| July has lived up to its reputation for Salmon fishing in Sooke as being a SPOTTY month. There has been good sized Spring Salmon caught, but not many and not by many anglers. Currently there are fish at the Harbour Mouth which is normal for this time of year, we would expect more action from more fish, especially with some of the reports we are hearing from up Island fishing spots. Big Springs are being caught at Otter Point,Trailer Park, Bluffs, with the largest concentration of boats fishing Possession and Secretary Island. Heard a small bite came on at the Trap Shack this morning, first heard from that area in a while. Whales were on the prowl again today coming in from off shore and touching down at Otter Point heading West toward Sherringham. Halibut fishing continues with most boats going to Jordan River for consistant results. Most of the Halibut have been in the 20 to 30lb range. Fog has been present as is common for this time of year, dress warmly, and keep a good look out in high traffic areas.
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| July 1st Afternoon Fished with regular guests Ed and Leyla for Salmon at Otter Point. Trolled anchovies through the area at about 1:45pm, had two strikes on the first pass of the afternoon. One didn’t hook up the other did but was lost after it surfaced and ran across the surface showing its dorsal fin. Released a small Sockeye Salmon and landed a Pink Salmon which Ed and Leyla took for dinner.
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| July 2nd Fished with regular guests Shaun,Cory, and Don, from Victoria and Sask. Very slow morning, had word that Orca Whales had been through the area first thing in the morning. Had one Salmon hit the gear hard in the flooding tide at Otter Point at 70ft on the downrigger. Salmon was lost shortly after hooking up. Only one opportunity.
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| July 3rd Fished at Otter Point for Springs with Prago and John from South Africa. Reports of Orca Whales having just passed through the area. Consultants Derby was on and Otter was busy, saw three fish caught, mostly close to shore, maybe 60ft of water, probably 30 boats in the area. We had no hits, no fish.
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| July 5th AFTERNOON Fished Otter Point in the Afternoon with regular guest Denis. Again Otter was very slow, hooked into one Salmon on the first pass and lost it. No other strikes on the gear.
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| July 6th Fished with Frank and his Son Tommy between Otter Point and Sherringham Point, saw two or three Spring Salmon caught, no strike on the gear, heard many reports of same, some boats did get fish. Warm sunny day, wind from the SE making things choppy on the fishing grounds.
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| July 6th Afternoon Fished the afternoon with Mike,Mike, Frank and Pat for Salmon in flat water at Otter Point. Frank played and landed a 12lb Spring on the second pass by Third Rock at 80ft on the downrigger. Soon after Orca Whales showed up to feed off Otter Point. We continued trolling anchovies at 80 and 90ft on the downriggers and got into a double header off the point with Mike and Frank taking the rods and landing a 14 and 19lb Spring Salmon . Great action, good day, warm afternoon.
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| July 7th Fished with Ron and his crew from Sask. First time Salmon fishing, we trolled out off Secretary Island into 357ft of water, thinking of Coho but hooked into a nice 19lb Spring Salmon at 100ft on the downrigger. Had one other good strike at 90ft on the rigger that broke the leader on the strike. Great warm day, choppy in the morning, smoothing out by noon. Two nice crabs in the traps on the way in.
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| July 13th Fishing with Mike and Lucy,(who just got married in Sooke a few days before), for Spring Salmon at Otter Point. Incoming tide in the afternoon trolling west across the reef. Lucy played a Spring early in the trip that got away on the surface, probably 15lbs. Released a nice Sockeye Salmon, and landed a 6.5lb Pink Salmon. We were trolling a green and glow Krippled K style anchovy teaser head that has a black stripe on the top, behind a betsy flasher with a UV blade. Mike hooked into a nice 22lb Spring off the point with the gear at 75ft, to finish off our afternoon. Sunny flat day, good action.
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| July 13th 2REEL2 Bob fished the morning with Holly and Curtis. They were trolling at Otter Point, and hooked into and landed a 15lb Spring . They were using a blue/pearl Oki stlye anchovy teaser head with a black gator pattern on top trolled behind a Purple Onion flasher trolled at 75ft, in 140ft of water. No other bites.
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| July 14th Fished with Connor and Jenny staying at Salty Towers B&B, living in London. Connor had the pleasure of landing a 15lb Spring Salmon off second rock at Otter Point at around 1:30pm. No strikes in the morning. We were trolling a green and glow Rhys Davis anchovy teaser head at 70ft in 80ft of water, immediately after the Orca Whales past through. Great sunny weather with calm winds.
