2019 Nootka Sound/Esperanza Inlet Reports

[donnie d]

Camped at Moutcha Thurs-Sunday. morning bite inside was quite good, Hoiss to Coopte was all we fished in the early am Friday and Saturday mornings. Ran out by 8am to light and trolled eagle, wash to Maquinna. Did pretty well there too. I just love fishing out around the corner there hard to beat. Coho were a nice size. Lost some doozies that broke off, straightened hooks or spit hooks after coming within a few feet of the net...sport fishing....

Evenings inside were slower, but got 3 fish in two nights at camel. Friday was a monsoon and after coming in for lunch and to dry out we didn’t go back out. Sitting here now of course I wish we had because all I want to do is get some lines down again!

Definitely fish inside and good sizes too, but it wasn’t as turned on as I’ve seen it before on the inside. Couple seals around the inside too...

Road to Moutcha was awful in my opinion. Road out was even worse after the rain. Lots of 5kmph spots. No issues, just took it slow.

 

[The Dominator]

We arrived on the evening of the 19th and fisher were just showing up insided. Probably a week late IMO. Fishing between Hoiss and Coope was very productive for us. Had 9 fish in the boat in 2.5 days there with the biggest being 27. 4-5 smaller fish released. Average fish kept were in the 15-19 range. 3" herring aid and 3" cookies and cream spoons were the ticket. Most fish caught between 50-60' deep tight to the rocks. Fished outside between the lighthouse and Beno on Monday the 22nd. One fish was all we could do and no Coho. Went off shore late morning for Butts and lings. Just a lings....not butts. Back inside Tuesday the 23rd to finish out limits easily by 8:00. Spent the rest of the day catch and release on an additional 5 fish. Spent Wednesday anchored up for butts with no luck. When we left Thursday, fish were all over inside. Boats everywhere. Maybe I am starting to figure things out, but this was some of the best spring fishing in Nootka I have ever had.

Amazing, almost Aug 1 and nobody is talking about any quantity of fish on the inside. Delayed?

 

[SSwilson92]

Well, had a fantastic first ever trip up to Nootka Sound. Camped for 6 nights at Mouctha Bay resort and gotta say the facilities are top notch. Grinded out 12 hour days on the inside mostly and scratched our limits for 5 guys. First couple days were slow but managed a couple fish to keep the hopes alive and then Monday to Thursday lit up. Fished opposite of Camel which produced a couple fish, fished around Hoiss.. Was absolutely jammed with boats before daylight. The lighthouse produced some nice size fish right on the rocks in the kelp. Worked the gear hard for them in tight but was productive for a few in the 20's the biggest being 26#. 30-40 on the gear in tight seemed to work really well. Fish were definitely inside the last few days of our trip and were very active in the early mornings. Went outside to bajo one day and got some decent ho's but spent most of the time scraping gear close to shore on on the inside searching for slabs. What an awesome place to be! Already booked next year for the same week and am looking forward to it. Tight lines to everyone there right now, hope its hot for you all.

Cheers

 

[RiverBoy]

Well, had a fantastic first ever trip up to Nootka Sound. Camped for 6 nights at Mouctha Bay resort and gotta say the facilities are top notch. Grinded out 12 hour days on the inside mostly and scratched our limits for 5 guys. First couple days were slow but managed a couple fish to keep the hopes alive and then Monday to Thursday lit up. Fished opposite of Camel which produced a couple fish, fished around Hoiss.. Was absolutely jammed with boats before daylight. The lighthouse produced some nice size fish right on the rocks in the kelp. Worked the gear hard for them in tight but was productive for a few in the 20's the biggest being 26#. 30-40 on the gear in tight seemed to work really well. Fish were definitely inside the last few days of our trip and were very active in the early mornings. Went outside to bajo one day and got some decent ho's but spent most of the time scraping gear close to shore on on the inside searching for slabs. What an awesome place to be! Already booked next year for the same week and am looking forward to it. Tight lines to everyone there right now, hope its hot for you all.

Cheers

good report. did the fish caught outside still have squid in them?

 

[SSwilson92]

good report. did the fish caught outside still have squid in them?

Small small bait fish. No squid in ours

Big silver spoons outfished the chovie for us on springs. The ho's we got were on chovie

 

[salmonkiller01]

Back from Nootka yesterday. Salmon fishing was great inside and out. Lots of coho around lighthouse/Wash rock. Maquinna gave us a couple springs. Inside had a good morning bite. Most of our fish were caught 55-65' Split between anchovies and white hootchies.
Bottom fish was slow, 2 days off shore no halibut. A couple ling cod and a few rockfish. Not sure where they went, but we were out in some crappy wet weather friday for a couple cod.

 

[RiverBoy]

Back from Nootka yesterday. Salmon fishing was great inside and out. Lots of coho around lighthouse/Wash rock. Maquinna gave us a couple springs. Inside had a good morning bite. Most of our fish were caught 55-65' Split between anchovies and white hootchies.
Bottom fish was slow, 2 days off shore no halibut. A couple ling cod and a few rockfish. Not sure where they went, but we were out in some crappy wet weather friday for a couple cod.

longliners are working the area from the ammo dump all the way in...

