Alberni sockeye

Re Area D Gill opening (July 1st) , Whats ment by the Cape Beale line to Pocahontas line, is that all area from Pocahontas seaward to Cape Beale ? or inside , or ?? (help lol)
Thanks in advance for clerification
 
Had to get out of dodge for a few days, so took the kid and one of his friends (total newbie) to the inlet for a few days. This is the best fishery for kids and newbies, right?
Reading all the reports had given me a couple of ideas: if the sox are running fast up the inlet then I would make long straight trolls back towards town and see if I could at least see schools on the sounder. Also thought to try deep.
3 days of hard work, not a rec caught sockeye anywhere. I fished right from Coleman to Lonetree, the middle and both sides. From 15' to 151' deep. NOT A SNIFF.
Oh well, better than being at home or work, and another theory put to rest.
Hoping we get a chance later this coming week but the commercial guys appear to be set to clean up.
 
A very interesting Theory here, Salmon Addict. Should be simple to substantiate. Remember Bill Bennett and his "Downstream Benefits"? Deja Vu all over again
 
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hopefully this warm weather spell this week will getter started... it wasn't tell July 3rd last year tell it got going...:)
 
Nothing today. Seine boats were drawing blanks also. Fish are still going directly into the river. It will take a few days for the hot weather to work it's magic. There were a ton of sockeye at Pill Point a day ago, so more on the way....we just need them to STOP!
 
Went to China Creek camping for the long weekend. The company was great, beer was cold and the fishing stank. Not a wiff of sockeye and crickets chirping at the cleaning station. The talk at the campground was pretty negative. People are saying that Jimmy Pattisons boys cleaned the river out last week and theres been nothing since. I won't get into the science of it, but the general feeling is that China Creek will cease to exist as a campground soon.
We fished one day and didn't bother the next. We cut the long, long weekend short, packed up and came back to Vic. There was a mass exodus of campers getting the hell outa there. Not pointing fingers, but I hope that DFO realizes that this campground also adds to the fragile economy of Port Alberni.

Oh yeah, we got 2 nice springs and some crab in Sooke the day we came back. No more fishing vacations for me.
 
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ya we cancelled the sockeye trip completely after hearing the bum reports. went out to bamfield and the fishing in the sound sucked. the water was completely brown (couldn't see a flasher at 2 feet!). there wasn't much of a bite at diplock today or meares sunday (did see a couple caught there). did get out to south bank on Monday and got 6 nice springs and 5 hatchery coho though. Overall pretty slow I would say.
 
Just to follow up on my last post Look up the" Somass River Watershed Managemet" Plan ,if you guys were wondering why the sockeye blast up river this will shed some light on why they do, I think this plan needs a bit of work before its to late for us sports guys, I will be attending the next Fisheries meeting and bring up this so called management plan, don't get me wrong here ,I think that there should be a water management plan in case of drought and what not, but lets manage it for every fisherman best interest .
 
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As someone who has fished Alberni both as a commercial gillnetter and Seiner and now as a sportie.....relax. Unless the water heats up ....these fish might not school up enough to catch. Alberni hasn't always been a sockeye hotspot as a troll fishery. if the run is big enough and if the water is warm enough there might be sockeye to catch yet at China Creek. There was a time not long ago where you didn't get anything until the middle of July and it was scratchy at best some years. I just put my Canada Day long weekend 4 days in there and worked hard for 2 mornings and 1 evening....no fish. Did the outside to Pill Point/Diplock run and had no problem catching springs, bait all around and water colour a nice brown which is fine for me. Bashed off a nice high 20's on Sunday morning at Pill and ate BBQ springs and prawns for 3 days.
 
Just to follow up on my last post Look up the" Somass River Watershed Managemet" Plan ,if you guys were wondering why the sockeye blast up river this will shed some light on why they do, I think this plan needs a bit of work before its to late for us sports guys, I will be attending the next Fisheries meeting and bring up this so called management plan, don't get me wrong here ,I think that there should be a water management plan in case of drought and what not, but lets manage it for every fisherman best interest .
'
"aye men brother"
 
You are right ,RedFisher..

when I lived in Port Alberni we wouldn't really give a damn about sockeye fishing until the 2nd week July most years......

Most of the "early" fish went straight up the river and had "lockjaw".....

But you can't convince people......they get the "sox affliction" real bad real early.....
 
... But you can't convince people......they get the "sox affliction" real bad real early.....

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And thus 12 pages and counting yet again this season
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Still in Port, Still Poised...
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Cheers!
Nog
 
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As someone who has fished Alberni both as a commercial gillnetter and Seiner and now as a sportie.....relax. Unless the water heats up ....these fish might not school up enough to catch. Alberni hasn't always been a sockeye hotspot as a troll fishery. if the run is big enough and if the water is warm enough there might be sockeye to catch yet at China Creek. There was a time not long ago where you didn't get anything until the middle of July and it was scratchy at best some years. I just put my Canada Day long weekend 4 days in there and worked hard for 2 mornings and 1 evening....no fish. Did the outside to Pill Point/Diplock run and had no problem catching springs, bait all around and water colour a nice brown which is fine for me. Bashed off a nice high 20's on Sunday morning at Pill and ate BBQ springs and prawns for 3 days.

That's odd as over 30 years off and on and every year for about the last 20 we were done and finished with sockeye in Alberni by end of June and headed for points Norwest. July was mopping up the leftovers which the majority are looking like spawners.
 
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As someone who has fished Alberni both as a commercial gillnetter and Seiner and now as a sportie.....relax. Unless the water heats up ....these fish might not school up enough to catch. Alberni hasn't always been a sockeye hotspot as a troll fishery. if the run is big enough and if the water is warm enough there might be sockeye to catch yet at China Creek. There was a time not long ago where you didn't get anything until the middle of July and it was scratchy at best some years. I just put my Canada Day long weekend 4 days in there and worked hard for 2 mornings and 1 evening....no fish. Did the outside to Pill Point/Diplock run and had no problem catching springs, bait all around and water colour a nice brown which is fine for me. Bashed off a nice high 20's on Sunday morning at Pill and ate BBQ springs and prawns for 3 days.
Nice fish Red guy. Who needs Sockeye, when those guys are biting!!!
 
I lived in Port Alberni from 1964 to 2004.........never had a problem with "spawnish-looking" sockeye in July....

Early on in May and June, usually they start being caught off and on farther down the Inlet......then later the fishing picks up closer to town.

You can catch sockeye into August and they still look fresh........just not as many by then....

Some years it's good for sockeye...some years it's bad depending on a number of factors....
 
I have caught some sockeyes 3rd week or 4th week of August mostly at Cous Creek Bay before in 90`. Some fish`s heads and noses were bigger but fresh and prime thou.
 
Fishing has sucked big time all week. With the cold wet weather last week the fish were shooting straight up the river...however, seems to have slowed down a bit in recent days. Today the seiners last sets at Star Point were large. Not to mention they were getting larger average size fish. So, there is hope we will see the main run start to funnel in...and hopefully with the warming water they will school up. Without the fish schooling up we are not going to be able to catch them sport fishing. And, as many have already stated, the fish can still be in great shape and very catchable up to mid August, and in some cases the fish are still in decent shape.
 
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