2021 Sooke Reports

Fished today from 7 to 12 and it was slow for us and all the others at our dock. Ended up with a feeder spring and released 4 un clipped Coho at the boat. Got a couple double headers but they didn't hook up for very long and were long line released. Bait worked the best and the fish where at 50 to 80 ft. It was a nice calm day on the water.
 
Back to fishing this morning after helping to deliver a sold yacht to Port Angeles yesterday. We hit 16 fish landing half of them and all were wild. Early on 60ft was working best with a Glow hootchie setup. Then progressively deeper as the morning went on. 90 ft and bait was working well for awhile mid morning. Probably should have gone even deeper as the last hour between noon and 1 pm, not much happened.
 
Fished solo today out of Cheanuh, 8am to 2pm.. First bite, a double at 10am with one rod at 73ft and the other at 100ft. Took the one at 100ft and landed a 6lb clipped coho. The other fish stayed on but was unclipped. Dropped one rod to 100ft again and bam,,another unclipped one. Through out the morning I got 3 or 4 more unclipped to the boat with rods at 73ft and 83ft and lost a couple. At around 1pm had back to back doubles, again at 73ft and 100ft. (Go figure) Lost one on the first double and the other fish was not clipped. On the second double landed a nice clipped 8lb coho but lost the other one before I got to the rod. Trolled into the bay and released a clipped spring in the 4lb range. Herring Aid Wee G and green and white Coho Killer. First keeper off of Secretary in 580ft and 2nd one off of the head in 450ft. Overall a great day on the water.
 
More consistent bite this morning with 24 coho played and today we managed to get our 4 hatchery with the largest being 9 pounds. Largest released was a nice buck about 13 pounds. 35 and 60 fett worked early then 80 feet was the hot number with 90 hitting as well. Hootchies and anchovy working. 475 to 525 ft of water off the Bluffs. We also ended the trip with a nice 8 pound hatchery winter Chinook.
 
Was nice out off Sooke for the first hour or so and then it got a little lumpy and foggy. Didn't venture too far out. Pretty slow where I was. One fish on and it pounded harder than a coho. Broke off a 30# leader. Spring, Chum or sideways coho? Who knows. Looks like those that ventured out further did better.
 
Fishing keeps getting better each day. We lost count today but well over 30 Coho played this morning. 35 and 60 ft in the first hour then 60, 80 and 90 the rest of the trip. Hootchy was doing so good I ran 3 of the same setup when the slop started to make life easier. Kept 4 Coho to 8 pounds and 2 winter springs 4-5 pounds. Largest released Coho would have been just over 10 pounds.
 
Great day in East Sooke. Morning was surprisingly nice but fog and wind picked up by 10. 2.5 hours on water today. Kept 5 hatch largest 9 with a good hook nose the rest were cookie cutter 4/5s. Released about 20 wild largest was 12 all to live another day. Spoons around 50.
 
Went out this morning for our first crack at fall coho this year and found the fishing was pretty good. Put a couple in the box and let a whole bunch go. Perfect time to get my younger son busy on the rods. Biggest one was a 13lb silver chum that we kept and released a couple coho around the same size. Hootchies 40 to 90 feet. Once you found them it didn't seem like depth/speed/lure mattered too much--a couple of times they were hitting hootchies hanging dead off the rigger at idle. 550 ft of water off Bedfords.
 
Better day than yesterday. Left Cheanuh about 10:00. Checked out South of the bedfords for a while but it seemed dead. Headed to the pack of boats South of Beechey head but saw no nets out and the place was a mess with kelp rafts and floaties. Headed out further and started hitting fish half way out to the shipping lanes. Three out of four fish were small Springs up to 5 lbs. Released a crap load of unclipped coho until I finally got one fish to bring home. Very busy on the rods between 11:30 and 1:30. Hot set up for today was a small Krippled "K" No.1, orange and silver hovering just above a dummy flasher. 45-65 feet. . . . . . . Oh yeah, it rained a bit.
 
Best action of the year today. We lost count on the morning trip but well over 50 Coho played..4 triples 7-8 doubles. Kept 6 Coho to 10 pounds and 2 nice winter springs. 60-80 ft and all on rubber. I worked my butt off all morning keeping gear in the water, so bait was out. Out again in the afternoon and the action continued for the first 3 hours of the 4 hour trip and another 20 plus mix of Coho and winter springs played. This time we kept 4 Coho and 2 winter springs. again 60-80 ft was best and all on rubber. I was pretty much alone on my spot most of the day with only 2 boats near me for 45 mins or so. Got a bit wet to finish off the day.
 
Over 20 fish to the boat this morning. Released some nice wild coho and small springs. Kept 3 hatchery. Lots of double headers. Fish were hitting hard. Most fish shallow but a few down deep. Glow hootchy and wee g. Hootchy was most consistent. Super calm and not too much rain this morning.
Caught many fish on the turn. So zig zagging made a big difference to hook ups.
 
Last edited:
Anchored up for Hali this morning on the flats out from Williams Head. Only lasted a couple of hours as currents too strong where I was. Not a sniff. Trolled in towards the bay and picked up a nice spring just over 9lbs. That was my only hit.
 
I'm not seeing anything formal on the DFO site that we will be able to retain any wild Coho as of October 1st? Am I missing something or are we still waiting?
 
You will find the coho info under this fishery notice. I tried to link it but couldn't get it to work. If I read it correctly, starting Oct 1st in Area 20-5 we can keep 4 coho per day, one can be wild as Barman noted above.

FN0501-RECREATIONAL​

 
Out today with a couple of buddies from 10:30 til 2:00. Played a lot of Coho and some double headers but not as many as a week ago. Kept 4 hatchery Coho the largest of which was 8lbs and also one hatchery winter feeder Chinook around 5.5 lbs. All caught on Plastic and most were caught down 75 feet.
 
Here is what is on the DFO site regarding Coho fishing starting Oct 1st. in area 20:

Oct 1 – Dec 31 4 Coho per day, only 1 may be unmarked That portion of Subarea 20-1 (seaward of a line between a square white boundary sign at Owen Point, the Port San Juan Light and Whistle Buoy, and San Juan Point). Subareas 20-3 to 20-7 (excluding closed times listed below).
 
Same fishing was really good this last week. Fish where shallower last couple of days as we got 4 coho on a green hornet bucktail. But best depth was 40-70 with spoons and hootchies.. Lets hope there are bigger ones to come ??
 
Out with a buddy on Sunday, tried our luck for halibut off Albert Head, but tides were crazy. Couldn't keep the lines down. Decided to try for Ling Cod, super slow then heated up quickly. Had 10 Oversized lings to the boat. Biggest 25 lbs released. My buddy Kept a 20 lb Ling and I kept about a 9lber for dinner. Saved the day. As it was a weird one for tides and weather.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SFBC
2024 Sooke Reports
Replies
87
Views
21K
MRW
MRW
SFBC
2024 Brown’s Bay Reports
Replies
0
Views
494
SFBC
SFBC
SFBC
2024 Kyuquot Reports
Replies
0
Views
924
SFBC
SFBC
SFBC
2024 Ucluelet Reports
Replies
2
Views
2K
FishDoc
FishDoc
SFBC
2024 Nanoose Bay/French Creek Reports
Replies
25
Views
6K
Aces
Aces
Back
Top