Oct. 10, 2011 – Fall Fishing is GREAT!
Salmon fishing in Sooke continues to be great. We’re fully into Coho Salmon season and the returns look very good. Harbour Mouth and out into deeper water up to 500ft has been GOOD for Coho from 60 to 100ft on the downrigger. Many lures are working, and now is the time to break out your favorite Hootchies and Spoons if you have been a hard core bait fisher all summer long. Glow green hootchies with green blotches,or stripes. Green,white,and yellow hootchies,Party Girl and Betsy Silver spoons have been working for us. Seems to be some confusion over the Coho regulations for Sooke this year,please check the posted regs at your dock, EAGLE-EYE OUTFITTERS or on the internet, before heading out. Sooke Thanksgiving Coho
Derby this Saturday Oct.8th out of Jock’s Dock is gaining momentum and looks like it will have some good prizes. Tickets are $30 per rod and proceeds go to Charters Creek Interpretive Centre. Congrats to Julie Bourque for landing a nice 33lb Spring Salmon while Coho fishing in 400ft of water trolling an anchovy at 60ft. out in the Harbour Mouth, fishing out of Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina Oct.5th.
Sept.4thFished with brothers Corey and James for a full day at Otter Point for Salmon.Had a couple of good Spring Salmon hit that didn’t hook up,by going into a little deeper water 100ft with the gear at 75/85ft on the downrigger,we managed to find a nice 13lb Spring for James,1-Pink and 1- hatchery Coho Salmon.
Sept 5th Fished with Becky,Grant,Amelia,and Colin for Salmon on the East side of Otter Point.Released 3 or 4 winter Springs 5 or 6lbs, landed 1-Pink,1-hatchery Coho 10lbs,2- Springs 14 and 16lbs.Windy foggy morning, turned sunny in the afternoon, remained windy.
Sept.6th Fished with regular guest Denis at Otter Point landed 1- hatchery Coho, lost a couple of Pinks near the boat.Foggy morning that turned sunny, no wind.
Sept.7th Fished with Kent from Victoria for big Spring Salmon. Started off Secretary Island, caught 3 or 4 winter Springs that we released, looking for something larger.10:30am moved up to Otter Point and played a couple more fish,landed a nice hatchery Coho that Kent was going to prepare Sushi with,lost a decent winter Spring trolled up off the bottom at 3rd Rock.Great sunny day flat water.
Sept.8th Fished with couple Kevin and Katherine staying at the Harbour House in from Idaho for Katherine’s 50th birthday. Short trip up to Otter Point in the evening, caught a nice wild Coho around 15lbs that had to be released.Some great pictures taken with the sun going down,didn’t see any other boats hooking up,although heard there was a bite on earlier in the afternoon.One boat had a mid teens and mid 20′s Spring Salmon onboard.
Sept.9th Fished with Neil and Terry from Sooke and the UK.Started at 2pm and first troll produced two strikes, one Neil fought a 10lb Spring into the boat and Terry lost a much larger Salmon only minutes later. No other strikes during the trip,didn’t see or hear of any of the other boats hooking up,fished until 7pm.Great flat water,sunny skies.
Sept.10th Bob in 2REEL2 was out with guests today fishing Otter Point.Landed 1-10lb Spring and 1-Pink Salmon. Saw some fish caught in the morning and again between 1 and 2pm at the Point.
Sept.11th Fished with Mia and her Dad Helgi from Sooke.Very slow morning looking for any species of Salmon at Otter Point, saw a couple of nice Springs get caught,one by Bob in 2REEL2 with his buddy Martin 28lbs.Helgi landed a small winter Spring in the mid afternoon, and Mia latched onto her largest Spring Salmon a short time later off the point at 75ft on the downrigger,21lbs.Great flat calm day,a little breeze to keep us cool, sunny clear skies, but another full moon cycle to quiet the Springs in the morning.