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| July 14th Afternoon Fished with Tasha,Hartly,Tiko and Hunter at Otter Point in the the incoming tide off the reef. Tiko landed a nice 11lb Spring with an anchovy trolled at 90ft, behind a green mist flasher. Wind, fog and choppy conditions from the South made for sloppy water for the first couple hours, until it shifted to coming out of the west, which was much better.
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| July 15th Afternoon Fished with Jay,Jay,Loyd,and John, who is getting married at Sooke Ocean Resort this coming weekend. The boys only had time for a short fishing trip, so we fished at Possession and Secretary Island for the afternoon. They had another group of guys on another boat and both boats had no strikes, no fish. Windy and choppy about half way through the trip.
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| July 15th 2REEL2 Bob fished with Devin,Paul,and Brandon at Otter Point for the last two days, no strikes or fish until the wind came up in the afternoon. They trolled back to the Harbour Mouth, and hit a nice Spring at the Trailer Park. They were trolling a Rhys Davis red and chrome anchovy teaser head behind a blue flasher with a yellow stripe on it, at 65ft in 100ft of water. The boys landed a nice 26lb Spring Salmon . Windy and choppy in the afternoon.
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| July 22nd Fished with Gord and his wife Leslie, at Possession and Secretary Is. Slow day no Salmon to report, could see Sockeye Salmon jumping on the surface.
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| July 23rd Fished with Gord again at Otter Point, landed one small Spring salmon about 8lbs. Slow day.
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| July 24th Fished with Karl, Wes,Ed, and Elaine for Spring Salmon. Started at Otter Point for Salmon and didn’t see anything caught. Anchored for Halibut infront of the Sooke Bluffs, released a dog fish, (small shark), but didn’t get any Halibut.
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| July 25th Fished again with Karl and his crew at Possession Point for Salmon, saw a few caught, had some good strikes inthe morning, that didn’t hook up. Went to Otter Point for the afternoon flooding tide, saw a few more Springs caught, but didn’t land any, another slow day.
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| July 26th Fished with Jim at Otter Point in the early morning and landed a 17lb Spring on the first pass while rounding the point. We were trolling a green flasher and a glow green anchovy teaser head with a black stripe on the top at 90ft on the downrigger. No other strikes to report.
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| July 27th Fished with Pavell,and his son Marcian and daughter Aniko, whom were staying at Salty Towers on the Sooke Harbour while here from the Netherlands. Saw one large male Orca whale surface near Secretary Island. Had five large salmon strike the gear, two of them close to the boat, but could not get any close to the net. Great day for action. We fished Possession Point and the Harbour mouth, 115ft of water with the gear at 80 and 90ft. Green glow anchovy teaser heads seemed to be the favored gear. There was another charter boat in the area, getting simular action, we did see them land at least one of thier Salmon.
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| July 28th Fished with my friends Henry and Gerrit, (you may have seen Gerrit on our website video from last year.) We started at 8:30am at Possession Point with the gear at 75 and 85ft on the downriggers. On the second pass Gerrit had a good strike that landed him a nice 25lb Spring Salmon after a great fight. Again the fish took green gear. No other strikes to report, we didn’t see any other fish caught in the morning.
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| July 28th AFTERNOON Fished with Mel and Heather from Calgary, for Spring Salmon at Possession Point. Fished the same areas as the morning and the day before, infront of the Harbour mouth. Had three Salmon hit the gear and landed a 12, 16 and 20lb Spring Salmon. Great afternoon for action.
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| July 29th Fished with Larry, his son and fiance, at Possession Point, slow morning, didn’t see many fish caught. We did land a small Greenling cod while looking for Salmon near Secretary Island. We also did land a small 7.5lb Spring in the afternoon in the fog near the point.
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| July 30th Fished with Brian , Larry and Don friends from Winnipeg. Had some good strikes off Secretary Island in the afternoon, morning was slow, didn’t see many fish caught. We did land a large black Sea Bass, 6.5lbs off Secretary Is. Good day for weather, windy in the late afternoon.
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| July 31st Fished with Ed and Leyla from Calgary, and living part time in East Sooke. Entered in the Sooke Salmon Enhancement Derby as they traditionally do, we had a very slow morning at Possession Point. We didn’t see any fish caught but did hear of two or three, and they were large fish. |
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| Good Fishing, Ron
Fishing report courtesy of 2 Reel Fishing Adventures.
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