Nootka Sound - Spring and Summer 2012

[Drewski Canuck]

Too many fish up at Ferrier and in front on the banks at Tofino. There is alot of feed aparently, judging by all the whales around close in. Trouble with fish that are on good feed is that they can stay out 5 - 10 miles, and it seems that the ocean is empty in Nootka.

The Canuma hatchery pumps out so many 3 - 4 year return fish that the run will be back, just a bit late. I have suffered this before on a late July trip, only to get incredible reports of waves of silver fish the following weeks.

Don't lose hope just yet. Too many rivers with too many runs returning. For runs that came out to sea during a mackeral infestation, those numbers will be down, but its been a while for that problem.

I will be at Tuta marina from Aug 2 - 10 this year. Last year the last week of July was great, as it was the first week of dry weather in a couple of months, and the fish showed up. Not big, 15 - 24 pd range, but happy enough anyway.

Seems some 25 - 30s showing up this year, so hopefully there are more to come.

Drewski

 

[Finally]

Got back last night from Moutcha Bay. It was a great trip and our first time fishing the area. We fished the 22, 23 and 24 in one of their rental boats. The morning of the 21 at 7:30am as we are just about to leave the house to catch the ferry we were hooking up the batteries and must of touched the positive to the negatives by accident and fried a bunch of wires. Not a great start! The damage was pretty good so we ended up calling the resort to see if they had a boat we could use as we were running out of options. They had one available and we were able to salvage the trip. The trip just ended up costing us a "few" more bucks. Anyway, we got there around 7:30pm and were ready to head out in the new boatfor the next morning.

We left the dock around 5:00am all three days and fishing improved for us each day. The morning bite was the most consistent getting fish each time. The last day was the best with a double header of good size springs then on the next pass getting a nice one around 30. We moved after that as we had our limit of big springs for that area and hardly any boats around as they all buggered off as the bite happened later on in the morning that day. Tried Camel but not much happening there. Ended the day with 5 good sized springs to the boat with a good ones released at the light house on a spoon and another one in the box at Camel. We also pulled up a couple halibut loosing one at the boat. Oops! These were all caught in the sound as our friend got sea sick if we ventured out past the light house at all from the swells.

In total for our trip we boated 9 good size springs loosing only one as it straightened out two of the three treble hooks and cutting the line to the trailer! It was on those Matzuo hooks which a buddy got me as he claimed they were the best. Most of our springs were on anchovies between 40-65 feet down, one on a herring, and three on a watermelon spoon. None on hoochies but we only tried those for the first day. We also got about 9 coho or so and several small springs that got released at the lighthouse. Mackeral were a big pain but they made good bottom fish bait. Hopefully they don't hurt the fishery as there were sure a bunch of them. Overall we had a great trip and will hopefully be back next year.

 

[pescador]

Finally- what area did you fish Halibut in the Sound? Not sure I've ever seen anyone fish Hali but outside.

 

[AJS]

Arrived at Cougar Creek on the evening of the 19th. Fished 20th to 23rd quite successfully. Started out fishing Tahsis Inlet and picked up our daily limit of Springs quite easily. The key for us was to fish 33' to 38' ft on the riggers as close to shore as possible. Most springs were picked up in 40' of water while we buzzed the shoreline. Purple Haze flasher with white Coho Killer spoon was a great combo. We also had success with Green/Gold Betsy Flasher and White/Green Hootchie. Spend a full day at the Lighthouse as well and did really well for Coho and Spring on the same gear. The highlight of the trip had to be when the bite died off at the Lighthouse. We decided to run back to San Carlos Pt for an afternoon troll and it turned out that we were the ONLY boat there. Several boats across the channel at Camel Rock and Hoiss Pt but not one at San Carlos. Well... we hit fish crazy there. 3 big springs in 15 minutes to bring us up to our limit then fish after fish after fish. Double headers every 10 minutes. It was crazy and we were the only boat to enjoy it. My advice for folks heading up there now is to move around as soon as the bite slows down and don't be afraid to go where no one else is fishing. It paid off for us big time. We came home with our limits.

Happy fishing folks.
-AJS

 

[spring fever]

Well done!! Only a matter of time before all the known areas will produce. Can't just stay at camel and Strange!

 

[AJS]

Pictures

Well done!! Only a matter of time before all the known areas will produce. Can't just stay at camel and Strange!

Thanks. Here's what the fish looked like on our last day.

 

[pescador]

Boy, sure hearing some different views on Nootka the last few days. Looks like it can be hot, then cold. Probably just waves of fish pushing through and a question of timing.

