Yah,, Sooke is a finacky one it's very time specific the window is very tight there. It's not like the outside where you have a month or two even that can be good, Sooke is a matter of 2 weeks either way and you can miss the main run. If I'm in doubt of going to Sooke I will always do it on a Pink year that way one is at least garunteed some salmon. You may not hit the Chinook run great but you will come home with fish. There's not to many years in the last 8 years or so that I miss the Sooke run. It's pretty simple really I can tell you now when the run is going to be, big floods in August either side of that by a week and your on them anything other than that and your going to gamble. This day and age it just costs to much to gamble on heading out there on anything other than those dates. I book my cabins in Jan set so that the middle of my stay overlaps the biggest flood in August. If you going to get them that will be the time. And there's always the Hoe's as well. Hit the Nookies on the morming tide change, head out to deeper water during the lull of the day for Hoe's and some Pinks, maybe hit the mid day change for Nookie's again or just head in until the next morning. No use washing hooks all day for Nooks it just makes for a long day. It's a numbers game, play the odds.
I've said it before and I'll state it again. Salmon fishing is not like other fishing, the fish are in runs and you have to time your fishing according to where you are going, each area runs at certain times and certain fish some longer than others but each area has their peak times. It's a learning process that takes time and a lot of money to learn. Lodges and guides can be your worst enemy, they have slots and rooms to fill they will lie to you in order to fill those slots. Time of year also plays into what weather one can expect. Again it's not a cheap fishery one has to learn to play the odds on when to go in order to get the most out of your trip.
