Nootka Report

Just got back from Nootka last night . Had a great trip. Got our limit of Chinook and a couple of hatchery Coho plus some bottom fish. We had to work for them though. Had a couple of days of very slow fishing and a few of realy good fishing. Was best out at Bajo Reef. Picked up my 40 pounder there. Biggest ever! Tons of fish in the 5 to 12 pound range. Plus bait everywhere. Looks promising for next year.
SR
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NewBoat2-1.jpg
 
Just got back last night, fishing was best in years quantity wise although biggest fish in our group of 14 was 29.1, but we ended up with 70 fish between us including a nice snapper. had two days out at Bajo but still no really big fish. We caught lots of teenagers and the coho were overwhelming both days. We went further out to the highway one day but all we hit were coho by the bucketful.
We spoke to some guys from Zebellos who fished out of esperanza same time as we were there and they had a tough time also out on the hi-way for springs with just eleven fish in twelve days fishing.
I am glad I am not going up next week as I hear they are having a seine fishery opening in Nootka Sound [|)].
 
Hooked for life, great fishing report! However more interested on the meals you had cooked while you were there. lol..Hard to top "Rack of Lamb" like last trip, even got to taste some. Tight lines,.......BB
 
Hi BB

Yeah big John was at it again this week. Rack of Lamb, BBQ Ribs, Pork Tenderloin, Rib Eye Steak he's our man. Same again next week at Port Alberni. Paul will be there too. Sorry I never got to meet you, big John had lots of good things to say about you.
It was a great trip.

Peter
 
Are the gill netters going to release half of their fish over 77cm and keep half under? If there are enough fish to mop up every year by the commercial guys, why is there still a one over one under in place? The sport fishery has priority on chinook and the commercial guys are only supposed to fish when we are at full limits. Is one over and one under now a full limit? Don't get me wrong, if the fish are there to mop up...fine...just restore a any 2 Chinook limit on the inside.
 
We will be at Critter Cove on Saturday night the 22nd for the whole week. The weather looks to be changing for the worse, hope the outside does'nt get too messy! Were these latest fish caught in or outside? And Holmes will you be doing your famous ribs during the Derby or on the nights when we get a meal included with our stay? It will be our first time in Nootka, we have done Ucluelet for years but have heard so much great stuff about this area (Nootka), we had to try it.
 
C.S, that would be tight, you would get a 14-17' off the trailer, but it would be beside the airplane docks would be shallow. My rule is a 4' tide, I need 2' of water.

Snagger
 
hooked for life

That was a fantastic trip, just had a hoot, I am booked in critter cove this weekend, and will call you guy's next wed when I get to port alberni.

cheers snagger
 
Tis getting towards the end of the season... but, how much longer are you going to have those "great ribs" ?
 
Just got back tonight . It is very slow inside. Picked up a couple of Jacks this morning at camel rock-saw a few taken. Picked up a pair of high teens off escalante point yesterday after getting savaged at Bajo. The fish are still holding at Bajo if you happen to get the weather. Got a 30 + on Mon afternoon at Bajo in very rough conditions. The Burdwood shore was giving up the odd fish on the flood and I would think that or escalante is the place to be inside over the coming weeks until the coho come in in sept. See you then
 
OK, leaving town shortly. Forcast shows it might still be ugly offshore for the weekend. What's going on inside????Any fish at Camel? Hoiss?........
 
Im tearing my engine down starting tomorrow. Hope its just a head gasket issue. If so, Ill have her back in the water on Wednesday for some more carnage!![}:)]

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Fill the dam tub!
 
I couldnt wait, I started tearing it down this afternoon, Im ready to pull the powerhead tomorrow morn. I cant wait to get back out there! CS, how long are you going for?

nootkalasttrip015.jpg

Fill the dam tub!
 
My brother and I got back late Wednesday from a week of fishing Nootka/Esperanza. This was our third year of what we hope to be a long, long tradition. The following is our report.

First some numbers. 20 hours on the big motor (like to fish the highway) and 57 hours on the kicker. We used 12 packs of 6" anchovies and 12 pack of the 5 1/2 inch anchovies. Managed to fish outside (Bajo and Highway) 4 of our 5 1/2 days.

The fishing had slowed from earlier reports with the inside Nootka fishery showing the biggest drop off. There were plenty of fish to be had on the outside but the one had to work hard for the large Kings. As is typical on the outside, every day is different with a new batch of fish moving through. One day we had a bit on big (15 pound) Coho going that was a blast. Of course not a fin clipped one to be found.

Our largest Springs were two at 29.5 pounds, one at 29 pounds and one at 28.5 pounds so we are going to rename the boat from "Salmon Dancer" to "29 1/2 Pounds" (LOL). Lots of fish in the 20's.

We did some catch and release on the inside waters at Esperanza but it was pretty slow. Had one massive take down on a plug at Ferrer that was a hoot and will have us talking all winter.

As usual the services in Tahsis and in particular at Esperanza were fantastic.

Will be curious to see how the season ends up. My sense from earlier reports and our experience is that the fish were a bit early this year.

Weather was fantastic. Warm and sunny every day with fishing every day in shorts. Would have actually preferred something more salmon like!

Alan & Bruce aka "Salmon Dancer"
 
Finally, got some time to write up the trip.

Two days - August 20 & 21, 2009 Fishing offshore Esperanza.

First day, the barometer was down and the wind was up. Hit a few Salmon first thing in the morning and then anchored up for Halibut around 11 AM. Lots of Dogfish and some good Hali bites, but nothing hooked up for more than a few seconds.

Went back to trolling and picked up some more Salmon. Not a fantastic day, but we did get more fish than most as they came inside to get away from the wind while we toughed it out off-shore.

Went into Ferrer in late afternoon and trolled the usual spots along the wall. Lost a very nice Chinook, and saw several others take fish.

End of day had us with 6 Salmon and a Halibut caught on the troll.

Day two - Headed out at 5:30 AM and went to the same off-shore spots. Barometer was up and the wind was down, and it was raining and foggy. Nailed a nice Chinook first thing at 90' and picked up a few more hatchery Coho, and released some very big wild Cohos.

Went back and anchored at the SAME Halibut hole - picked up 6 Halibut including a double header with the best one being 82 pounds!

Pulled the hook and started trolling and went through some amazing fishing for the next couple of hours. Ended up with 12 Salmon, including 6 Chinook, (largest: 32 pounds) and 6 hatchery Coho, and another trolled Halibut for a total of 7, plus one nice Lingcod.

Got two of the biggest Chinooks on a 6" Tomic Plug trolled 100' behind the boat at 140 - 150' on the downrigger.

2009-august-21-dozen-salmon.jpg

A mess of Salmon!

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Me & Harley with his 82 pound Halibut

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Sommer with her largest fish of a lifetime.


One of the best days on the water this year!


Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
 
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