2021 Sooke Reports

[tigerprawn]

Released 9 sockeye today and most were real beauties. Were more of them than pinks. Lost 7 sprigs in a row this afternoon before we finally got our 3 for the 2nd boat limit for the day. So that was 19 springs on the gear for about 5 hours fishing springs total. 3 heads from hatchery fish today. Pretty sure some of the fish milling around are Robertson Creek fish. I had fished Bamfield for a number of years and began recognizing the appearance of their fish...head returns in the past 4-5 years has confirmed a large number of those fish frequent JDF Strait in August.

Interesting comment on recognizing Robertson creek fish. We have such a mixed bag of stocks in the JDF Strait in August and the only difference that I see is tail spots yellow dots and fin clip. It’s like saying I can tell by the fight it’s a hatchery fish .
i am just happy that I have done my part in putting more fish out there so people can enjoy this awesome fishery in the JDF Strait.
DONT FORGET TO SEND IN THE HATCHERY HEADS AS THIS WILL HELP DETERMINE WHERE THESE FISH ARE FROM

 

[Rob H]

Interesting comment on recognizing Robertson creek fish. We have such a mixed bag of stocks in the JDF Strait in August and the only difference that I see is tail spots yellow dots and fin clip. It’s like saying I can tell by the fight it’s a hatchery fish .
i am just happy that I have done my part in putting more fish out there so people can enjoy this awesome fishery in the JDF Strait.
DONT FORGET TO SEND IN THE HATCHERY HEADS AS THIS WILL HELP DETERMINE WHERE THESE FISH ARE FROM

Thanks for all your efforts Glen. I turned a head in a couple days ago. I caught the fish at Beechey Head but it was pretty mature and maybe still a chance it is a net pen fish! I will turn any more heads I get from marked fish the rest of the season (will be caught Beecher Bay to trap area though).
...Rob

 

[tigerprawn]

Thanks for all your efforts Glen. I turned a head in a couple days ago. I caught the fish at Beechey Head but it was pretty mature and maybe still a chance it is a net pen fish! I will turn any more heads I get from marked fish the rest of the season (will be caught Beecher Bay to trap area though).
...Rob

Thanks Rob . There are a few guides that fish out of Sooke that just don’t get it and don’t help support the project. But reap the rewards from all the hatchery and volunteer efforts. At least they can do is take a moment to fill out the head tag and deposit the head in the bucket/ freezer.

 

[Englishman]

Another hot calm day today, so we head out again at 6:20am. There was an eerie, smoky haze everywhere, not clear like Wednesday.

So lines, in the water at Muir just after 700 am, under a lurid, blood red sunrise. We boated a pink, released a sockeye and two little undersized feeder chinook. Then at 7:45am I had a pin popping hit and when I struck he went on a long run. After cranking him back he even did a couple of small, tumbling jumps close to the boat. When we netted him he was only 71cm and 13lb in weight. Quite the fight for such a modest sized guy.

Then not 20 minutes later we had another solid hit on the same rod and this time the fish behaved totally differently. He ran straight at us and then closer to the boat headed straight down and dogged it out down there. When we netted him he was an identical 71cm and 13lb again.

Both fish fell to my long established little herring in the green/gold t.h. The other side blanked except for the sockeye.

At 8:30 am we headed out to try and find pinks again. Boated one fish, released yet another sockeye, and two more baby chinook. Went past Otter at 9:00am and counted at least 45 boats in the armada. Sure glad we did not fish in the zoo there!

At 9:30am we pulled the pin and headed home. Another great day that was over all too quickly…….

 

[Xena]

Hubby got off work early so we decided to go fishing!
Lines in ...no wait, line in the water, not in the downrigger clip and fish on!! 12lb unclipped. 2 minutes later, fish on! I lost it...arrgh. an hour later after a couple of strikes....double header at the same time as the boat beside us going the other way! My rod had a huge fish on it woke up and peeled the line,! Good old knuckle buster Peets reel. Hubby had a another 12lber so I put mine back in the rod holder netted his fish and then he released mine. Easily over 25lbs, sigh. An incredible day fishing I just hope my biggie recovers from our interaction. DFO!!! Don't get me started
Xena

 

[vicsurfer]

We decided to beat the heat and get on the water at 1pm. Started at the Head, trolled west with the tide and landed our first 70cm spring within 10 minutes. Went down to the Shack and didn't see much happening. We turned around and hit another spring at the Head which straightened out the hook. Fished until 3:30 when we landed an 11lb spring that fought like a 17. Using spoons with long leaders we managed to avoid the pinks again.

