Discover Sooke

Fishing for Winter Chinook Salmon in Sooke waters has been GOOD. There has been some good weather with low winds and flat water, with not too much rain. The Winter Springs have been feeding off the Harbour mouth and the Bluffs, some days in close, but most days out in 200 to 400ft of water with the gear from 115 to 160ft. We have been trolling Magna Glow green/glow flashers infront of; plain glow,green glow,purple haze, and 57 chevy hootchies. Any glow hootchy with a bit of colour on it appears to be working good. Went out on Oct.25th on a friends’ boat for Halibut and landed one 50lb’er, saw a few come in on that weekend, not as good as last year at this time are the reports I’m hearing from the Halibut fishers. We were using the spreader bar system at anchor with a green and white spoon with a cut plug herring and some octipus on it, in 160ft of water.
Oct.14th Fished with John and Bill from Calgary, the water conditions looked early morning but turned out to be very fishable once we got out into the straight. Landed a small Spring early in the trip that we released and had a few more good strikes, trolling at 95 to 115ft on the downrigger. Bill got into a nice 11lb Spring at 115ft on a black and glow hootchy behind a red flasher, in about 200ft of water. The water calmed right down, so we trolled out to the middle of the straight, but didn’t find any Coho. Great day fishing, a little slow.

Oct.18th Fished with Darrilynn, Miles, and Cary from Peace River Alberta. Started around 1 pm, water was flat, no wind, cloud cover, warm. Miles landed a 9lb Chum Salmon out off Secretary Is. in about 500ft of water with the gear at 115ft. Darrilynn played at least three small Spring Salmon that we released, but Cary brought two Springs in that looked good, 5 to 7lbs. The crew were surprized at seeing a pod of Orca Whales this late in the season, out in the middle of the straight. Lots of action off Secretary Is. and off the Bluffs. Saw small feeder Springs at the cleaning station when we left and when we came back to the dock.

Oct.21st Fishing with Mike and Mike from Sooke and Victoria, we started early trolling for Winter Spring Salmon near the Harbour mouth. Had a couple of strikes off the Bluffs and the boys landed one small Spring on a red flasher with a Glow Below Hootchy. Keeping the gear between 115 and 125ft we landed three more Springs, another small one and two more 7.5 and 9lbs. We had switched up to the Coyote Special flasher, which is glow green on one side and mirror on the other. Action was better in the afternoon for us.

Oct.23rd Fished with Ross and Dorothy from California this morning for Winter Springs off the Harbour mouth aboard 2Reel2. Released two or three smaller Spring Salmon. Limited out by the time our half day of fishing was up, with Springs between 5 and 7lbs. It was raining hard at times, water conditions were flat. We were trolling Glow Below hootchies with Magna Glow dark and light green flashers at 140 and 150ft on the downrigger in 200 to 400ft of water. Ross and Dorothy chose to vacuum pack thier fish and freeze them before packing them home on the plane.

Good Fishing, Ron

Fishing report courtesy of Ron from 2 Reel Fishing Adventures
For more information on the Sooke Region, please visit the official Discover Sooke website.

Filed under: Fishing on October 28th, 2009