Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: steve B on August 21, 2010, 10:54:06 AM

Title: Socks from shore
Post by: steve B on August 21, 2010, 10:54:06 AM
anybody had any luck catching these fish out of the fraser from shore this year i live out in Ridge so its kinda challeging to find a place to fish from shore in maple ridge without having to drive to mission or hope or the vedder.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: mr.p on August 21, 2010, 03:42:41 PM
After becoming intrigued by various success stories from the lower river, I decided to conduct my own little sockeye study.  I've only been out twice and only for a couple hours each time, but have hooked fish both times.  I used BIG shiny/flashy spoons with a pink hoochie attached or trailing about 12 inches.  I fished on the flood tide and there were tons of fish coming through.  The way I figure, these fish bite hoochies trailed behind flashers in the ocean, I am fishing minutes from the ocean, there are 200,000 fish a day passing by, i'm bound to get at least one or two to bite.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: vancook on August 21, 2010, 04:08:04 PM
I live only a few blocks up from the lower Fraser in South Vancouver, I've gone out a few times throwing spoons with no success. I haven't gone with the tides though, only when I've had an hour or two to kill...I don't really think fishing at the bottom of Kerr street to be the best spot either, probably better on the opposite along river road
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: rheticus on August 21, 2010, 06:54:50 PM
Do you think River Road in Richmond (i.e., Middle Arm) is more promising and accessible than the bottom of No. 3 Road (South Arm)?
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: Rodney on August 21, 2010, 08:28:53 PM
After becoming intrigued by various success stories from the lower river, I decided to conduct my own little sockeye study.  I've only been out twice and only for a couple hours each time, but have hooked fish both times.  I used BIG shiny/flashy spoons with a pink hoochie attached or trailing about 12 inches.  I fished on the flood tide and there were tons of fish coming through.  The way I figure, these fish bite hoochies trailed behind flashers in the ocean, I am fishing minutes from the ocean, there are 200,000 fish a day passing by, i'm bound to get at least one or two to bite.

I want my money back, I did what you wrote for an hour tonight and nothing happened. ;D

Do you think River Road in Richmond (i.e., Middle Arm) is more promising and accessible than the bottom of No. 3 Road (South Arm)?

There are not a whole lot of fish moving through Middle Arm (at least not when I have been there). The only rises that I have seen were on the Airport side.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: Nitroholic on August 21, 2010, 09:05:33 PM
I want my money back, I did what you wrote for an hour tonight and nothing happened. ;D

That makes two of us  ;D
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: DragonSpeed on August 21, 2010, 09:21:58 PM
I want my money back, I did what you wrote for an hour tonight and nothing happened. ;D
An hour?   ::)  What kind of 1/2 effort is one hour???  ;D
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: samw on August 21, 2010, 11:46:06 PM
I thought I would give it a shot at #3 this past week.  Tried a few nights after work. There weren't many people fishing for sockeye.  I tried float fishing with krill, float fishing with yarn, bottom fishing with krill, bottom fishing with yarn, and spinning with buzzbombs.  There were lots of fish jumping around but I couldn't get a bite.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: mr.p on August 22, 2010, 03:11:16 AM
I caught my fish in the south arm.  I choose my spot based on a couple hours of watching the gill netters in action a couple weeks ago.  The boats closest to shore were pulling up the most fish.  And not necessarily the north shore.... ;) ;).
Worth a shot sunday.  There is a decent high tide at around 1830hrs.  They should start rolling by around noon.

This is a very interesting fishery. General consensus that these fish dont bite in freshwater.  Well, firstly I'm so low on the river that it's basically the ocean and I believe they do bite, even in freshwater.  Just not eagerly, and a very small percentage. Besides the two fish I've caught this year in the lower river, I've also caught sox in the vedder that have been deep hooked and evidently have swallowed my presentation.  I have seen and heard of many others that have also swallowed the offering.  Sooner or later somebody will discover a sporting method to consistently catch sockeye.  Just a matter of time.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: jon5hill on August 22, 2010, 11:56:20 AM
Same methods used for pinks will work. It will just take more casts as there are fewer fish, and they do not travel in the same type of water as the pinks do.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: Rodney on August 22, 2010, 03:52:22 PM
Just not eagerly, and a very small percentage.