Sept.13th Fished with regular guest Denis for Cod. Tried anchoring in Beecher Bay,would not recommend trying this unless you are extremely confident in your anchor retrieval system. After getting fully stuck to the bottom, we unhooked our anchor system and trolled for Cod, landing a nice Quillback.Didn’t see any Lingcod or the numbers of Quillback we would have liked too. Managed to get all of the anchoring system back, but not without damaging it slightly.Nice ride in calm waters, viewed a large Humpback Whale making it’s way East though the Straight.
Sept.17th 2REEL2 Bob was fishing with regular guests Doug and Carey in the Harbour mouth looking for a late season big Spring Salmon and hooked into a nice 25lb Spring.
Sept.18th Fishing with Doug and Carey again for Salmon aboard 2Reel. Hooked into a winter Spring Salmon infront of the Trailer Park that got away.Slow day.
Sept.19th Morning Fished with Eddy and Bil from Texas. Tried the tide lines out off Sooke harbour mouth. Landed a nice hatchery Coho and released an even nicer wild Coho Salmon. We were trolling a Party girl spoon at 75ft and a red and chrome Rhys Davis anchovy teaser head at 85ft on the downrigger behind a red mirror and a Silver Betsy flasher.We tried the 120ft ledge off the Trailer Park and hooked into a nice winter Spring Salmon that shook the hooks.Flat water and sunny skies, little cooler in the mornings.Saw 2 or 3 Humpback whales slowly making thier way to Secretary Is., was able to watch them for about half an hour as they slowly swam past us.
Sept.19th Afternoon Fished with a return guest from a couple of years ago, Peter and his fishing buddy Rod. Sunny afternoon,trolling for a late big Spring Salmon.Peter landed a Winter Spring Salmon off the Trailer Park which we trolled up from 95ft on the downrigger. Trolling up to Otter Point around 2:45pm while we were crossing over the reef with the gear at 80ft on the downrigger, Rod grabbed the rod which pounded off the downrigger.He played a great 40lb Spring Salmon to the boat in flat calm water, the fish took huge runs as soon as it was hooked so landing it was awesome, swam right into the net.Hit another wild Coho Salmon that took the gear off the downrigger, which we released. The big Spring took a Purple Haze Rhys Davis anchovy teaser head trolled behind a red mirror flasher trolled about 30ft behind the boat.
Sept.20th Fished again with Peter and Rod for Salmon off Otter Point.Saw some Coho and winter Springs get landed. The guys hooked up a nice winter Spring we put in the box, and released a really nice wild Coho Salmon. Action came on around 10:30am until noon,didn’t see any big Spring Salmon being played or landed.Wind came up out of the East around noon, bit of a pound back to the harbour,otherwise great weather,nice calm sunrise.
Sept.21st 2REEL2 Bob fished with 2 Japanese guests,Reiko and Satoshi for Coho Salmon. Trolled out off the harbour mouth, released some wild Coho,didn’t see any hatcheries.Calm water,cloudy, no rain so far.
Sept.23rd Fished morning with Jim and Bill from Alberta for Salmon off the Harbour Mouth and later Otter Point in the morning.Flat calm sunny weather.Had no strikes, very slow morning.
Sept.23rd 2REEL2 Bob and his crew found a Pink Salmon trolling off the harbour mouth and out into the deep water off the Bluffs.
Sept 24th 2REEL2 Skipper Bob was out during the morning and his group landed a hatchery Coho.They trolled deep off the harbour mouth and Sooke Bluffs.
Sept.24th Afternoon Tried an afternoon trip with Jim and Bill, went to Otter Point.Released 2 nice wild Coho down deep at 130 to 140ft on the downrigger,trolling anchovies.Landed 2 decent winter Spring Salmon at the same depths.Tide was ebbing, and most strikes were while trolling into the tide on the reef.Pulled 2 good Dungeness Crabs from the traps on the way in.Came in on a great flat Sooke sunset.
Sept.25th 2REEL2 Bob fished Otter Point with his guest, landing a hatchery Coho and a nice 13lb Chum Salmon.Bob was trolling deep,130/140ft on the downriggers.