 

[Drewski Canuck]

Fish in the latest pics are dark. Meaning that they located their home stream, and are now feeding before making the run up the river. Likely will be dark fish around in the Sound with fresh silver fish following. I suspect that these are Thasis run fish. Last few years Thasis inlet closed July 15, but people would hit good fish on the 14th past Strange Island, and some big ones. This seems to be an early run of fish at Thasis river. However, Canuma fish should soon follow.

Nice to see the closed areas are being pushed back. Some good fishing on Hanna Channel sometimes, and these were Gold River fish or Mooyah Creek fish, both of which can be very big. As for Hoisse to Strange being open, I look forward to it. Only time I was ever spooled on a 4000Gt filled with line, was at the creek half way between. Never got control of that fish, and can only dream of what size he was. Look forward to meeting her Grandchildren from Aug 2 - 10.

Drewski

 

[Finally]

Thats interesting about the different runs. One of our fish that was caught at camel was darker and we also caught 2 more darker springs in tahsis inlet. The other ones were all fairly bright. I don't remember seeing much bait fish at all in their stomachs. Maybe a couple needle fish in the coho and that was it
.

 

[spring fever]

My understanding is that Springs stop feeding pretty much once they are a fair way into the sound but coho feed almost til running up the river. The more colour in a spring the less likely he will have anything in his gut-in fact it's only about the size of your thumb and often hard!! That's why a lot of techniques you thought were gospel off-shore don't work for springs in Nootka. They aren't feeding-only hitting out of instinct. My 2 cents on it.

 

[AJS]

All stomachs were empty in the dark fish. Found a 4" baitfish in one of the bright ones... that was it.

 

[Charlie]

All "Chinook" stop feeding two-three days prior to entering their "natal" waters.

 

[Aces]

My understanding is that Springs stop feeding pretty much once they are a fair way into the sound but coho feed almost til running up the river. The more colour in a spring the less likely he will have anything in his gut-in fact it's only about the size of your thumb and often hard!! That's why a lot of techniques you thought were gospel off-shore don't work for springs in Nootka. They aren't feeding-only hitting out of instinct. My 2 cents on it.

I've also caught quite a few dark ones on the bank with baitfish in their throat and stomach but those are different fish for sure with probably a fair distance to travel yet

 

[Drewski Canuck]

I wouldn't completely discount the dark fish on the banks as travelling through. The reason they "porpoise" on the surface is to sense the fresh water on the top layer for homing in on the spawning river that they are returning to. Often they turn back out to open water after locating the right area, and start turning dark while waiting for the fall rains.

Big Q fish usually can be found in September at Tribune Bay feeding for a couple of weeks before going returning to head up the Big and Little Qualicum. These fish are not stacked up at the river mouth but are out feeding.

I fully agree that when they stack and quit feeding altogether all you can do is annoy them to bite, such as at Moutcha Bay end of August. But they will bite and they are still feeding before stacking up at the river mouth, and they will be dark.

All the same, they are not feeding heavy any more like offshore in open water where they are growing a pound every two weeks towards June.

Drewski

 

[fogged in]

Springs moved in last night in a big way....everyone at Critter Cove limited this morning.
The Springs are late this year, a big relief for the guides and guys who are going up that they have finally arrived.
Lots of Mackeral....

 

[SeaSport]

Was up at Critter Sunday through Thursday. Great trip, but we had to work for them. In the end we had limits for 4 boats and the biggest one was 33lbs. The folks at Critter as always run an incredible place! The only thing that could have been better was the launch at Gold River. Why don't they add a second dock so that they have one for take out and one for launching, that would make it so much easier.

 

[FISH]

Last few days....20 Salmon over 20...38 the largest ...6 Hali...largest 120 lbs.....countless Rock fish and Lingcod and whale shows that will blow your mind....tough few days at the office... Now some sleep!

 

[Finally]

Were you mostly off shore or on the inside. Sounds like an awesome trip!

 

[Saxe Point]

Were you mostly off shore or on the inside. Sounds like an awesome trip!

My question exactly.

 

[salmonkiller01]

Just back from Nootka, great few days, we limited on springs (8), 29 3/4 being our biggest, the rest in the 15-26 lb range. Caught fish at hoiss point, camel rock , strange island and out around bajo. Wasn't the best fishing but if you put in your time they are there. Bottom fishing was great, limits of bottom fish but no hali for us., 29 pound ling was our biggest, it weighed even more until it barfed out a octupus on the deck of my boat. Lost a big hali just a few feet from the boat!!! Great time and reserved for next year at critter. The whales were awesome!!!