to be a busy 2 days here.

This is the map for Area 25 Chinook that was just released.
 

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  • Area 25-chinook 2016.pdf
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Just browsed the DFO site and can't find the map for 27, just a long writeup that i'll need to have my lawyer review...
 
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