Thanks Doug Lindores
FISHING REPORT: PORT ALBERNI INLET, BARKLEY SOUND, UCLUELET
(WEST COAST) SOMASS-STAMP RIVER SYSTEM
Doug Lindores
Slivers Charters Salmon Sport Fishing
August 13th 2008
The summer of 2008 has had phenomenal salmon and halibut fishing in Barkley Sound and the water off of Ucluelet. To date most of the Chinook and Coho salmon have been migratory fish making their way down the coastline of Vancouver Island travelling to their home- rivers, streams, or creeks. Halibut fishing has been good offshore at the Big Bank, South Bank and the Wreck, to name just a few areas. Barkley Sound and the Port Alberni Inlet should begin to fill with the areas returning Chinook and Coho quite quickly. The last four or five days have been probably the slowest fishing seen all summer. It has been scratchy in the Sound and most of the salmon out at the various banks have been small and are in very deep water. The Port Alberni Inlet has still been slow but Monday August 11th was the first actual day where the morning fishing produced a good number of Chinook in the high teens and low twenties. There have been reports of a few fish over thirty pounds since people began fishing the Port Alberni Inlet with intensity about one week ago. The Tyee club has a few thirty plus pounders listed in their daily record book. Most of the Chinook recorded from the Inlet have been taken on the China Creek Wall. Guides and sport anglers fishing close to Ucluelet are beginning to hit Chinook close to the beach. Over the weekend The Red Can was good as was Little Beach. Tofino has reported some great Chinook and Coho fishing over the past few days. The salmon close to the beach are probably returning fish coming into Barkley Sound and those salmon returning to Robertson Creek Hatchery in Port Alberni. It is expected that there will be a good return of Chinook and Coho returning to all of this areas rivers, creeks and streams. Robertson Creek Hatchery is expecting a surplus of Chinook and Coho which means the sport fishery should be very good in August and September.
The sockeye return to date has met the forecast return. Water levels and flow conditions have been very good all summer for these salmon. The return of mature sockeye is now over 150,000 with good returns going into Sproat and Great Central Lakes. The return of Jacks has also been excellent, which is a good indicator for 2009 returns. There has not been a sockeye fishery in the Port Alberni Inlet for two years now. It is certainly hoped that returns will get back to the high numbers once experienced in the Port Alberni Inlet. For the past few years indicators have shown good survival in the ocean as conditions have been very good.
Port Alberni Inlet
Barkley Sound
Port Alberni Inlet fishing has been slow but usually by the 15th of August Chinook begin showing in good numbers. Coho usually begin coming into the inlet at the end of the month or beginning of September. Most anglers have been fishing the Franklin River area out by the boundary line. Bells Bay is usually the first stopping area for the Chinook in the early part of the season. A few Chinook in the twenties and low thirties have been taken to date. Many of the sport fishermen fishing out there are campers at McTush and China Creek. The China Creek Marina has recorded some Chinook catches as has Clutesi Haven Marina. Saturday, Sunday and Monday of this week have each shown higher catches each day with the best numbers coming from inside waters close to China Creek. The China Creek wall and Underwood have been two areas with the best sport fishing. Some anglers will troll anchovy early in the season. Usually leader length is a little shorter than what might be used in Barkley Sound or offshore. The cop car hootchie has been reported as a great lure over the last couple of days. However red and bubble gum pink octopus hootchies or mp red and pink will be the best choice of color by most anglers in the days to come. Leader length of 42 inches is often the most popular behind a red or green glow hotspot flasher. Guide Doug of Slivers Charters Salmon Sport Fishing has not fished the inlet to date but will begin mid week. Usually four rods will fly with one having an anchovy, one flying the AORL12 hootchie and the other two rods with an Octopus red and Pink. Fishing salmon in the Port Alberni inlet should really heat up in the weeks to come. The Port Alberni Derby is very early this year and will occur at a very peak time.
