Ocean on roads where he says you’ll
probably see more elk than people.
They launched the boats at a tiny,
native-run private ramp near Gold
River, and then continued an hour’s
run by water to a fishing area he calls
paradise.
In contrast, we were urban fishermen, staying at a high-end hotel, dining out in lovely Victoria by the waterfront and then driving an hour on the
first morning, to Sooke Harbour. Our
guides were Dave Yakimovich of
Ocean Dreams Charters, Gary Cooper
at Nice Fish Television, Steve Steveson
and Darren Beasley of Beasley‘s
Fishing Charters, so our group had
four boats out.
Day 1, I traveled with Dave
Yakimovich and fished with Rick
Hauser from Bear Enthusiast Marketing
Group in California. We caught our
limit of salmon with Chinook up to
about 15 pounds and pink salmon to
about 5 pounds. They are lovely fish to
catch. We were trolling at 3. 5 mph in
Dave’s 18 foot Double Eagle with a
150 hp Suzuki big block four.
We started close in to shore in
about 150 to 180 feet of water and we
used downriggers to carry our lines
down to about 90 feet. We were using
cut herring for bait with different
coloured flashers to attract the salmon
but the flashers were heavy on the
line. The downriggers have a footage
counter, lead ball and a clip. The clip
holds the line and lure or bait, to drag
it at the right depth.
You need a keen eye to spot a strike
because the clip and weight masks the
line’s movement when a fish hits.
By the way, at one point we went from a clear sunny day to being enveloped in dense
fog in a matter of a few minutes, when we were looking the other way.
Be certain your boat has a radar reflector installed, an accurate compass and the
Canadian Hydrographic Services Charts. For this area, you need 3606 Juan De Fuca
Strait, 3461 Juan De Fuca Strait Eastern Portion, 3411 Sooke and 3412 Victoria Harbour.
That is a minimum.
Even on a smaller boat, get a GPS chart plotter system. Canadian Hydrographic Services
now has electronic charts too. When the fog hits, you can still get along by navigating
electronically…except for one thing. You don’t know where other boats are! If you plan
any real time in the ocean, a radar outfit is a major safety benefit.
At first things were slow but later in
the day, as the water calmed down, we
moved further out into Juan De Fuca
Strait. Remember, it is the Pacific
Ocean and we were in an 18 footer!
But, so were many other fishermen.
That started the most exciting day
of fishing I’ve had in years. We were
using barbless hooks with lures that
have not.
Pinks are really energetic fighters,
especially as they get closer to the boat
and they often shake off the barbless
hooks.
When visiting fishermen have a successful day on the water, they stop at
St. Jean’s Cannery and Smokehouse
near Sooke Harbor. You can drop off
Inset: Pro Guide Dave Yakimovich holds
the first of what turned into many
Salmon on our first day.
looked like pink calamari when we
hit the school. It was one hit after
another, often with both rods going at
the same time.
You always release the wild fish
and you only keep your limit of the
hatchery fish. The hatchery fish can be
identified because they’ve had one of
their fins clipped where the wild fish
your salmon to be smoked, canned,
frozen and shipped home to you later.
Very convenient.
My Day 2 was led by Gary Cooper,
star of Nice Fish Television.
Gary has an interesting boat: a big
inboard Grew hardtop, ex-OPP boat
from Ontario that has been converted
to twin Suzuki outboards. The change
