2018 Sooke Reports

[Jaybones]

I watched this with my son, it was awesome. Too windy to leave the bay, and nothing was happening for hours so the show was a good way to fill some time.
We were glad you got the fish in the end!

Too funny, Rockdog I am glad you guys enjoyed the entertainment, you can't have a circus without the clowns. I fish a lot by myself and when fishing solo it doesn't take much for things to go sideways in a hurry. I especially find it challenging when there is any bit of wind, my aluminium boat blows all over the place. I am still surprised that I got that fish.

 

[Seagirt]

Went out for one more kick at the can for sockeye tonight. Fished 5pm-8pm and found some sockeye out along the drop off from 200' to 400' west of Secretary. Had both green and pink hoochies down but pink had most hits at 40-80'. Landed two. Green brought in a couple shaker chinook (one was down at 220' when I was curious about some band of something showing on the sounder at 250'). Seemed that north and south tacks triggered most of the action except for one hit while tacking easterly. No hits while trolling west even though it was a flood current and we spent most of our time pointed that direction. Maybe it has something to do with the position of the sun (most hits when early morning sockeye fishing were when we were pointed west)? I'll repeat this experiment in 2022 and report back.

A bit closer to Secretary there were schools of juvenile rockfish (20cm length) in the water column around ~50'(even out in 400' bottom depth they were sitting at ~50'). They didn't look like black rock fish, more like vermilion or copper rockfish but I'm not proficient with rockfish ID. Sacrificed a few as I didn't have my descender device with me. Tough to notice them latch on and had to be vigilant checking the gear. We vacated that area as it was useless trying to avoid them.

Did a pass in close for chinook on the way home and marked bait and larger targets on the sounder but didn't hook anything.

On a side note; I was at Goldstream marina last week and had the good fortune to see some transients hunting at the head of Saanich inlet. A few of them swam within arm's reach of the dock and one of them had a seal in it's mouth. I looked into the seal's dead eyes as the whale paraded by with it's prize and I felt a very minute ounce of pity. Go team Transients.

 

[Stizzla]

Went out for one more kick at the can for sockeye tonight. Fished 5pm-8pm and found some sockeye out along the drop off from 200' to 400' west of Secretary. Had both green and pink hoochies down but pink had most hits at 40-80'. Landed two. Green brought in a couple shaker chinook (one was down at 220' when I was curious about some band of something showing on the sounder at 250'). Seemed that north and south tacks triggered most of the action except for one hit while tacking easterly. No hits while trolling west even though it was a flood current and we spent most of our time pointed that direction. Maybe it has something to do with the position of the sun (most hits when early morning sockeye fishing were when we were pointed west)? I'll repeat this experiment in 2022 and report back.

A bit closer to Secretary there were schools of juvenile rockfish (20cm length) in the water column around ~50'(even out in 400' bottom depth they were sitting at ~50'). They didn't look like black rock fish, more like vermilion or copper rockfish but I'm not proficient with rockfish ID. Sacrificed a few as I didn't have my descender device with me.

You should be okay without the descender at 50’

 

[Seagirt]

You should be okay without the descender at 50’

Nope, they were belly up. Ok...maybe it was 70' but perhaps juvies are more susceptible to barotrauma than larger fish?

 

[Stizzla]

Nope, they were belly up. Ok...maybe it was 70' but perhaps juvies are more susceptible to barotrauma than larger fish?

Too bad, but it’s not your fault. Makes me want to go back to the descending device thread and figure out which one I need to buy and keep it on my boat. I haven’t gone shopping for gear for almost a whole week!

 

[pachito]

Enjoyed the beautiful calm evening out west tonight went 3 for 6 all bright chromers , 50 to 70'

 

[fishhook]

Was fishing Otterpoint from 4:45 pm with my little son. Was a sunny calm afternoon. Just perfect. Lots of boats there. We counted 18 boats. Seems we got there just in time because as soon as we arrived we got fish on. After only 1 hour we had two 13lbs chinooks in the boat and lost another pin popper. Unfortunately, my youngster started getting sea sick at that point so we slowly wrapped up and then left.
Both fish were caught in 65' on the downrigger right at the Otterpoint.

 

[NautiGirl]

I put in a long solo shift around the otter/trailer park area yesterday from sunrise to 230. There was a bite from sunrise to about 830, then it slowed some for a few hours (except for those few boats fishing exclusively in the closed area (while being filmed by a man on the point with a tripod), then the bite came on again with the flood around noon. I lost a mid-teen that charged the boat, then another in the morning, then got two chinook and a hatch coho about 7lbs on the outside of the otter point fleet between 1230 and 230. Small chovie in bloody nose, electric chair hootchie, and the reliable AP sandlance were all getting hits. Shakers were frequent, so check your gear regularly for unannounced hitchhikers.

