One word best describes the fishing that took place this past season…WOW! Up and down the coast the numbers of spring (Chinook) salmon and Coho salmon were off the chart. The great catches started early and carried right on through the entire summer and closed up with an equally as good fall northern Coho fishery. For those of you who paid a visit this past summer and made time to get out on the water and enjoy some time pursuing the big ones, you weren’t disappointed. We had many days of limit catches in both our home base of Sooke and also our favorite place to take an annual working holiday at Nootka Sound.
While most of the fish caught fell into the typical 17 to 27 pound range, there were fewer than normal of the over-30-pound fish that everyone wants to experience on a light rod. However, we did manage to land two fish this past August that topped 40 pounds. This is a feat that I personally haven’t achieved since the late 1990s. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I’ve had as many as three over 40 in a season but more recently one or none has been the norm.
The 2011 Sockeye season was fairly brief (opening in August) and the numbers were nowhere close to those we saw during the record return in 2010. You can’t eat your cake every year. To be truthful, I spent very little time trying to catch Sockeye when they were open as the Chinook fishing was just too good to miss. It was also an odd numbered year so that meant lots of pink salmon would be returning back to the Fraser River and passing through our local waters. While not considered a trophy salmon to catch they can be fun for the kids who just want lots of action. They do provide that and can actually be a tough little scrapper on very light tackle. They also smoke up quite well and are tasty too. I however along with most other guides consider them a pain in the @ss because they pester us while we are trying to keep the gear in the water and target the big springs.
Halibut fishing was also as good as we needed it to be on most days. The days of the month with the best tides for anchoring up in March, April and May produced good results. In our local waters we do the bulk of our halibut trips in the spring before the big springs appear in late May. This is also prior to the arrival of pesky dogfish that invade the deeper waters by June. Unlike other areas we don’t really have a so-called ‘chicken ranch’ where we can target plentiful but small-sized fish. Here we sit on anchor in proven halibut ground and wait for larger fish to pick up our scent trail and then our gear. Very few fish weigh less than 30 pounds.
2011 Tall Tales
Let’s start the 2011 bragging with what happened on the first 3 days into Nootka Sound. I arrived at the lodge on July 20th with reports from co-owner Bruce that the fishing had just caught fire and my timing seemed perfect. I headed over to Cougar Creek to pick up Mark and Ken who were anxious to get fishing that afternoon. I passed on the good report as we made the short boat trip back to the lodge to get them settled in. After a tour of the lodge, we hit the water for some fishing.
The next 3 days were a bit of a blur and if not for those guys keeping track of our fish count I would have only had an educated guess. We played 82 fish, landed 74 and kept their possession limit of 8 springs. This included many double headers and long constant periods of all out action. Fish were to be found anywhere and everywhere. As a trophy salmon topping 40 pounds was the mission for Mark we opted not to spend any time chasing halibut. That mission will have to wait for another time as while the numbers of fish were off the chart, there were few springs over 30 pounds to be had during these 3 days. Our largest for the first trip went 27 pounds.
The last morning in Nootka Sound before coming back home to Sooke is worthy of being mentioned. Ted, Peter and Douglas had already limited out on springs the day before and we had decided to go offshore early on the last morning to get some halibut. We left the dock after breakfast and just over an hour later we arrived on the halibut grounds. By 8 AM we had our 4 halibut on board and we were done. The guys who were driving back to Lethbridge Alberta were happy to be done early on the last morning as that meant an earlier start to the drive to the ferries and over to the mainland. I interjected that it would be nice to stop at our honey hole on the way in and try for 2 springs that would give me my possession limit of 4 to take home. I had my name on 1 of the halibut we had on board and thought I might as well limit out on springs and take advantage of the commercial grade vacuum packer back at the lodge.
I rigged up the salmon gear before we headed back in so that it was ready to go as soon as we arrived at the spot. After a half hour run we were ready to drop in the salmon gear. We immediately hooked a decent fish and quickly netted a 23 pound spring. The first rod I put back in the water popped off the rigger and the fish dropped off shortly afterwards. I just got the rods in again and we were into another. A few minutes later as I was just about to put a 25 pounder to sleep, Doug says; “That is eight minutes since we arrived here”. With that we continued on to the lodge and the guys got their early start home.
On my drive back to Sooke that afternoon I was feeling that going home quite possibly was going to be a real let down. I was leaving some of the best fishing ever and that never feels good. I didn’t have any way of getting recent reports from back home so for all I knew it could be dead slow.
