Nice work. There sure was a lot of bait holding at Otter in the morning. We lost on 1st thing in 50 ft of water near 3rd rock. What boat were you in?
2021 Sooke Reports
- Thread starter SFBC
- Start date
kingspring
Active Member
Great report, great water read by your son too!!
Englishman
Well-Known Member
Beauty day so out again. In complete contrast to Friday, when we did not encounter any pinks at all, today was a pink fest or pink infestation, depending on your point of view. Lines down at 7:15am at Muir with only two other boats (in complete contrast to the usual Otter traffic jam!) and in five minutes a pink. Rebait and 3 minutes later another pink. I could not get two lines in the water because a pink would hit the first one. In forty minutes we had four in the boat and released two. But we knew we would never get a chinook this way as every herring was being hit at once, so we gave up on our usual method and went to spoons with big single hooks.
Slowed everything down and not much happened then for a while. At around 10am I turned to see the side with the glow spoon pounding. I never saw to go, so when I hit it I was not surprised to miss it completely.
Tried herring again but immediately a pink hit again, so gave up on that. More boats at Muir by then but only saw pinks caught. Went out deeper to 150’ of water and fished at 100-125’ feet with the same spoons but all we got were several undersized little chinook.
After lunch at noon, and after the tide change, we tried herring one more time at the usual depths. Now the pinks had vanished and we trolled for an hour uninterrupted. We were the only boat at Muir by then. At 1:15pm I turned to see the rod had gone off unnoticed again. I guess attention wanders after 6 hours on the water!! I hit the D/R button and reeled quickly feeling nothing at first. Then I made contact and he was still there and he took off running. Sadly 10 seconds later he was gone.
We decided to call it after that and set out to troll back with the tide targeting pinks. As I was reeling in the herring on one rod, I had a hit almost at the surface. At first I thought it was a coho but it turned out to be a small hatchery chinook. It just went 6lbs and we might not have kept it but it was bleeding a lot so it was our consolation for a long day.
Fabulous hot calm day on the water though.
Slowed everything down and not much happened then for a while. At around 10am I turned to see the side with the glow spoon pounding. I never saw to go, so when I hit it I was not surprised to miss it completely.
Tried herring again but immediately a pink hit again, so gave up on that. More boats at Muir by then but only saw pinks caught. Went out deeper to 150’ of water and fished at 100-125’ feet with the same spoons but all we got were several undersized little chinook.
After lunch at noon, and after the tide change, we tried herring one more time at the usual depths. Now the pinks had vanished and we trolled for an hour uninterrupted. We were the only boat at Muir by then. At 1:15pm I turned to see the rod had gone off unnoticed again. I guess attention wanders after 6 hours on the water!! I hit the D/R button and reeled quickly feeling nothing at first. Then I made contact and he was still there and he took off running. Sadly 10 seconds later he was gone.
We decided to call it after that and set out to troll back with the tide targeting pinks. As I was reeling in the herring on one rod, I had a hit almost at the surface. At first I thought it was a coho but it turned out to be a small hatchery chinook. It just went 6lbs and we might not have kept it but it was bleeding a lot so it was our consolation for a long day.
Fabulous hot calm day on the water though.
wolf
Well-Known Member
WAS a bit slower then yesterday today but managed 2 nice springs on that big ebb . man good fighting fish and both went into the head recovery as both were males and both clipped.. If I was a betting man id say they are the sooke net pen fish !!! more then ever guys if you do get a clipped spring PLEASE put that head in as if we show that those are indeed "fish to our area" it will give us some ammo to fight DFO.. and hopefully get some of our season back ...
Good luck wolf
Good luck wolf
In
Newf
Crew Member
Fished Pedder from 7-9am this morning. Nada. Ran up and trolled around Whirl bay. Picked up a big pink just out from Church. Trolled back through whirl bay around 12:30 and hit a couple more pinks. Ran back to Pedder and trolled for a hour and picked up a 68cm Spring. It played like a much heavier fish and was surprised when I got it to the boat. Lost another one due to a broken hook on a Wee G. This is the 3rd time this year for me with a broken hook on a wee g or skinny g. They weren't big fish so not sure what's going on with these hooks.
Had a couple of crab traps out but nothing but a dozen females in one and the other one had 3 females and one undersized male. Haven't had much luck with crab there in the last 3 outings.
Had a couple of crab traps out but nothing but a dozen females in one and the other one had 3 females and one undersized male. Haven't had much luck with crab there in the last 3 outings.
N2013
Well-Known Member
Great spoons but their hooks are garbage unfortunately.
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Roberth
Crew Member
You were on the wrong side of Church. On the ebb the springs were off South Bedford. on the ebb you should fish the west side of Church. The go into the back eddy to escape the current and follow the feed that gets pushed in there
Jaybones
Member
I lost one yesterday when the hook on my Skinny G broke as well, wasn't a huge fish either. Also not the first time this has happened. I guess will change them out straight out of the package going forward.
Hard to find a good hook these days that doesn't rot after a few trips. Paying a buck a hook these days for plated hooks. I believe pinching the barb breaks the plating and lets the corrosion in?