Sept.25th Afternoon Fished with Jim and Bill again this afternoon for Salmon at Otter Point,fierce wind blow came through about noon, but we waited until 2:30pm before heading out.Released 3 nice wild Coho Salmon at Otter before we managed to land 3 winter Spring Salmon.Landed 2 of the 3 Spring Salmon on a small pink hootchy/squirt we usually use for Sockeye and Pinks, trolled at 140ft on the downrigger.Nice ride back in on flat water,great sunset.
Sept.26th AFTERNOON Fished with Andy and Ivan from Alberta in the afternoon,after some morning high winds came down.Dropped the gear at the White house at the Bluffs,a nice Jack Spring grabbed the gear within minutes,Ivan’s first Salmon in the box. Trolled Otter Pt.hard with 1- Salmon getting away,and landing another Spring off the reef. We were trolling 5″ herring at 130/140ft on the downriggers, close to the reef at Otter Pt. No Coho Salmon seen. Flat water run home with the sun going down behind us.
Sept27th AFTERNOON Fished with Andy and Ivan again at Otter Point. Had 3 nice wild Coho come to the boat which we released.We were trolling anchovy in blue pearl and white pearl heads behind Silver Betsy and Red Mirror flashers at 130 and 140ft on the downriggers.1-Rock Cod took our anchovy as we fished across the Bluffs,open till the end of the month,so we took it as a filleted,cubed bacon wrapped starter.
Sept.29th Fished with Andy early morning,out before the sun came up,at the Bluffs. Andy landed a nice winter Spring Salmon on a pink hootchy,trolled behind a red mirror flasher at 95ft, and a hatchery Coho on an anchovy in a pearl white head at 85ft, in 130ft of water.Had a couple of other strikes that didn’t hang on, Andy had a plane to catch,off the water by 9:30am.Sunny clear skies,wind out of the SE,which makes for a choppy ride home.
Oct.2nd Afternoon Bob fished with Willis and his sons Kevin and Richard for Coho Salmon infront of Sooke harbour mouth. The group landed 4 Coho,3 wild and 1 hatchery. They trolled spoons and the new Yo-Zuri 6″ squid clear with glow spatter, many call the Turd.Bob reported that they trolled out to 300ft of water and then back in again to find the schools of Coho.
Oct.5th Fished with Don,Tom,and John from the UK in the early morning for Coho Salmon.The three had a great time playing over 20 Salmon to be released at the boat.This crew did not want to keep any of thier fish.All but 2 of the Coho were wild. We trolled a glow hootchy with a green stripe,and a green,yellow and white hootchy,at 80 to 95ft on the downriggers and had action from sun up to noon in 150 to 500ft of water off the Sooke harbour mouth.
Oct.6th Fished with Bill my father inlaw today,could not stay off the water with the excellent Coho Salmon fishing this week.Landed 4 nice Coho between 10am and 1pm, trolling in 250 to 550ft of water off the Bluffs.Fished glow/green hootchies at 75 to 95ft on the downriggers,had a blast playing 15 to 20 Salmon,I got to play some Salmon!
Oct.7th Afternoon Fished with Doug who hired us out for the Sooke Thanksgiving Coho Derby on the next day. Had some strikes right away early in the afternoon that didn’t hook up. But then we landed 2 nice Coho 10 and 12lbs both wild.Released a couple more wild Salmon,didn’t see any hatchery Coho. We found that trolling towards the harbour mouth when the tide was ebbing,trolling against the tide triggered some strikes at 80 to 90ft on the downriggers.We were using green/glow hootchies trolled behind Silver Betsy and Green Haze flashers.
Oct.8th Fished the Sooke Thanksgiving Coho Derby with Doug from South Eastern B.C. We landed 3 hatchery Coho Salmon,largest being 10.3lbs which did not get us any prizes,but we had a good time competing.It was great to see so many boats on the water this late in the season.Jamie Pincombe won the Derby with his father weighing in a 16lb Coho. We had 2 nice Dungeness and 2 Redrock crabs in the traps on the way in.
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