Coho Salmon Fishing in Sooke, BC

Sooke puts you on the migratory highway for Coho heading to the Fraser, Puget Sound, and Vancouver Island rivers. Feeder and immature fish stage off Otter Point and Sheringham through early summer, and the marine build starts in late June as ocean Coho follow herring and needlefish into Juan de Fuca. From late July through early September the mature fish stack up, and that is when you want to be here. Numbers fall off through October as rain and freshets pull fish into the Sooke and nearby rivers, leaving only resident feeders through winter and spring. We cover 18 spots that hold Coho, including Aldridge Point, Beechey Head, Bentinck Island, Christopher Point, Jordan River Mouth, Muir Creek and Muir Point, Otter Point, and Pedder Bay.

Trolling does most of the work. Run flashers with trolling spoons, hootchies, or anchovies in the top 60 feet, and push your speed up, because Coho hit hard on a fast pass. When fish are working baitballs on the surface, drag bucktail flies fast just under the top. If they are holding high and feeding steady, drift or slow-troll cut-plug or whole herring over them.

Fish the low light. Start before sunrise and work the first two hours, then come back as the light goes in the evening. Plan around moving water, 1.5 knots or better, and stay off the dead slack.