High Time
Crew Member
Mustad SS
Out today 10-2, otter was very busy, decided to start at Muir. Not much action for first hour, very little marks or bait. Then at 11 bam! Played a very energetic spring, couple of great runs, got to the boat, measured, over!! Released, never came out of the water and not touched. Rod back out, then bam again! Grabbed the rod to set hook and it was gone. Reeled up and saw my hook broke off - coho killer. Bummer. Other that that lots of small fish. Tried otter on way back, saw a few hook ups, nothing for us. Tide was flooding hard, headed in.
Tsquared
Well-Known Member
Took a non fishing friend out today, starting at noon at the trap. As we approached I could see the whale boats outside the Trap, looking our way. Then the orcas popped up against the shore, heading east. Hmmmm: I did drop the lines in but was prepared to pull up stakes if the whales had chased all the salmon away. This proved not to be the case as we hooked up in short order but lost the first fish. After 1 pink, my friend brought in a nice 76 cm spring followed by one about the same size for me. Then we went out into the deep and got a handful of pinks. The pinks seem to be getting smaller Than they were a week or 2 ago. Great day on the water!
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vicsurfer
Well-Known Member
Went out Monday for the afternoon bite at the Trap. Quickly picked up our first spring, then lost a monster that stayed down deep and refused to come up. Shortly after, we picked up another one around 12lb-14lbs. Kept a few pinks and tossed back some runts.
Decided to go again yesterday but didn't manage any decent springs. Released a few in the 4-6lb range, some wild coho and kept a few pinks. The fishing is definitely better in the afternoon on the flood.
Decided to go again yesterday but didn't manage any decent springs. Released a few in the 4-6lb range, some wild coho and kept a few pinks. The fishing is definitely better in the afternoon on the flood.
Went out yesterday around Possession. Released quite a few sockeye and smaller pinks, as well as a few jacks and some wild coho. Landed a beautiful 34 inch (86cm) spring which was a bit of a challenge solo as it managed to get wrapped up in both lines and had both flashers in the net as well. I got it untangled as quickly as I could and snapped the quick pic below before I spent 2 minutes carefully slow trolling it using the net to resuscitate it. After the massive tangle the only mark I noticed on it was the hook in the mouth thankfully.
Hopefully a successful release - it swam off under its own steam into the depths. Based on the 80cm I caught last week which was a fat 20lbs, this was likely a mid 20's fish. Hopefully these will continue to grow and breed, really clean healthy fish coming through. You can see the ap spoon I was using in the pic - I ran out of bait last week and spoons are working far better.
Hopefully a successful release - it swam off under its own steam into the depths. Based on the 80cm I caught last week which was a fat 20lbs, this was likely a mid 20's fish. Hopefully these will continue to grow and breed, really clean healthy fish coming through. You can see the ap spoon I was using in the pic - I ran out of bait last week and spoons are working far better.
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Sandpiper
Active Member
Fished Pedder Bay from 11-4:30 nothing on the gear the bay was flush with seagulls and we were showing a ton of bait on the sounder but no action. Around Noon I decide to go around the corner and head for Becher Bay but we arrived at Church and decided to go back as it was rough on the way thru the passage and the winds were supposed to pickup later in the afternoon.
Craziest thing happened in Pedder Bay, Trolling along and one of the riggers looks like its on bottom, Back troll over it and power the ball up my line is tangled with about 100 yards of fishing line with a brand new red flasher and pink hootchie that appears to have broken off someones rod. Never had that happen to me before but if its yours let me know!
Dan
Craziest thing happened in Pedder Bay, Trolling along and one of the riggers looks like its on bottom, Back troll over it and power the ball up my line is tangled with about 100 yards of fishing line with a brand new red flasher and pink hootchie that appears to have broken off someones rod. Never had that happen to me before but if its yours let me know!
Dan
Took a friend snd his son out today. His son had never caught a salmon. I predicted the bite would not happen till about 11:30
started at otter 8:00. Nothing happening there so up to Muir where we released a wild coho. Still not much marking up there so trolled back to otter. Bait started to show as the tide line showed up.
11:20 my friends son played and we released an over. 22-24lb. Then we kept 2 small springs 7-8lb and released a bunch of shakers. Left at 2:00. 8 crabs in the trap on the way in.
Good fun seeing the kid catch some fish today. He looked pretty wowed by the size of the one he had to let go.
started at otter 8:00. Nothing happening there so up to Muir where we released a wild coho. Still not much marking up there so trolled back to otter. Bait started to show as the tide line showed up.
11:20 my friends son played and we released an over. 22-24lb. Then we kept 2 small springs 7-8lb and released a bunch of shakers. Left at 2:00. 8 crabs in the trap on the way in.
Good fun seeing the kid catch some fish today. He looked pretty wowed by the size of the one he had to let go.
Went with a buddy west of Sooke today. Didnt expect too much during the morning ebb but we hit a few decent springs right away. Thought it was pretty good fishing but then it turned really on. I must say, some fantastic spring fishing to be had off Sooke right now. I must have played 10+ springs today, my buddy also a few. A few got off and missed several bites. My old arms are sore. Today reminded me a bit of long long gone days in Gold River, only fish were bigger then. Although we had quite a few over 20 today. We kept 2 clipped ones to submit the heads. I am sure they will be net pen fish. All on hardware and pretty shallow. Never found a pink or coho though.