It will just take more casts as there are fewer fish.

Good to see a shift in mentality. For some reason, we expect the same high expectation that we have for pink salmon when fishing for sockeye salmon. Why? People cast all day to maybe catch a steelhead yet we do not conclude that they don't bite. Somehow because sockeye salmon do not bite readily, we've chosen to discard all the basics in fishing - Studying, experimenting and experimenting some more when we fail. Success rate is not always correlated to number of fish.

samw, don't give up. This photo should motivate you. This sockeye was from 2007 just downstream from the No.3 Road Pier. ;)
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: arimaBOATER on August 22, 2010, 10:00:50 PM
There was a chap who looked like a very experieneced fisherman triying to catch a sockeye on the N Arm of the Fraser.  Aprox every 5 minutes ya could see a fish make a splash.
One did so very near where he was casting....& he said to the wife & I "The fish are laughing at me"
Water looked very clean.  He was using a small orange colored spinning glow. (some weight up line so to get it out 60ft aprox in his casts)
edit in: yesterday just past 4pm he was fishing....
Wife & I went for a medium distance bike ride & went to McDonald Beach...& talk about ALOT of veicles with boat trailers parked in the big gravel lot !!!!!
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: jon5hill on August 22, 2010, 11:38:46 PM
Hooked a bright male Sockeye on a spoon on the Fraser near New West today around 4:30PM. It took about 150 casts. They don't seem to be traveling as close to the shore as pinks do, as I hooked it about 30 feet out and then lost it at my feet. >:(

Stick with your guns and follow your gut. If there are tons of fish in front of you and you cast 100 times, you're bound to get the attention of one. It's a numbers game, although with pinks the numbers are more in our favor so it makes the lures seem to work more effectively.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: cutthroat22 on August 23, 2010, 09:05:57 AM
No doubt about it they travel further from the shore in the Richmond area then do other salmon.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: samw on August 23, 2010, 09:43:42 PM

samw, don't give up. This photo should motivate you. This sockeye was from 2007 just downstream from the No.3 Road Pier. ;)

Hey Rodney.   Yes, I'll keep trying.  :)  Is that the fish that you caught accidentally while targetting pinks?
On the nights that I was out, there were plenty of sockeye jumping within 10 feet from shore.  Just my observation, not that it means anything.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: fic on August 24, 2010, 08:01:49 AM
I live only a few blocks up from the lower Fraser in South Vancouver, I've gone out a few times throwing spoons with no success. I haven't gone with the tides though, only when I've had an hour or two to kill...I don't really think fishing at the bottom of Kerr street to be the best spot either, probably better on the opposite along river road

My office is about a 10 minute walk away from Frasershore Park. I tried tossing spoons a few times during lunch hour and had no success either.  I also just drove by the park a few times after work and I have not seen any fish moving.  May be the South Arm is a better bet.  There is also tons of logs being dragged up and down this part of the river and being piled up against the shore. I am not sure how the fish behaves around these floating log islands.  I did talk to one guy who saw someone catch a sturgeon though.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: Makaveli on August 24, 2010, 08:53:42 AM
I gave dump bar a try on saturday evening during high tide...  no luck either ..  lets just say i went home with less weights and lures  :-\
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: steve B on August 24, 2010, 09:00:50 AM
what size of spoons would be ideal for socks from shore and has anyone tried fishing from Kanaka creek regional park in maple ridge?
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: DanL on August 24, 2010, 02:39:49 PM
I was down at the north arm on the Vancouver side yesterday evening and saw quite a few jumping. Most were pretty far out, but some were close enough to give you hope (within 50 feet). I tossed spoons for an hour without luck, but I think if you hit it at the right time and a bit of luck, it wouldn’t be impossible to get one…

Definitely going to try it again sometime this week.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: Makaveli on August 26, 2010, 04:48:07 PM
went after work in the evening to no 3 rd dock on the south arm. dock was filled wit ppl. couple of ppl caught flounders and bulls... Tons of commercial fleets gilnetting all along the fraser. prob gonna be dry for a bit.
Title: Re: Socks from shore
Post by: fishseeker on September 02, 2010, 01:21:32 PM

Hmmm..I think I will be pulling out the spoons I used for pinks and giving this a try.