 

[wolf]

THEY were not in the closed area WHY do you guys say this **** .... most are playing by the rules the boundry is the radio tower im so tired of people whining about this PHONE DFO and say get rid of the boundry and MOST fish were not caught there .... need to open your eyes did you see me anywhere near there??? IMO

 

[ziggy]

I put in a long solo shift around the otter/trailer park area yesterday from sunrise to 230. There was a bite from sunrise to about 830, then it slowed some for a few hours (except for those few boats fishing exclusively in the closed area (while being filmed by a man on the point with a tripod), then the bite came on again with the flood around noon. I lost a mid-teen that charged the boat, then another in the morning, then got two chinook and a hatch coho about 7lbs on the outside of the otter point fleet between 1230 and 230. Small chovie in bloody nose, electric chair hootchie, and the reliable AP sandlance were all getting hits. Shakers were frequent, so check your gear regularly for unannounced hitchhikers

THEY were not in the closed area WHY do you guys say this **** .... most are playing by the rules the boundry is the flag pole im so tired of people whining about this PHONE DFO and say get rid of the boundry and MOST fish were not caught there .... need to open your eyes did you see me anywhere near there??? IMO

Is there some insider thing going on here that the rest of us are missing? Lol

 

[Saxe Point]

THEY were not in the closed area WHY do you guys say this **** .... most are playing by the rules the boundry is the flag pole im so tired of people whining about this PHONE DFO and say get rid of the boundry and MOST fish were not caught there .... need to open your eyes did you see me anywhere near there??? IMO

Is the flagpole you are referring to the same the radio tower? I ask because the DFO email makes no reference to a flagpole but instead refers to the radio tower. The closure is west of it:

“Effective June 1 to September 30, 2018 there is no fishing for finfish in
Subareas 20-3, 20-4 and that portion of Subarea 20-5 that lies west of 123
degrees 49.345 minutes west longitude (in line with the radio tower located at
Otter Point).”

 

[Englishman]

Family commitment kept us off the water for a week so it was great to get out there on such a calm beautiful day this morning. Fished from 7:15am until 2:15 pm.

Started out around harbour mouth/Possession with our usual anchovy right and herring left combo and waited 3 hours for our first bite. It was a sockeye which hit the anchovy but I did not get it into the net fast enough and it twisted off.

By now it was low slack and we did another pass of Possession and the anchovy won the shoot out this time and we had a nice hit at 66’. This time we boated a nice fat little 9lb chinook.

More passes and no action so went down to the Bluffs. Still no dice so headed out in case there were still sockeye around. Had herring one side and pink squirt the other. Reached 450’ of water and no action so turned back. Got back into 200’ of water and had a hit on the herring at 75’ and I thought “sockeye”, but nope was a nice 7lb hatchery coho. Dropped the herring again and 5 minutes later another hit and an almost identical hatchery coho came to net. Looped around in the flood tide some more but no more hits. Pink squirt did squat!

So four bites, three fish in the boat. Not a red letter day by any means but very satisfactory nevertheless and back at the ranch the three fish in the bucket looked bigger than out on the water, as they always do, so definitely cannot complain. All in all it was a very nice day and I caught a very big sun tan!! LOL

 

[wolf]

Is the flagpole you are referring to the same the radio tower? I ask because the DFO email makes no reference to a flagpole but instead refers to the radio tower. The closure is west of it:

(changed it to say radio tower)

YES thats why i asked for a clarification I asked if you use a" westery line that go towards sheringham " I asked where is the other end??? on the border? we need 2 reference points!!!! we will get back to you......... SO thats why I said earlier we turn at the radio tower the whole thing is a mess and fishing will soon be over so dont finger point etc etc we dont need the drama carry on and JUST fish people keep it to the reports....

The fish are just snapping at it now getting hits BAM of rigger run then gone rather annoying we went 2 for 6 today other day it was worse avg was way down... LOL beautiful day out there though looks like some weather heading our way colder and clouds

 

[ziggy]

This might help

Subarea 20-5
Those waters of Juan de Fuca Strait inside a line that
begins at

48°22.598′N 123°55.267′W [Sheringham Point]
then easterly following the shoreline to

48°21.443′N 123°44.985′W [Muir Point]
then to

48°20.328′N 123°42.854′W [Possession Point]
then easterly following the shoreline to

48°20.572′N 123°31.637′W [William Head Light]
then to

48°17.882′N 123°31.885′W [Race Rocks Light]
then 183° true to a point of intersection with the international boundary between Canada and the United States then following the international boundary to a point true south of Sheringham Point then true north to the beginning point.

