We were unable to fish the boat since Aug 11 because of main motor and boat fuel supply system problems and not all that happy about missing 3.5 weeks of what is normally the best Sooke Chinook fishing. With a much lighter wallet (doing our bit for the coastal economy) we got back fishing Wed. and yesterday. The Coho are everywhere, easy to catch and lots to the boat from 6 to 8.5lb. They are great fighters if you give them half a chance with a good reel with the drag turned down. Playing them with an Islander with the very smooth, low inertia clutch drag system seems to really free them up to run, dive and jump rather than just twisting around on the surface while you drag them in which tends to happen more with our Shimano’s. They will hit anything so if the freezer is low, it is time to get out there and have some fun with the large numbers of Coho and hopefully the 12 to 18lbers will show up soon. Lots of catch and release action for both Coho and smaller Chinook under 10lb but did keep some bigger Coho and an 12lb Chinook from down 94 feet in 120 on Anchovy out front off Sooke Inlet.
Is anyone targeting Sockeye and having much success finding them other than the odd one as incidental catch? I understand 97% of the Sockeye run went down the inside this year rather than past Sooke. 3% of millions is still a lot of Sockeye. Have people given up on them with so many Coho around?
