This past week has seen the arrival of some very nice and larger Chinook salmon into local Sooke hot spots. On Wednesday the 19th we played and released Chinook of **hidden content** and 7 pounds and has a couple more larger fish get off after a frw minutes on the gear. We also have been bringing home easy limits of pinks and hatchery coho salmon. Our trips right now offer constant rod action.

We are targeting larger summer run Chinook salmon right now as they are plentiful and the most fun and a real challenge to play on light tackle. Fishing pressure right now at the local hot spots is almost zero and we have had Otter Point to ourselves on most trips. The largest verified caught and released Chinook this summer went 52 pounds. Chinook are catch and release until August 1st and locals are not participating right now and are waiting for August 1st. The cost of fuel likely is playing a part as well. This leaves all these fish available to us each trip and results in more hook ups. We leave enough time on each trip to also target hatchery Coho and Pink salmon which can be retained and brought home. Our crab traps which soak during each trip have also been doing well and most charter parties have enjoyed crab boils back at their accommodations after their fishing trips.

Yesterday was the last day of May and we finished off the month with a 6 hour morning trip in Sidney waters which is a 1/2 hour drive from downtown Victoria. We kept 15 and 12 pound hatchery Chinook and lost 4 others which out smarted us. The beautiful summer weather continues and we have enjoyed the protected calm lake like waters fishing among the Gulf Island near Sidney. I will be shifting my efforts back to the Sooke area waters for the next upcoming trips and hope to see similar results. As of June 1st to July 31st all Chinook must be released unless DFO announces otherwise.

I've been fishing the waters off Sidney just 1/2 hour from downtown Victoria all of the month of May. The fishing is typically good here in May and because you are on the east side of the Island and among the Gulf Islands the waters are sheltered and often lake like calm. The fishing has been very good most of the month with only a couple of stinker trips during a week of bad tides. Yesterday with awesome afternoon tides we played 15 Chinook up to 24 1/2 pounds. We kept our 3 person limit of 3 hatchery Chinook that went **hidden content** and 10 pounds. Released 5 wild Chinook that went **hidden content**,and 5 pounds. Released 4 more hatchery Chinook because we had our limit and lost 3 more far from the boat. Lots of action for a 4 hour trip and we were the only boat there for all but the last 15 minutes of the trip.

Our late fall Coho salmon fishery is still producing limit catch potential on every trip out this week. Average hook ups per 4 hour trip is around 20 fish right now. Fish are between 5-12 pounds. The weather continues to be summer like warm and the waters calm. These Coho will remain here until significant rainfall gets creeks and streams flowing so these fish can enter to spawn. We are also watching dozens of Humpback Whales feeding around us as we fish. Today they were everywhere you looked and we had to maneuver around to stay out of their way. Customers got some great videos and pics througout the morning.

The fall Coho season is now happening with lots of action on each trip. It is common to have multiple doubles and even triples with the numbers of fish migrating through Sooke waters at this time. Most are between 6-10 pounds but there are larger ones as the photo above proves. Out largest over the years topped 23 pounds! Coho will continue to run into the 3rd week of October. Daily limits until Sept 30th is 2 hatchery Coho plus 2 Chinook (most likely winter Chinook at this time) As of October 1st the Coho limits increase to 1 wild and 3 hatchery per person.