We were out Saturday didn't try too hard on the water by 8am fished until 3pm fished from secretary-trapshack-beechy head areas 400ish' of water worked 100-40' had some luck about 6 wild coho to the boat anywhere from 6-12lb and about as many shakers, one jack spring as well on spoons and some hoochies, nothing on bait.
2018 Sooke Reports
- Thread starter SFBC
- Start date
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
yes its over.
Promised a report....
Headed out at about 9:30 this morning with the hopes of getting into a couple decent sized unclipped coho. On our way to the crowd we noticed a humpback whale just off the head. My daughter has never seen a humpback from the boat (many Orcas though), so we decided to stop and watch for a bit. After waiting for him to re-surface, I decided to just start trolling where we were. We were fishing 3 rods off 2 downriggers. After 30 minutes I decided to check the deep rod - 90ft (glow hootchie). I brought the rod up and was just reaching for the clip to hand line the rest of the line in for a quick reset, when it snapped out of my hand. The line was 10 feet behind the boat... 10 lb "wild" coho. She reeled in it (It did take some line out) and we were already happy campers. About 15 minutes later one of the rods with a small spoon went off. As I went to net it I noticed it was also an unclipped coho, this time about 5 lbs. Having been down this road before I knew that I was taking a chance - how often does the bite stop for the rest of the day after feeling like you can do no wrong... We let it go. And with that release we spent the next 2 hours enjoying the weather and the flat calm water. A couple hits and a couple undersized Chinook was it. It was time to go. A great day in my books. Now I'm a "five minutes more guy", and always will be. But we had to get going (studying was waiting for her). So, I casually, systematically brought the lines in one at a time. Cleaning each rod, putting it away before I started the next one, hoping that last bite would happen. Two rods put away, one downrigger done, and over to the last rod on the other downrigger. I look up at the rod and it's bouncing (it was at 110 feet, same glow hootchie). I grabbed it and tried to release it from the clip - no dice - I thought it was still in the clip for a second, then realized it was just a heavy, stubborn fish. I passed it to my daughter. It started pulling line in a constant determined fashion, right down to the backing on my reel. Never had that happen before. After a decent amount of time we were able to land the fish. A nice ~18lb (looked bigger in the boat) Chinook. My daughter literally had tears of joy in her eyes. We high fived a few times, cleaned up, and went home. That's what I call a good father/daughter day... To be sure, luck was on our side today....
Here is the link to Cheanuh's facebook. The fella at the desk was nice enough to take and post a pic. I'm sure you'll figure out which ones we are...
https://www.facebook.com/CheanuhMarina/
Was out this morning and found it a bit of a grind for numbers but the quality showed up. Nice that on the 1st day to keep wilds that we hooked and landed the biggest Coho I have seen up to my boat this fall. We kept 3 wild and one hatch with the largest going 13.5 pounds. All fish for us were between 70 and 95 ft and all on bait.
Stizzla
Crew Member
Nice! Looks like the seas were calm too.
Tsquared
Well-Known Member
I had to laugh, otherwise I’d cry at the absurdity of our government’s decisions.Oh those pesky kayaks should be banned year round, just drive those whales nuts with how they race around and not to mention all that paddle noise/disturbance.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Did afternoon trip for change but I shouldn't have. Was calm and flat yesterday was out from 3-630. Unbelievably slow, and surprising they were off the bite. Fished in 500 ft of water off Secretary and to the harbor and back in close in usual spots . Had only one decent one that I lost at side of boat. Many guys coming in when I was going out with nothing that fished the AM. Sure it will get better with another wave of fish. We need a good storm.
Englishman
Well-Known Member
If you can't get any SV they are not there that is for sure! We were skunked on the 27th Sept as I said in my post, albeit in poor conditions. A couple of others have also been skunked recently too I see. Even Spoiler only caught massive Chinook!! LOL
We could not fish most of September but there were many reports on here of dozens of fish at a session during that time, many of which had to be released of course as unclipped. So I am wondering if the main coho run already came through in September and we are now done? We shall still give it a try this week, but things really look like they have declined dramatically since mid-September.
Out yesterday and decided to start in close on the western approach to Sooke Inlet on the off chance we could pick up a late Sooke River Chinook turning the corner, but nothing. What was of interest inside was a very large number of Harbour Porpoise. In recent years it is common to see 4 to 7 of them in small tight groups and usually they are shy and stay away from the boats. This was nothing like that. It seemed like there were hundreds of them in the mouth of the harbour in the 70 to 90 water column range and over a huge area. They were spread out all over and extremely active on the surface and would charge over very close to the boat. It was quite the show. Is it the mating season or something? The population seems to have increased greatly in recent years.
We moved out off shore away from the Porpoise and finally found some nice Ho’s around the 540 water column and down 90 to 97 feet. All hooked up on plastic. The largest was an 11 lb unclipped. No Chums for us so far this year.
We moved out off shore away from the Porpoise and finally found some nice Ho’s around the 540 water column and down 90 to 97 feet. All hooked up on plastic. The largest was an 11 lb unclipped. No Chums for us so far this year.
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SpringVelocity
Crew Member
No. It was just an off day. Listening to Rockfish above he was just a little west of us, and got into some. There will be a lot more days left.
Took my Nephew from Toronto out fishing for first time ever on Monday, could not be any better for him. Flat calm. Two nice wilds in the box, three returned including one pushing 10 lbs +, couple long line releases. Couldn't find any hatcheries. Straight off the head from 450 ' to shipping lanes. More action closer in. Daisy chain dummy flashers with 4 rods out. Coho killers were the most productive. Couple massive short period waves came out of nowhere about a boat length apart and had to be 4-5 ft crest. Bow nearly plowed into 2nd wave. Awesome day .
Went straight out off Beechy yesterday at 8:30 and landed a double header right off at 450 ft at 80 and 70 ft, one hatchery (coho killer) and one wild(bait). Then another double header at 550 feet a little deeper, both wild so only boated one (again bait and coho killer). One more wild after that on bait so we just took home the three but both releases were clean which is nice. Sadly, there is still a little Fireball in the bottle in October, so looks like we will just have to go out again tomorrow.
Out today from 7am until 1pm and got into a few again. Brought home 4 coho, 3 wild and 1 hatch, the hatch was the biggest at about 9 pounds. Lost a few more. The water was not ideal but with the wind and current both in line it wasn't too bad. Seeing more Humpbacks the past couple days feeding on the bait in the area. Fish yesterday had 8 inch herring in them.