 

[profisher]

Interesting comment on recognizing Robertson creek fish. We have such a mixed bag of stocks in the JDF Strait in August and the only difference that I see is tail spots yellow dots and fin clip. It’s like saying I can tell by the fight it’s a hatchery fish .
i am just happy that I have done my part in putting more fish out there so people can enjoy this awesome fishery in the JDF Strait.
DONT FORGET TO SEND IN THE HATCHERY HEADS AS THIS WILL HELP DETERMINE WHERE THESE FISH ARE FROM

There is a big mix for sure and I now have 6 hatchery heads to turn in...and I'm sure some are net pen fish. But I usually have 3-4 heads from Robertson creek fish each August ...its been consistent. The next one I get I will take a picture and if a hatchery fish will put a small wager on it being what I think it is. ...lol

 

[wolf]

Another awesome day out there calm water a tad smoky but oh well nothing can do with that, AP micro spoon was the ticket today 5 springs on it 3 on bait? just goes to show you never know what the "flavor of the day" will be had a double header early that we lost both . Oh well didnt do anything wrong lets giver again, Clients were more upset then I was LOL. I said dont worry we will get them. then it really came on !!!!!!!! in less then a hour 4 fish to boat one for me yeah!!!! 13 yr old reeled in the biggest at 17 lbs at the mark, out again with same crew not virgins anymore they got the bug now!!! when you see multiple boats with fish on you know its good and from what ive heard doesnt matter where you are in sooke right now beechy head is lighting it up I see and trap and possesion otter and muir , If Englishman can limit out it has to be good !!! sorry bud had too LOL LOL keep up the good work.. see you on the water if you see me say HI.
Good luck wolf

 

[zeke]

Out yesterday morning, had rods in water at 7:30 at Otter. Lots of boats. Brought bait but decided to start with 2 spoons, one coho killer and another 5 inch pesca. Hoping the large spoon would deter the pinks. First pass heading west we were outside most boats. Two pinks on the 5inch spoon, so much for that theory. Back to the point and on next pass west we got in tight, 50 ft of water, passed second rock, bang, pin popper. My friend grabs the rod starts reeling , then the other rod goes off. Double header. Both nice size fish. Got first one to boat, it rolled and spit hook, gone. Managed to net the second one. The coho killer was completely mangled. My friend dropped his line back out, seconds after it was down, bang, another pin popper. We were not even passed 3rd rock yet. As it got to the boat we had to measure it, it was close, but just under 80. Done for the day. It was an epic day for us. Will remember than one for a long time!

 

[Explorer682]

I was walking up the dock at Pedder Bay yesterday around 11am and saw I nice 23lb Chinook hanging on the scale. His Wife was taking photos and the guy was all smiles, seemed pretty happy with his poached catch , my guess would be around 90cm+/-. I had to go check if the slot size had changed ? Nope ! As he has a boat moored there one would assume he’s an avid fisher…I guess my question is , as I am not DFO would you say something ? Report it? What does one do?

 

[wolf]

Round 2 with same crew today and boy what a difference in weather today holy 3 footers and rough, so rough only fished 2 rods not ideal by any means. got 2 passes in and was done one was a nice fat hatchery close to the 80 mark beauty fish rest were in the 14 lb range guys said good enough 3 white spring 1 red so back at dock by 830. So I think thats like the 15 th hatchery ive put into the head return bucket .

Im really hoping and praying all the hard work SVIAC and Glen and the boys is why the fishing is so red hot. as last year was great and this year even better the plan I have heard EVEN more fish are going to be raised and more fin clipped. So its VERY important guys if you do get a hatchery to please put that head in if it shows that they are indeed our fish were are raising we have ammo to go to DFO and say hey look dumb dumb this is working so lift the damn restrictions!!!!!. SVIAC will need even more help this year with man power and funds so thik of them as your reaping the rewards of the salmon we are catching, thanks guys

AP spoon again hammered them. can tell you cutting way down on bait use bought 2 cases in april guess ill be vac packing a case this year. Im only into about 6 packs so far this year.

Good luck Wolf

 

[zeke]

I was walking up the dock at Pedder Bay yesterday around 11am and saw I nice 23lb Chinook hanging on the scale. His Wife was taking photos and the guy was all smiles, seemed pretty happy with his poached catch , my guess would be around 90cm+/-. I had to go check if the slot size had changed ? Nope ! As he has a boat moored there one would assume he’s an avid fisher…I guess my question is , as I am not DFO would you say something ? Report it? What does one do?