Barkley Sound in surf line locations and just offshore three to five miles has been the area most boats from Slivers Charters Salmon Sport Fishing have been concentrating. Guide Dougs’ largest Chinook to date for guests is 32 pounds. Several Chinook have been in the teens and low twenties. The largest Coho to date is a fourteen pound hatchery fish. Swale Rock has been very good as has the Kirby Point, Edward King, and the Ship Island area. The past few days have had guests fish these areas with guides Doug, John, Mel, Henri, and Wayne. On Saturday of the past weekend, guests from Victoria fished with Doug in the Swale Rock and Gilbraltor area first thing in the morning. The area was covered in a very thick plankton bloom but fortunately two fish at twenty-five and fifteen pounds were picked up. Both fish were in seventy feet of water and hit the silver-glow four inch coyote spoon. These were the only two fish of the morning in the Swale area and after two hours of non productivity a move was made to Edward King. Plenty of fish were showing in this area and within ten minutes a 32 pound beauty hit the AORL12 hootchie behind a plaid flasher. Guests on board had fortune to pick up two more Chinook in the fifteen pound range and one ten pound Coho. Guide Wayne fished five to seven miles offshore and had a productive day with Chinook and Coho in the ten to fourteen pound range. Biggest fish of the day for Waynes’ guests was 27 pounds. Sunday and Monday the 10th and 11th of August definitely were slow days in the Sound. Guide John picked up one Chinook just off of Edward King which came in at twenty pounds. Most of Sunday and Monday guests fished the three, five, and seven mile areas off the surf line. There is a good number of salmon in these areas but they are ranging eight to twelve pounds and are in deep water up to 175 feet. The best lure for these fish was again the silver glow hootchie on a shorter leader. Anchovy in a purple haze teaser head was also working well. There is high number of reported salmon coming down the coast close to the beach and it is expected that many of these will fill into Barkley Sound, which should create some great fishing for the next month.
Ucluelet
Guide Mike has been concentrating on halibut and ling cod over the past week. Many guides and sport anglers fishing the Big Bank have done well on halibut. There are salmon on the bank but again they are not large fish. Coho off and on are very thick. South Bank also has good numbers of halibut and there are a few good sized Chinook and good numbers of Coho. Mike has had a few Chinook at South Bank in the high twenties and has had a couple in the thirty plus range close to the Ucluelet Harbor at the Red Can. The Chinook that stay close to the beach usually come into Barkley Sound and after resting and feeding move up into the Alberni Inlet before heading to the Robertson Creek Hatchery. Usually guides will fish halibut for those guests who are on a salmon-halibut combo trip first thing in the morning. Once halibut fishing is complete guides will often move in closer to the beach for salmon. Little Beach is open for salmon fishing this season and one will find guides covering that area quite heavily on a daily basis. Mike has had been successful halibut fishing on the jig and also using a spreader bar with salmon parts and large herring. Chinook Salmon have been hitting anchovy in a chartreuse or purple haze Rhys Davis teaser head in 80 to 110 feet of water at South Bank and The Red Can. White and glow hootchies have also been fairly steady lures in the area.
August is often foggy in the area. Remember safety is of concern. If your boat is not equipped with radar have a radar reflector so larger vessels can see you on their screen. A VHF radio and GPS is of importance also. Check weather and wave conditions daily.
There will be many fabulous August and September fishing days in the Ucluelet area. The migratory flow will continue and fish returning to nearby areas will create some excellent sport fishing.
The Labor Day Weekend will be very busy in Port Alberni as the city hosts one of B.C.’s largest saltwater derbies. The festivities begin at derby headquarters, Clutesi Haven Marina on the Friday evening of the summers’ final long weekend. Salmon fishing begins on Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning at 6 am. The derby closes on Labor Day Monday at 3 pm. Each day the three biggest fish are awarded with prizes of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000. The biggest fish of the derby will reward the fortunate angler with $7,000 along with the $3,000 biggest fish of the day prize making the winning fish worth $10,000.
For more information
Contact:
Doug Lindores
Slivers Charters Salmon sport Fishing
www.catchsalmon-ca.com
www.catchsalmon.ca
dlindy@shaw.ca
250 724 2502 (home)
250 731 7389 (cell)
The Fog Ducker
