The Sox are here!!! Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Results thus far:
Sunday: 19 hooked, 13 landed - 2.5 hours (@ 5:00 am of course)
Monday: 8 hooked - all landed (4:30 am)
Tuesday: 13 hooked, 8 landed (4:15 am)
Wednesday _ OUCH! Fish moved up, so missed the early (4:00 am dammit) bite. Found only one at Nahmint, five inside at Cous Ck. Outer inlet being rested (from me) Thursday and Friday am - until Saturday that is!
Note: as per usual, the sox are only seriously aggressive at first light right now (read from 4:15 - 6:00 am). For about 45 mins each am, you can’t get the gear down fast enough, then… really scratchy. This will improve with each passing day - until in late June/early July when they’ll bite aggresively till almost noon. Expect nearly a million returning this year - should prove to be a great sockeye year here.
The style of fishing we employ is not all that common, but provides serious fun! I’ve perfected it over five years, and now fish this way exclusively. Short description: tie six flashers (brave - comes with experience, might want to try four at first!) to six downrigger clips - six feet or one fathom of line one each is all - nothing on the tail. Clip first flasher (fake flasher) to the wire, lower JUST enough to spin flasher, then clip 8-10 lb test line off light trout rod to wire - 2-3 feet above flasher and six feet behind. Best terminal tackle is old “Krippled K’s” (unfortunately now out of production - ANYONE WHO HAS A FEW OF THESE OLDIES LAYING USELESSLY AROUND THAT WANTS TO PART WITH THEM?? E-ME!! (mattstabler@shaw.ca) I’d LOVE a few more!!!)
Others that work, albiet not as well: Gypsy sthingy in army truck, Tom Mack’s smallest orange or red one side. We’ve conducted serious experiments lasting hundreds of hours thus far, and found these to be performers.
Next, lower wire 15 feet and repeat once or twice - remember, the more flash, the better for these tasty fighters! Rig the opposing side the same way and stagger gear below. Botton gear @ 40 and 47 feet at daybreak, top at around 20 - drop with the fish as the day progresses.
The light gear turns 5-8lb sox into 15 lb coho! the action is often as ariel as it is sub-surface - great runs as well. Select rods carefully - we’ve broken six on fish over the years, including two in the last three days on the freshest (read wildest) sox of the year. Also, try to avoid the congested areas - the wire from close boats often strip the light lines of fish, and perhaps more importantly - your cherished (non-replaceable!) sthingy.
Oh, yeah, Either run a black box (Sox like a lot of heat) or new zincs - mine runs neutral, but I fish a lot of species, so prefer this.
Good luck trying this - If you do, and discover any good new terminals - let me know K?