But yeah reiterating the fact that it extends to the old border boundary would make sense. Guess they assume that in the absence of another lat and long, you need to assume it, as it’s simply a further subdivide of the area? Had similar problems when I looked up another area, would be nice if lat and long were recorded on all their maps instead of elsewhere.

 

[prettyboyfloyd]

After 10:30 trolled trap to Beecher then becher bay ending the day at 4 pm. After 19 nm and 10 hrs only a big fat skunk for the day’s work.

That is quite the troll

 

[The Jackel]

But, but i cant see the tower in the fog

 

[Saxe Point]

(changed it to say radio tower)

YES thats why i asked for a clarification I asked if you use a" westery line that go towards sheringham " I asked where is the other end??? on the border? we need 2 reference points!!!! we will get back to you......... SO thats why I said earlier we turn at the radio tower the whole thing is a mess and fishing will soon be over so dont finger point etc etc we dont need the drama carry on and JUST fish people keep it to the reports....

The fish are just snapping at it now getting hits BAM of rigger run then gone rather annoying we went 2 for 6 today other day it was worse avg was way down... LOL beautiful day out there though looks like some weather heading our way colder and clouds

I’m sorry Wolf, I just don’t understand why you believe it is so complicated and requires clarification by DFO. Their email, which reproduces the language in the notice, makes it very clear. It says, in material part, “Effective June 1 to September 30, 2018 there is no fishing for finfish in... that portion of Subarea 20-5 that lies west of 123 degrees 49.345 minutes west longitude (in line with the radio tower located at Otter Point).”

Whether you look at a chart or use a GPS, it’s so simple: anywhere in subarea 20-5 west of the radio tower (or those westerly coordinates which they say are where the tower is located) is closed. This closed area of subarea 20-5 extends from that point to the western edge of subarea 20-5 which is Sheringham Point. Beyond this, any other reference to Sheringham Point is irrelevant to identifying the closed area.

The “line” that seems to be perplexing you must, as a matter of logic and common sense, extend perpendicular to the westerly coordinates (the radio tower). Perpendicular means a north/south line drawn at a 90 degree angle from the longitudinal line represented by those coordinates (the radio tower).

Simple, in my view and in addition, you don’t even need to worry about the perpendicular line. That’s because my chart plotter, like any GPS, makes it even easier because by reading the longitude, it tells me exactly how far west I am and if I am west of those coordinates that represent the boundary.

How is this anything but clear? Am I missing something?

 

[Jama]

Great bite tonight for us. Fished 4-8pm and limited out with 4 springs in the boat released another and 3 scrappy wild coho that all popped the clip. 3 springs were teens, red and clipped and the Smallest about 8lbs was white.
All on chovy but it’s getting to be that time where I hate using those trebles when coho are around.
I don’t have GPS so if someone wants to clarify on what angle off that tower you are expected to turn I might listen. It seems most don’t go past it on a direct line to Sherringham but in a fleet of 25+ it’s hard to figure out you just kind of turn when you can. It should be fun trying to spot the radio tower from a mile away towards the end of the month while coho fishing. A thread on that looks it might be fun.

 

[wolf]

he “line” that seems to be perplexing you must, as a matter of logic and common sense, extend perpendicular to the westerly coordinates (the radio tower). Perpendicular means a north/south line drawn at a 90 degree angle from the longitudinal line represented by those coordinates (the radio tower).

IS it though its NOT stated there lies the problem and there lies all the confusion . its not stated the direction, you can ASSUME its a north to south but it doesnt state it I even asked WHY there is not a map drawn p like all the other boundaries......
the other closure at possesion is VERY easy for us all possesion to muir pt off the bluffs simple pt 2 waypoints on the gps and do a a route now you know exactly where the boundry is ..this will be the last time I comment on this as its a dumb rule and EVERYONE seems to have their own opinion on it including my self. The only one that seem to be getting their knickers in a knot is you fishermen some of you are acting like bullys in the sand box being jealous someone has more time on the swing set......
IF it was SUCH a huge problem these last 3 months do you not think the rubber raft would have been out ticketing people its apparent they see it as we are doing it some what right as they are definitely monitoring it, JUST go fish Guys enjoy what time we have left in the rest of the summer , enjoy the last few days on the water before school starts and run is gone. we all have worse things in life then this ....I have a bad feeling we wont be fishing there anymore anyways after all of this anyways after they buzzed past the point in the plane a few days ago 10 times VERY LOW!!!!!

 

[Admin]

Third time a charm? Any future posts on this sidebar will be removed immediately.

While I appreciate the fact that this subject has merit and is a touchy one given what has happened with the closure this season, it is time to get back to reports for this thread. If you want to start another thread dedicated to this topic feel free to start it somewhere else.