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The Fisher’s Corner: right bait for the right job

A few tips and tricks to what fishing enthusiasts can expect within the coming weeks of the season.
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Spencer holding a winter Spring caught with his friend Rob and father Mitch on Feb.12th/2015.

Ron Neitsch, 2 Reel Fishing Adventures

Fishing for winter Spring salmon has been very consistent in Sooke waters, as is normal for this time of year. Everyone going out is getting salmon (at least a couple) hitting the gear, whether they get landed, as most fishers know is a different story.

Largest Spring I’ve seen come into Sooke Harbour Resort and Marina this winter was caught by “Darcy” at 18lbs just last week.

The action seems to have slowed a bit to where the salmon are biting for a short period of time on the tide change, and little happens the rest of the day.

The popular lures/baits continue to be anchovy, herring, and hootchies, but spoons were really outperforming the other choices this last couple of weeks.

Small three or four inch erratic acting spoons were bringing on the strikes. Harbour mouth and the Bluffs seem to be the most popular spots, boats are trolling in 100 to 200ft of water with the gear on the bottom.

Halibut has been open for two weeks now, and there was a great report that a 60 and a 20lb’er came into the Sooke Harbour dock Feb.13th on a boat that usually fishes halibut near Race Rocks.

Favorite baits for halibut fishing include: herring, octopus, squid and mackerel, but vacuum packing your own strips of salmon bellies can also be very effective, especially coming into a pink salmon season, there is alot of potential for collecting your own bait. Also any legally caught smaller cod fish can be cut into fresh chunks or strips, which make excellent halibut bait.

Crab fishing in Sooke Harbour continues to be slow; for best results use chicken as bait off the Rotary pier.

The Sooke Saltwater Series of Derbies has been launched with a new website www.sookesaltwaterseries.ca and Facebook page www.facebook.com/sookeseries to keep participants updated on the points race to win the Sooke champion title.

First derby in the series is the Sooke Halibut Derby scheduled for May 23/24 weekend  check out the website for more information. Sidney Anglers Salmon Derby will be coming up May 1/2.