2022 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

[Grappler_UNIfLi]

Returned from Bamfield on Sunday night after 4 days. Fishing was on the up and heating up, still a bit of a grind for us.
2 boats and 20 springs, maybe 15 coho. Biggest fish were ~20lbs. Most in the mid to low teens. Coho were in great shape. Caught on hoochies, and anchovy mostly. Some herring. Small spoons got hit, but too many shorts and shakers, start to feel guilty.

Found some Lings, rocks, and cabs too. One Cab was full of rocks, one the size of a cue ball.
Seems the local fish are just starting to show up, we were catching what I imagine were some cookie cutter WA fish, clipped fins on the inside.

Road was fine, short detour but made it in 2 hours easy in my Subaru.

Tight lines.

 

[DMB]

Fished Meares and Effingham today (aug 25) for a surprise visit from a seiner who put out a set in the middle of the pack at noon. Nice............
Also Reel West Coast in the mix.

We were up there Thursday to Sunday and found good fishing at Harbour Entrance to Swale on Thursday and Friday, and at the wall Saturday and Sunday. Fish were deeper at Swale, mostly around 50, and shallower at the wall, around 30. Large or extra large chovies were the ticket, although got a few fish on purple haze hoochies. A few coho roaming around but not a ton. Lots of seals at kelp bay to Danvers along the wall which was annoying. Unfortunately had to run back to Port Alberni on the kicker on Sunday when our big engine had problems which made for a real long day.

Returned from Bamfield on Sunday night after 4 days. Fishing was on the up and heating up, still a bit of a grind for us.
2 boats and 20 springs, maybe 15 coho. Biggest fish were ~20lbs. Most in the mid to low teens. Coho were in great shape. Caught on hoochies, and anchovy mostly. Some herring. Small spoons got hit, but too many shorts and shakers, start to feel guilty.

Found some Lings, rocks, and cabs too. One Cab was full of rocks, one the size of a cue ball.
Seems the local fish are just starting to show up, we were catching what I imagine were some cookie cutter WA fish, clipped fins on the inside.

Road was fine, short detour but made it in 2 hours easy in my Subaru.

Tight lines.

Fished effingham Thursday 25. Was surprised to see a seiner put out a set in the middle of the pack. Had to be 50 sporties there. Also reel west coast…

 

[Robert Bouchard]

How has the fishing at pill point or Sametaeo Bay.

 

[ebpWA]

Fished Meares and Effingham today (aug 25) for a surprise visit from a seiner who put out a set in the middle of the pack at noon. Nice............
Also Reel West Coast in the mix.


Fished effingham Thursday 25. Was surprised to see a seiner put out a set in the middle of the pack. Had to be 50 sporties there. Also reel west coast…View attachment 84210View attachment 84211View attachment 84212

How has the fishing at pill point or Sametaeo Bay.

We fished Pill on Friday from 10-1130 and then Diplock until about 1 and only had 2 shaker springs hit. I had heard it was hot for Coho the few days before. We had our spring limit and wanted to fill up on silvers. We caught 2 at swale , an 8 and 12 lb on Wednesday, along go with 4 springs and I heard it picked up even more with quite a few coho in the mix.

 

[Calgboy]

Anyone else out on the weekend? More Springs showing up? I'm hearing it's been a little slow around Bamfield.

 

[trophywife]

went out at the crack of 7 for a personal solo fish, still trying to solo a tyee ;}
picked up 2 mid teens within half hour at flemming. headed to whittlestone for rest of the morning and released 7 more.
AOLR12 hootchie was getting it done 2-1 against the chovie. fish where more so in the tapaltos bay area. wherever the small birds popped up i would go and tac around. screen would fill with bait and marks. then the hit would happen. i got nothing rubbing the rocks.

 

[Calgboy]

went out at the crack of 7 for a personal solo fish, still trying to solo a tyee ;}
picked up 2 mid teens within half hour at flemming. headed to whittlestone for rest of the morning and released 7 more.
AOLR12 hootchie was getting it done 2-1 against the chovie. fish where more so in the tapaltos bay area. wherever the small birds popped up i would go and tac around. screen would fill with bait and marks. then the hit would happen. i got nothing rubbing the rocks.

Sounds like a great day out, thanks for the intel and good luck with that Tyee.

