2017 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

I was using 5 1/4 chovies and that seemed to be doing the trick - caught 6 of 7 on chovies and one on a small glow spoon.
 
pick up some silver horde coho killers in irish creme. bait is wicked small right now. they worked well for us.
 
Good time with great friends
Perfect weather off shore both days(Saturday and Sunday)
Lots of lings snapper/yellow eye..
Springs were sparse for us but did get at Kirby,Whittlestone and at Sequal
132cm hali was top fish..nice one Will,Vic and Froggy
Just a great weekend
 
Got to start with compliments to McKay Bay Lodge for the fabulous care they took of us again this year. Fishing was steady for us and springs were caught almost entirely on anchovies. Managed a few nice coho, including my first on a plug, and it went bat s&:t crazy. Awesome!
 
Just back from Bamtown-epic trip, fabulous weather--fishing was good to great in some spots--non existent in others.. FogDucker told me that persistence was required and he was right!!
I don't often fish Barkley so if I have a few place names wrong please excuse!! Arrived at PA fri at 10.30 am Clutsei was crowded but well run-launched Ok but parking was tough> Good trip down--couldn't get over the boats--tried Yankee bay--Nada--tried the wall--nada-I'm seeing no nets and tons of boats. Cross the harbour mouth and proceed towards Beale--I am fixated by a delightful youg lady believe- it or not rowing a plug or a spoon - very measured--she really knew what she was doing--Damn near didn't see the rod pop--great fight and we had our first (this year any way) Bamtown Spring Pretty slow going though managed a few more before calling it a long day and hooking up in the Harbour for the night. First light left turn at the harbour mouth and at 38 ft on a skinny G irish cream boated a nice one. Moving at speed up to Whittlestone spotted gulls feeding mid channel__ got there__ gear out and a coho feeding frenzy was on which saw us manage 3 before everything died. We chased birds for 1/2 hour which did us no good---dropped a chovy to the bottom and got a nice mid-teen Spring-but that was it. Tried King Edward-then Kirby-shakers-had a nice nap and lunch in dodger channel. Tried Whittlestone and then the area around the harbour mouth til dark with another single Spring So all in all not really any concentration of fish I could see. Next morning hit the wall--there was bait and I was marking fish but no takers-so ripped over to Kirby--lots of boats no nets -shakers only!! Gorgeous day but pretty bleak fish wise-so head over to Gibralter island-20 or so boats there and I start marking fish and bait. See a couple of nets and then it's our turn-a really nice 21.Left the pack and wanted to show one of the guys Swale and the entrance into the Broken group a great anchorage. No boats around and a hell of a pin popper-great run-islander is just screaming and then screeches!! and seizes- well let me tell you this looked like a comedy of fools-I was fortunate that the fish had a lot of line out-I had a 10'6" rod and I had gloves handy-just like strip casting a fly rod and boat power we hand lined a 15lb in. Retire the Islander for the trip and go for a nap. Evening produces--seals-saw him then a heck of a take and he surfaces with my flasher-I'm not getting it back!! I don't. Still the evening is beautiful-bait,marking fish and all the boats are by Gib island and we are almost at Swale. Not fast but steady Great night biggest 23. Quiet night in the broken group and first light we are at it--so is the seal-I lose another flasher--what is it with this guy-I think he's a comedienne -Catch another one but time has run out-not quite limited but considering I don't fish here often it was a fabulous trip. Small spoons,white hoochys and anchovies over dummies. Ramp was busy but well organized the way it should be-everybody was handled in turn and youDSC01029.JPG DSC01028.JPG knew when your turn was. Might have to slide there again.. Didn't know there were that many boats in Canada let alone BC
 
IMG_2064.JPG Just returned from 2 days at Seabeam.
3 boats
Boat 1 5 chinook rookies
Boat 2 9 chinook 3 coho
Boat 3 5 chinook 8 coho
Most fish in tight on the wall 25-35' green onion flasher green/chrome teaser heads were best red/chrome also did well.
We put in long hours 6am -8 pm small break for lunch.
Extra large chovies
 
another epic night ,

slabs are plentiful , cant believe how hot the sun was today , must have been close to 40 today ,
zero wind , bloody mess on the decks again , meathole , danvers were excellent tonite , still smilin havin a double Caesar as i type
life is good
nice work Springfever , ya did well ,
to all the others messaging me , glad ya had fun , alotta smiles out here
really makin up for all that lost time i had dealt to me , thanks to my boys back home for keepin the ship straight ...

later

felix
 
Spent the weekend in bam town with wifey. Fishing was great. Got all our springs the first two days and spent the third at Brady's Beach.
Morning and end of afternoon flood were best for us.

Lost our first couple springs on hoochies, switched to a large 602 spoon on the top rod (sans flasher) and it went four for four from there. Other four were caught on a skinny g between 36 to 42 feet. West end of Sandford at end of flood was our hot spot. Sat am at Whittlestone was very fishy for lots of boats.

Managed three coho after our 8 springs in deep water out from the south side of Robbers. Coho caught around 80 feet for us.
 
Spent a memorable 4 day weekend at MacKay Bay in Bamfield with hubby. Great place. Good food. Good company. good beds. 2 full days fishing and 2 half days. Everything was pretty much ideal for us. Without venturing outside the Sound in our modest boat, we managed: 7 spring, (one around 25 lb but the rest between 15 and 20). 2 nice coho, a red snapper, a cabezon, a rock fish AND much to our delight, a 40 lb halibut. We caught the hali while diligently jigging w spreader bars and herring-well inside the Sound and really without much faith, but who knew??? We caught 6 spring in two days, so from then on we were attempting to target coho, but mostly caught more spring. Kept the biggest and returned the rest for someone else, or maybe to spawn. We fished mostly 50 to 60 feet, w purple haze flashers and purple haze teaser heads. And faster than I would have thought wise if we'd been looking for more spring. Good luck folks! I envy those of you who are still anticipating your trip.
 
Some excellent reports here! Thanks to all who share info.

We are heading to Bamfield in a week, hope this high pressure system keeps the fish out there!! :)

Will be in brother in law's 17 ft centre console Whaler, staying at PN in their bunkhouse.

Cheers

BL
 
well

the switch turned back on today after a day of rain Wednesday , yesterday was tough sleddin , but it's lights out again today,
tables are loaded , a huge school of larger coho moved in today as well, hittin like freight trains ,my god ,
, had a double of springs to finish my trip off today , lost both lol ,
2 pissed off bulldogs pullin the striper apart in short oder , they won that battle ,
what a blast...

anchovy show now for most , few spoons still hittin here and there as well ,party girl and live image 3.5 in , worked for me
i ran anchovies on both sides last few days ,
no need to leave the wall , pick a spot and hold on , Danvers was great today

non stop smiles , hv fun !!

outta here tmrw , Ducker is cooked lol , great trip ,

enjoy

fd
 
Parents are out from Saskatchewan. My wife and I brought them down from PA. Doing the derby with them.Did the Bamfield wall from 7 to 3. Same gear as two weeks ago but only managed 3 Coho. 10, 12, 14. Lost 10. Not sure what or where for tomorrow. Fish of the day came from Swale. 34.5#
 
Caught 5 nice coho on the w/e from Bamfield down to Yankee Bay.
The bigger ones are around 10 lbs. right now.
Lots of coho at the cleaning table at Poet Nook.
Best for us was anchovy also skinny G and Irish Cream.
 
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