 

[Trophy21]

Food and ceremonial long liners they are more environmental and selective and solar powered I think....ummm like those juice box things we should drink water out of....

 

[Superfishious]

Hi guys. A bit off topic but fors anyone know any places you could beach camp for a few day out near newton cove area esperanza inlet.would like to run from cougar creek for a couple days to check it out a fish it too. Any ideas or things to watch for weather, overnight anchor and such.

 

[saanauk]

Hi guys. A bit off topic but fors anyone know any places you could beach camp for a few day out near newton cove area esperanza inlet.would like to run from cougar creek for a couple days to check it out a fish it too. Any ideas or things to watch for weather, overnight anchor and such.

Catala Island is a marine park. A lot of kayakers stay and camp there. Depending on what your boat setup is you should be able to anchor at Rolling Roadstead which is the east side. Shallow and pretty well protected.

 

[Superfishious]

Catala Island is a marine park. A lot of kayakers stay and camp there. Depending on what your boat setup is you should be able to anchor at Rolling Roadstead which is the east side. Shallow and pretty well protected.

That's great news sounds like it could work well. I have an 18' hewes craft with a pod. Great for beaching and shallow anchor overnighters in the gulf island and such so hopefully that should work out. Much appreciated. If anyone else has any insite small ears

 

[Superfishious]

Oops just wrote that in the wrong section. New to this game. Also wondering if there is fuel available out that way anywhere.?

 

[pescador]

Hi guys. A bit off topic but fors anyone know any places you could beach camp for a few day out near newton cove area esperanza inlet.would like to run from cougar creek for a couple days to check it out a fish it too. Any ideas or things to watch for weather, overnight anchor and such.

Critter Cove has fuel and is 10 minutes from Cougar Creek. NE if my compass is correct...On your way up to Esperanza too. There are others but its close and the guy running the pumps there is a decent human being who tends to be a collection point for fish intel. You can fuel up, get ice, bait and find out where there are fish. Value add service fosho. Shout out to the dinkster.....

 

[MacDuff]

Oops just wrote that in the wrong section. New to this game. Also wondering if there is fuel available out that way anywhere.?

there's anchorage and camping at Rosa Harbour (marked on charts) and fuel at the dock at Esperanza in the cut (Tahsis Narrows).

 

[oguard]

Just got back from Nootka last night. Great fishing around Hoise, 40-80 feet small green spoons and anchovie were the ticket for us. Best fishing for us in years. The road in to Cougar Creek is pretty rough after all the rains.

Mike

 

[Mervillite]

Just got back from a 4 day 3 night trip. Fishing was on fire in many spots. We fished washer rock to maquinna in the mornings and had springs and coho almost non-stop. We fished the night bite around hoiss to coopte and also did very well. Fish seemed deeper than normal but also more plentiful. All the fish had tiny bait in them, none had squid however the lure that did best for us was an opal white hootchie. with 5 guys on board we brought home 19 springs, 9 coho (biggest 10lbs) and 2 pinks. We lost as many as we caught with a couple green horns on board. Overall a great trip. not too many boats and most people were actually minding their manners and not cutting each other off.

Going back out Friday for the long weekend. Will report back.

 

[Little Red Man]

Sorry Folks, hope it is OK to post this here. For any that may be travelling the Gold River - Thasis road, I would very much appreciate an evaluation of how bad the road may get he with the nasty weather coming. Slow and steady wins the day?

 

[coastalmarinesafety]

Sorry Folks, hope it is OK to post this here. For any that may be travelling the Gold River - Thasis road, I would very much appreciate an evaluation of how bad the road may get he with the nasty weather coming. Slow and steady wins the day?

This storm will be bad but the traffic won’t stop, so it’ll be really bad washboard city until they grade the whole road again. So given the long weekend, it’ll be at least a week before road will be better I’d say. But phone Emcon if you want the actual low down.

 

[Little Red Man]

This storm will be bad but the traffic won’t stop, so it’ll be really bad washboard city until they grade the whole road again. So given the long weekend, it’ll be at least a week before road will be better I’d say. But phone Emcon if you want the actual low down.

Thank you Sir. Heading out now from Nanaimo. Will update on degrees of crappyness later today, if anyone else is interested.

 

[JC42]

Fished from the 27th-30th and found the inside to be decent but very spotty for us. Most days there was a very short bite around sunrise at 6am then slow until the evening. We caught a toooooon of shakers in the inside - almost every 30 mins we would bring one up in the mornings. The outside was easy fishing, on our last day we had 3 kings and 2 coho in the boat in two hours or fishing. Fish seemed to be holding around the wash rocks and the lighthouse, I'd imagine they'll start coming in with these rains. Anchovies were the bait or choice as per usual but we also had great luck with herring aide coho killers.

The road in is pretty bad, in fact on the 27th my folk's passed by a truck and trailer that had slid off the road in a washout (I didn't see it - I was with the boat in gold river). Something that's worth noting - the Gold River boat ramp is quite a spectacle. When I pulled in on the 27th there was a half dozen rigs waiting to put in and probably that many waiting to pull out, it was the smoothest operating ramp I've been around. No wasted time or tempers flaring. Good luck to all heading up to fish, see you next year!