I think if it is that obvious you should say something. It’s likely they are not aware of the rules. If you are able to educate them, then next time they will release the big ones. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Englishman]

Another awesome day out there calm water a tad smoky but oh well nothing can do with that, AP micro spoon was the ticket today 5 springs on it 3 on bait? just goes to show you never know what the "flavor of the day" will be had a double header early that we lost both . Oh well didnt do anything wrong lets giver again, Clients were more upset then I was LOL. I said dont worry we will get them. then it really came on !!!!!!!! in less then a hour 4 fish to boat one for me yeah!!!! 13 yr old reeled in the biggest at 17 lbs at the mark, out again with same crew not virgins anymore they got the bug now!!! when you see multiple boats with fish on you know its good and from what ive heard doesnt matter where you are in sooke right now beechy head is lighting it up I see and trap and possesion otter and muir , If Englishman can limit out it has to be good !!! sorry bud had too LOL LOL keep up the good work.. see you on the water if you see me say HI.
Good luck wolf

Hey Wolf,

I can take the jibes so that is OK. Kind of an honour to be mentioned by a local fishing god, even if it is kind of derogatory!! LOL

In my defence, we got both of our double headers in on Wednesday, even though we only had two people on board!! And yesterday we were limited in an hour and 10 minutes!!

Giving it a rest for a couple of days now, but probably won't see you out there as I think you are fishing Otter and I cannot stomach the crowds there and anyway you will be done and headed home by the time we get out there at 7:15am!!! LOL

 

[Kinetic]

Although it was rough we made the right call to fish at Muir beside a handful of Sooke guides.
Hit 3 cookie cutter fish within 15 minutes just before 8am. Lost 1 and boated a 78cm red and a 79cm white. Followed Wolf in and was loaded back on the trailer before 9am.

 

[N2013]

I was walking up the dock at Pedder Bay yesterday around 11am and saw I nice 23lb Chinook hanging on the scale. His Wife was taking photos and the guy was all smiles, seemed pretty happy with his poached catch , my guess would be around 90cm+/-. I had to go check if the slot size had changed ? Nope ! As he has a boat moored there one would assume he’s an avid fisher…I guess my question is , as I am not DFO would you say something ? Report it? What does one do?

I’d ask him first where he was fishing (coulda been in Renfrew), then if he says an area with a slot, let him know there’s a slot limit. Maybe he didn’t know there was a slot, but ignorance is not an excuse. Don’t need to be confrontational, just let him know. Then he gets in your face, it’s your call what you wanna do next.

 

[capncrunch]

I was walking up the dock at Pedder Bay yesterday around 11am and saw I nice 23lb Chinook hanging on the scale. His Wife was taking photos and the guy was all smiles, seemed pretty happy with his poached catch , my guess would be around 90cm+/-. I had to go check if the slot size had changed ? Nope ! As he has a boat moored there one would assume he’s an avid fisher…I guess my question is , as I am not DFO would you say something ? Report it? What does one do?

He or she might have been First Nations. They can keep any.

 

[Tips Up]

Bumpy out of Sooke today. The pounding out west was too much for my son who just got his covid shot and had super sore arm. So we decided to start at the trailer park and troll our way west. When we got close to otter the rollers were tight and cresting so after taking one over the window we decided to stay where we were. We stayed on the bait and got our 2 springs and a couple pinks. Left the water just before 10 as wind picked up.
Crab traps were full and we kept 6.
Seems to blow every weekend.

 

[profisher]

Rough morning today and weedy at Otter so trolled up to Muir..the water was better there as you don't get the refracted waves off the beach. 0 for 6 before we finally got one to the boat and it was an over so 7 fish on and none in the boat. Finally started putting it together and got our 3 we needed. Came out again at noon for the 2nd trip and a worse ride up to Otter but really nice water once we got there in the back eddy of the ebb. We hit 7 springs on the 1st pass, 2 overs, 2 in the boat and 3 long line releases. Got 2 more after releasing another over and one around 7 pounds and loosing a couple more. Finished with a double, keeping one and releasing the 2nd one. All on skinny g's. I ave taken the same 3 trays of bait with me all week just in case but haven't opened them. I know if I leave them behind what will happen though.

 

[cby]

Sooke has been on Fire, best fishing I have experienced in Sooke in 20 years or so. Springs are practically jumping in the boat. Don't care for pinks very much. I try to only target Chinook and Coho. Couple days this past week, I released over 20 springs per day. Many beauty incredible fish mostly wild. Did not get very many hatchery fish. But the amount of boats hooked up and getting fish was awesome. Of course its a gong show out there but show some patience and give as much space as possible. Tons of fish in the 12 - 17 lb range which is great cause of the slot. Had couple biggies 25lbers released and beautiful looking fish, bright chrome and clean no sea lice.

 

[profisher]

Bumpy out of Sooke today. The pounding out west was too much for my son who just got his covid shot and had super sore arm. So we decided to start at the trailer park and troll our way west. When we got close to otter the rollers were tight and cresting so after taking one over the window we decided to stay where we were. We stayed on the bait and got our 2 springs and a couple pinks. Left the water just before 10 as wind picked up.
Crab traps were full and we kept 6.
Seems to blow every weekend.

Using chicken? lol