Fishing in Sooke is hot and cold lately, some slow days, then decent action once you find the school. Trevor from No Bananas Charters fishing Whirl Bay earlier this week, taking home 3 around 8 pounds. A report of a 20 pounder caught too -- that's a very nice winter chinook!

DC Reid wrote a good article on winter fishing in the January 5 edition of the Times-Colonist: "If you want to catch more winter chinook, get familiar with the bottom of the ocean". Good tips on winter salmon fishing in general, but also with some specific notes on Sooke's waters ... check it out!

Good luck out there.

Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2012, let's hope the fishing is as good as 2012.

To start the new year off right, here's a little video from last summer -- a fun morning's fishing and feeding the seals from the dock at Salty Towers Oceanfront Resort.

Sooke Summer Fun



Hope you like it! Have fun out there and play safe.

A good time was had by all in today's Boxing Day Derby. Calm seas and steady fishing made for a fun morning. Whirl Bay was reported to be a little slow, while those fishing right out front of Sooke Harbour and the Bluffs said it was a little steadier, better after the high tide started to ebb.

The winning fish was a 13.4 pounder caught by Dave Myles, netting an undisclosed "pile of cash". The lucky anglers also won a smoker in the hidden weight prize with an 11 pounder. Codey French won the kids division with a 10.2 pounder ... though he may have had to share his $100 winnings with his 4 boatmates.

Below is Chad with a nice size winter chinook -- note the scrape marks from a prior fight with a seal. Unfortunately Chad's fish was not a winner, but a tasty bbq tonight will be a pretty good consolation prize. More results and info from the Sooke News Mirror.

A few more people salmon fishing these days, with the nice weather we've been having. Quite a few smaller feeder chinook salmon around, but a few nice ones reported in the 10-12 pound range. Fishing the bottom in 100-130 feet, with hootchies, spoons, or small herring.

SOOKE BOXING DAY DERBY. [posted by Doug, D&D Fishing Charters]

Sooke is having a one day boxing day (Dec 26) derby.

- starting time is at sunrise and final weigh in at 1330 hrs at the Crab Shack.
- ticket will be $25 plus a canned food donation.
- ticket can be purchased at Tro Tac, Island Outfitter, Eagle Eye Wilderness and the Crab Shack.
- $ 5 from every ticket sold will go to the food bank.
- 1st prize will take the remaining cash
- there will also so a 2nd and 3 rd prize along with kid prizes.
- You can also donate your fish to the food bank and receive a raffle ticket for a rod and reel which will be given away at the end of the derby.

Get out there and have some fun and help support the Food Bank.

Xena (the #Sooke Warrior Princess!) wins a FishingSooke.ca t-shirt for the first report of a salmon caught after using Sooke's new boat launch. Her report from last week: Otter Point Trailer Park, 2 winter springs, caught at 160 ft in 170 ft of water, silver betsy flasher, shorter anchovy with glow head.

Xena did not take a photo of the salmon -- but her father-in-law Red brought this pic of a 66.4 lb Sooke monster caught in 1988. Yowzah! That fish-of-a-lifetime won $15k in prizes from a year-long salmon derby from the Victoria newspaper.

Sooke salmon fishing seems to be transitioning from Coho to Winter Springs. A few reports of coho out in the tidelines, fishing deep (90-12o feet), a mixed bag of wild and hatchery, though on the smaller side, around 7 pounds.

There's more reports now of anglers targeting feeder Chinook salmon ... or "blackmouths" for the Americans. This is an fun and productive fish to chase, right in front of Sooke from the Bluffs to the Otter Point Trailer Park. They are often smaller, 5-8 pounds, but you sometimes can find a nice bigger one in the teens. Generally you fish in depths of 100-140 feet, with your gear 10 feet above the bottom, and troll with purple haze or glow hootchies, with any flasher. There is often consistent action, throwing back smaller ones until you get some keepers. When the action gets really steady, you can try running lighter gear, with spoons or bait and no flasher -- get more of a fight from these scrappy little salmon.

Jamie sent in a couple of photos of a fun Sunday morning trip -- left at 8am, back by 11. He was in front of Sooke in 120 feet of water, fishing at 100 feet with a silver Betsy flasher and irish mist (green white) hootchie. He kept two salmon, 16lbs and about 7lbs, plus released 4 smaller ones. Home in time for brunch with the missus and lots of time for the "honey do" list, with dinner now taken care of -- a pretty good way to spend a Sunday morning!