 

[ebpWA]

We fished out of Bamfield last week from Tuesday to Friday (8/22-8/26). Three of us ended up with limit of springs between 9lb and 16lb and a couple of coho, 8lb and 12lb. We also grabbed some black rockfish one afternoon, too. All of our fish came from the wall or Swale rock.

Mainly fished the Bamfield wall in the AM due to fog but it was productive for us from 7-9 or so in the AM, the bite would turn on and just like that it was done. Same in the evening 7-830PM. Caught springs on a combo of anchovies, spoons (skinny-G and silver horde, herring aid and green/white) as well as white hoochies.

Spent a few hours each day at Swale. Our best afternoon was from about 11-12:30 and we boated 4 springs and 2 coho in about 45 minutes just off from the actual rock in about 180' of water with riggers down at 50'.

Almost got ran down by the seiner that decided to roll in and drop nets in the middle of the rec fleet, thanks buddy! We were fighting a fish, and as soon as we landed it I had to goose the boat to get out the seiners way, we still had gear in the water on the other side and after a second or two the line was screaming and ended up with a nice spring. We were moving so quick I thought for sure it was a coho.

We gave Pill Pt and Diplock a try for coho on Friday but didn't get any, ran in to a couple of shaker springs and that was it. Kirby was a mystery, tons of bait and fish on the sounder but nothing wanted a taste of what we offered.

Overall, an awesome trip, can't wait to go back.

 

[Matthias]

We Also spent the last 4 days in Bamfield. Stayed at bamfield lodge and it was great. Will definitely stay there again. The bar downstairs was a nice way to unwind after a long day.

4 of us limited on springs, a few coho, Black Sea bass, and a ling.
We caught a bunch of springs at Hocket point in the inlet on our way to Barkley sound. We Must have gotten lucky since we tried that spot today on the way back with no action. Maybe the commercial opening last night had something to do with that.

Swale rock was the ticket for us. Multiple doubles but our biggest was 17. Saw the reel west coast boat out there too!
We Only fished chovies all week and we caught a few at robbers, none at whittlestone Kirby or assits. But we gave all those spots maybe 2 hours each. Probably could have grinded out a few if we had more confidence.
All in all, amazing trip again. We love bamfield.

 

[the fog ducker]

We Also spent the last 4 days in Bamfield. Stayed at bamfield lodge and it was great. Will definitely stay there again. The bar downstairs was a nice way to unwind after a long day.

4 of us limited on springs, a few coho, Black Sea bass, and a ling.
We caught a bunch of springs at Hocket point in the inlet on our way to Barkley sound. We Must have gotten lucky since we tried that spot today on the way back with no action. Maybe the commercial opening last night had something to do with that.

Swale rock was the ticket for us. Multiple doubles but our biggest was 17. Saw the reel west coast boat out there too!
We Only fished chovies all week and we caught a few at robbers, none at whittlestone Kirby or assits. But we gave all those spots maybe 2 hours each. Probably could have grinded out a few if we had more confidence.
All in all, amazing trip again. We love bamfield.

nice work...

 

[Cougar Gold]

Is Poett’s Nook selling derby tickets?

 

[Cut Plug]

nice work...

Got back Sunday from a week in Bamfield. For us it was hot one day cold the next. Started off with a 10 spring and 4 coho morning at Fleming which was awesome and then dead Tuesday. Most of our springs were smaller but we did manage a few in the low to mid 20’s. We caught springs at Fleming, Robbers, Pill, Harbour Entrance, the Wall and Swale. No luck at Beale or Whittlestone for us. Depth pretty much standard at 27/35 but did catch our largest at 70ft. The white hoochie continued to be productive but bait seemed to really turn on later in the week and especially on the weekend. We also got fish on Skinny G’s. The average size is way down from my recent experience with many guide boats bringing in 8 lbers. Maybe the larges are still holding off Ukee as there are reports of larger fish at Wya and Flo. I’ve NEVER had such a hard time getting fish in to the boat! We were well under 50% converting hooked fish in to netted or released fish. We weren’t alone based on what I saw all around us. Once again an awesome experience and can’t wait to get back!

 

[Deejray]

Is Poett’s Nook selling derby tickets?

