Where do the Sooke Coho go?

[teamchachi]

Instead of hijacking the Sooke thread, I figured I'd start a new one.

Clearly there are Coho moving through Juan de Fuca Strait right now. Looking at the charts, a fair number of them should be heading north towards to the Strait of Georgia or ECVI. Which means there are only a few paths for them to follow:

1) Haro Strait -> Boundary Pass -> Strait of Georgia
2) Haro Strait -> Swanson Channel -> Active Pass -> Strait of Georgia
3) Haro Strait -> Swanson Channel -> Trincomali Channel -> ?
3) Sidney Channel -> Satellite Channel -> Sansum Narrows -> ?
4) San Juans -> Puget Sound

So where would be the best place to intercept these fish?

Has anyone had any success in Satellite Channel or anywhere within striking distance of Sidney/Schwartz Bay for Coho?

 

[Bodie]

Good question teamchachi. Should be interesting to see what kind of theories come up.

Mine is that there are so many places for them to spawn in from here to Olympia and northern Georgia Strait that their numbers are thinned to the point where there aren't large enough concentrations of them for us to target. Particularly in the Sidney area.

 

[saltydawg]

I've wondered too.
I'm thinking they go deep past Victoria. I haven't tried this year but last year and 2 years ago-there was excellent sight fishing off Sidney Island and right down by my place in Gordon Head.
Balmacarra beach/Cormorant point. Big schools of Coho would hang around for weeks right in close. Not this year though.
Also, I see quite a few boats fishing on the American side by Turn Point on Stuart Island right where it juts into Haro Straight. They wouldn't be there if there wasn't fish.
I've picked up Coho off the Pender Bluffs.
I'm pretty sure you could pick up Coho off the tip of Saturna but thats a bit of a haul from Sidney

 

[the runt]

right now sekiu is going strong for coho,some of my buddies are saying if you go out to the middle you will see them boiling on top.Also the south puget sound is doing well.But that probabally won't do you much good.

 

[Bodie]

Where is "sekiu"?

I can remember casting to coho from the rocks at Gordon Head at this time in years past and I've caught coho flyfishing on the beach at Reay Creek, so they're around. All of Bazan and Saanichton Bays are closed to retention of coho (and cutthroat), so if there's bigger fish in more numbers out there somewhere, let's find them!

My weekends are booked until Thanksgiving, when we're headed to Sooke for our annual Coho Camp, then we're off to Tennessee for 10 days so I won't be adding any first hand reports this season.

 

[HALILLAMA]

I think these fish end up in small creeks ,rivers and streams from here all the way round to Cowichan River[8D]

 

[reel easy]

Now is the time to fish port R. big coho

 

[Pablo2079]

Sekiu is on the Olympic peninsula.... between Port Angeles and Neah Bay (right next to Clallam Bay) on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

 

[Pablo2079]

Here's a link to the Seattle times with a report on the salmon fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsour...splay?slug=fish21&date=20060921&query=fishing

 

[Bodie]

I agree with Halillama - I think once the fish get past Sooke there are so many places for them to go to they spread out and their numbers get watered down to the point where there aren't really any places where there are really large concentrations of fish to target. At least until you get to the river/stream mouth where they're headed.