Back from 3 days of fishing at Nootka and 1 day guided at Esperanza. The Guided day was to be Ling and Halibut. As we came around the double black markers it was clear that there was a problem as many boats headed for Sandstone Pt and the kelp beds were coming back in. Our Guide Ben was super pumped as he had a great day at Sandstone 2 days earlier. We headed into the odd swell that topped 8 - 10 foot, but most of the swells were 6 footers. We were in a 24 ft Boston Whaler. Great boat for staying on top of the water. Not a great boat for breaching swells, and it made a very bumpy ride. Even the Grady Guide Boats were heading back, but we made a few passes with no hits. We did see a couple of hook ups, but nothing major.
Inside everyone was hitting double black, pin rocks, etc. Nothing to show for it and no one else did much either. Eventually at Pin I hit a 4 pd Coho. I have no multi million dollar operation that depends on enticing fishermen, so this is the honest truth.
We decided to run to Rosa and trolled off the kelp beds with the rest of the fleet. Guide was stuck on 35 ft. I fished the other side to 55 - 65 ft. Fish were deeper and that was that. A 10 and 14 spring for the afternoon with a number of shakers. Did not see any guide boats with fish at Rosa, and no Lodge Boats with fish at Rosa.
At Nootka, I had a Moutcha Bay Rental boat as my boat was not back from the shop before departing. Quaycraft with a 90 Yami and it was very capable. First day (Aug 15) we hit all the regular spots on the inside hard. No hits, tons of jellyfish. Few fish marked. Only saw one fish taken at Camel. Second day we hit friendly, and the whole fleet was out there. Very Very few fish in the sound. Surface temp in the sound was a solid 67 - 71 F. Some of the warmest water inside that I have seen. We did get shakers, and some people had a pattern going with a purple haze flasher and purple haze anchovy head holder. They were not tubbed out, and slugged out the day with the odd fish.
We did put something together with a glow Cop Car flasher and a glow Cop Car Coyote spoon and 65 - 80 ft and the fish were in the 17 - 20 pd range, just not many.
As everyone trolling was not producing we switched to buzz bombs. Lots of shakers outside, nothing inside. Not even in Moutcha Bay where the fish should have been staging. It said alot that the gill netters still did not hit their 5200 in the time we were there with multiple openings.
I suspect that the low to no flow of most of the creeks and rivers is having an impact. I can **** harder than most of those streams were flowing. For the few days guys were able to run offshore to Bajo, they did not deliver fish either. I hope that the fish are 80 miles off shore in cooler water, if that exists.
The message is out that Nootka and Esperanza are pretty dead. By the 19th, Nootka was empty of boats on the run out and the near outside had very few boats fishing. Most rec guys had given up and gone home.
Sorry to the lodge guys for being honest. I know with the border closures this is two years with few to no American fishermen.
Drewski