Need to get them from Breakers or Gone fishin in Port Alberni

 

[Sir Reel]

Got back Sunday from a week in Bamfield. For us it was hot one day cold the next. Started off with a 10 spring and 4 coho morning at Fleming which was awesome and then dead Tuesday. Most of our springs were smaller but we did manage a few in the low to mid 20’s. We caught springs at Fleming, Robbers, Pill, Harbour Entrance, the Wall and Swale. No luck at Beale or Whittlestone for us. Depth pretty much standard at 27/35 but did catch our largest at 70ft. The white hoochie continued to be productive but bait seemed to really turn on later in the week and especially on the weekend. We also got fish on Skinny G’s. The average size is way down from my recent experience with many guide boats bringing in 8 lbers. Maybe the larges are still holding off Ukee as there are reports of larger fish at Wya and Flo. I’ve NEVER had such a hard time getting fish in to the boat! We were well under 50% converting hooked fish in to netted or released fish. We weren’t alone based on what I saw all around us. Once again an awesome experience and can’t wait to get back!

We had the same issue netting fish a few weeks ago. Hooks were flying out of their mouths right at the boat. Weren't rushing them either.
Soundslike you did better on salmon than we did August 8th week. We fished Fleming and Robbers a lot, as did lots of other boats. Never got a fish there. Swale and Sandford were the best. Locals say the big fish come in last week of August and first week of September. We will see....

 

[Cut Plug]

We had the same issue netting fish a few weeks ago. Hooks were flying out of their mouths right at the boat. Weren't rushing them either.
Soundslike you did better on salmon than we did August 8th week. We fished Fleming and Robbers a lot, as did lots of other boats. Never got a fish there. Swale and Sandford were the best. Locals say the big fish come in last week of August and first week of September. We will

It was a bit to do with the smaller size I think but consistently they’d hit pretty hard, head shake a couple of times and then charge the boat putting their damn heads out of the water either alongside or right behind the boat and thrashing like gators. Good strategy to throw a hook so hats off to them as they won! We did try pinning the kicker and tight lining on a few to make them run and that worked, but not so much in the gong show lined three boats deep that was Swale on Friday and Saturday! It seems the bigger fish were more the classic hook set and awesome run so we did better on those. If you landed them all it’d get boring quick IMO. But this trip was not boring at all. Lol.

 

[ebpWA]

It was a bit to do with the smaller size I think but consistently they’d hit pretty hard, head shake a couple of times and then charge the boat putting their damn heads out of the water either alongside or right behind the boat and thrashing like gators. Good strategy to throw a hook so hats off to them as they won! We did try pinning the kicker and tight lining on a few to make them run and that worked, but not so much in the gong show lined three boats deep that was Swale on Friday and Saturday! It seems the bigger fish were more the classic hook set and awesome run so we did better on those. If you landed them all it’d get boring quick IMO. But this trip was not boring at all. Lol.

Had a similar thing last week in Bamfield, only on hootchies, realized my stinger was a bit short and not quite getting past the plastic. Added a bit of length and didn't lose another. Had one on the shorter stinger that came all the way to the boat and then just stopped biting, wasn't hooked at all. Maybe not your issue, but sure was mine!

 

[Sir Reel]

Had a similar thing last week in Bamfield, only on hootchies, realized my stinger was a bit short and not quite getting past the plastic. Added a bit of length and didn't lose another. Had one on the shorter stinger that came all the way to the boat and then just stopped biting, wasn't hooked at all. Maybe not your issue, but sure was mine!

Ours were on hootchies too. Some brand new.
Going to re rig mine next year to a single large hook like RC does

 

[ebpWA]

Ours were on hootchies too. Some brand new.
Going to re rig mine next year to a single large hook like RC does

How large of single hook?. I like that idea. I ended up keeping two springs that I would’ve likely released but they bit the upper hook and took the stinger to the gills so were both bleeding badly.

 

[Cut Plug]

How large of single hook?. I like that idea. I ended up keeping two springs that I would’ve likely released but they bit the upper hook and took the stinger to the gills so were both bleeding badly.

I run a 4/0 single siwash attached to a crane swivel. A gumpuckey and UV insert gets the bites and puts the hook in the right place. Not much help in landing ratio but sure helps with a better release for those you want to let go on purpose.

 

[Sir Reel]

How large of single hook?. I like that idea. I ended up keeping two springs that I would’ve likely released but they bit the upper hook and took the stinger to the gills so were both bleeding badly.

I think RC used a 4/0. Used a bead and a ball chain ahead of the hook
@Rain City can you show us that picture again?