Q: Please mention circle hooks for fishing Sooke River chum. Since I switched, I have not snagged a single one. - Rob Turner
A: I use Mustad Size 2, C71S SS, which are mid-length streamer hooks. Foul-hooking is not fishing. Mouth-hooking is fishing - the advantage of circle hooks.
Q: Do you do any guiding? I haven't done much fly fishing and I would like to try fishing the Sooke chum run. - Dave Wizinski
A: I don't guide anymore but can put you in touch with a friend, Courtney Ogilvie, who owns Nile Creek Fly Shop, which you can Google, or email: [email protected]. On the other hand, I do instruction, whereby I fish with a person for the day for a fee and try to get across as much information as I can, so the person is a much better fisherman by the end of the day.
Q: We tried green, red, even purple on the Sooke, but nothing seemed to interest them. Advice? - David Ranger
A: Purple is the best colour and can be mixed with black, white and pink. Add some pink Flashabou or Krystal Flash for a bit of sparkle.
Tie standard egg-sucking leeches - pink head, purple body. I tied generic streamers with sparkle pink Chenille as an egg in front of a purple and pink marabou fly, with some pink Krystal Flash. I also made "double-egg" patterns of tri-lobal purple chenille in front of large orange Globrite chenille and a tail of pink Flashabou. Both got smashed to pieces. White (tied with hot-pink thread) or chartreuse leeches are good early or late or on dull days.
There are other considerations than flies. The most important thing is to know you are in the zone, meaning your fly is level with their faces. Be above or below and you will get nothing. The tidal level is important, too. Be on the leading edge, but ahead of time figure out a choke point, or a step in structure and watch them come to you as the tide rises, and then fall with those that do not commit.
To hit the fish zone, you will need some configuration of a sink tip or full sink line. If you are hitting bottom, use a lighter fly or lengthen leader. Add a heavier fly if you are not contacting fish. Do remember that if you snag a fish, you are in the zone, and just need to make an adjustment, for example, take a step upstream to present in front of the fish.
Q: The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) is appalled to learn that DFO quietly issued a new aquaculture licence to Mainstream Canada for another open net-pen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound. The new site is located in Fortune Channel near Plover Point on Meares Island. - Kelly Roebuck, Living Oceans Society, in a news release
A: Judging by all the disease found in Clayoquot fish farms in the past year - ISA, HSMI/PRV and IHN - this should not have happened. And DFO should have already studied the plummeting local Chinook and Kennedy lake Sockeye stocks.
Fish farms need to be on land. When disease is factored in, it is obvious that on-land facilities are cheaper, and diseases can be eliminated from our wild fish. My list of closed, on-land fish farm systems, comprises more than 8,000 actual fish farms globally.