Well, fortunately that wasn’t the case.
I had a trip booked on the morning of July 29th with Robin and family. That six-hour trip produced 26, 24, 22, 21, 20, 13 and 11 pound springs. That trip was followed up by an afternoon with Michael and friends who landed 27, 21, 17, 17, 16, 15 ½, 15 and 14 pound springs. This great fishing continued on into August and leads us to the 2 fish over 40 pounds.
On August 16th I was on the second day of fishing with David and Mike from San Diego. There was a good morning flood tide so I opted to drop the gear in at Otter Point. We landed a 19 pound spring, broke another teenager off and dropped a third. The bite had dropped off and the current had recently changed to the ebb. I decided to make one more pass before moving to another spot that produces better on the ebb. I had just entered the back eddy off the point when a rod hammered off the downrigger. It was Mike’s turn and after a short period of time on the rod I could tell he had a nice fish on. The reel screamed as the fish made a long run. I had to wave off another boat which was unaware that we had 2 hundred yards of line out in a line between us. After a hard battle I slipped the net under a 41 pound white spring. After the celebratory high fives we made our move to the ebb tide fishing spot and landed 17 and 15 pound springs before calling it a day.
On the afternoon trip of August 31st and again fishing at Otter Point my good luck continued. I had Mike, Jeremy and Daljit from Victoria out for the first time. This trip would be Daljit’s first ever salmon fishing experience. We landed a nice 16 ½ pound Chinook shortly after dropping the gear in and then shortly after had another teenager find its way through an unnoticed hole in my net and keep on going. That was a bit embarrassing! Then before the bite ended we hooked another spring and lost that fish as well. We managed to boat 5 pinks in between playing the bigger fish as well. Then the bite ended an hour before the trip was done. Nothing was going on and we settled into the cabin and chatted. With a half hour remaining I was thinking I should go check the gear. A minute later off comes the rod from a hard strike. It was Daljit’s turn and it soon became apparent to me that he had a really decent fish hooked up. At about the time the trip was done Daljit boated his fish. A 40 ½ pound white spring. How many times does this happen to a newbie with a monster on the first go at it? It seems to happen all the time. Now Daljit thinks this salmon fishing thing is a piece of cake, nothing to it!!!
Sooke & Nootka 2012 Season Forecast
Next year is predicted to be very similar to what we saw in 2011 for salmon numbers. The continuing La Niña weather pattern has been very favourable for ocean survival of pacific salmon. I expect fishing in both the Sooke and Nootka Sound areas to be excellent again but with an added bonus. Next year's runs are going to have a larger than average number of returning 5 year old Chinook salmon. Last summer there were very few of the larger 5 year old fish to be had. If the science is correct next year will be a good year to find a trophy-size fish!
We are looking forward to kicking the new fishing season off with the fantastic halibut fishing offshore from Victoria. The favored time to fish for halibut here is March through May. You must call ahead to select days with the appropriate slower currents. There are days when the currents move too fast and only slow down for short periods between tide changes. We don't book halibut trips on those days of the month.
June through to mid-September is when we target the larger summer Chinook salmon. We are located in Sooke Harbour during this time except for the end of July when we venture up to Nootka Sound for our annual workman's holiday. If you are interested in the Nootka Sound trip you must make your booking early so I can secure accommodations at the lodge. I always recommend having your dates booked by the end of January at the latest. This area offers it all, large runs of Chinook and Coho salmon, halibut, ling cod, red snapper, calm waters, wildlife and rugged west coast scenery. The lodge's capacity is 21 guests and everyone wants to be there during the 2 or 3 weeks when the fishing is at its very best. Complete Nootka Sound info can be viewed at www.nootkafishingcharters.com.
I'm looking forward to another productive summer Chinook fishing season in Sooke for 2012. Having fished here all my life it still amazes me how lucky we are here to have such great salmon fishing located so close to one of Canada's best cities. One often forgets how lucky we are to be able to call such a place home, but you guys always make a point of reminding me! Where else can you catch world class salmon fishing and also be mere minutes from a beautiful city like Victoria? I'm stumped.
Last summer I was extremely busy once I returned to Sooke from Nootka. August was a bit crazy. I expect the same again this summer. I would encourage you to book your Sooke dates well before the summer. While accommodations are plentiful in the area, I only have one boat and a few buds to help out with overflow. The best dates always go first and fast.
I hope to see many of you again this coming year and sharing some quality time on the water with you.
Tight Lines!
...Rollie Rose
