UkeeDreamin
Well-Known Member
Just back from my annual mid-June week of fishing to Ukee and it was the toughest fishing I can remember. Much like Ucluelet Charters posted above, lots of bait at most locations inshore and offshore and all our fish were stuffed with tiny herring, with the odd large herring and krill. Didn't clean a single fish with sand lance in it, though at many spots the sounder showed the tell tale band of bait in the bottom 10-20 ft. Having said that, didn't get anything on needlefish hoochies or Andrew P spoons all week.
Early in the week Wya/Flo Bay was holding no bait and fishing was slow. Lighthouse and South banks had a bit of bait and gave up a few nice fish if you ground it out. Meares/Austin/Cree area was loaded with bait but also infested with undersize feeders. Fished there two days and waded through a lot of undersize chinook and coho for every good fish. Relocated lots to try to get away from them.
Later in the week Wya was stuffed with bait, not sure I've ever seen so much bait in an area, you literally had to fish around the whales because they were in tight gorging. Also had an Orca show there mid-day Friday with the big bull orca breaching -doesn't get much better than that. Still with all the bait the fishing was a grind! frustrating to say the least. I'm starting to think the fish were keyed in on the tiny 1/2" herring they were all stuffed with and all our presentations were too big to be a good match. Smallest spoons we ran were 3", way bigger than the natural bait. Spoons seriously out fished hoochies where the tiny herring bait balls were thick. Great to see al the bait, even if the fishing was a grind.
Last fishing day was Friday and the radio was alive with hot action from Long Beach, guides were slaying them up there. Would have pulled the pin and run up but had to be in the harbour by noon so stuck it out at Wya and enjoyed the whale show.
In summary, lots of bait near Ukee harbour: Beg/Chrow/Food Islets but no love for us. Great Bear and Alley also holding some bait and fish could be ground out. Southside of Broken Group: Gibraltar and Meares/Cree holding bait and lots of undersize as well as nice fish. Wya/Flo Bay no bait early in week but loaded with insane amounts later and fish could be ground out. As fish move down from Long Beach could get very good this week. Closer banks - Lighthouse, Adipose, turtles head, inside South etc holding bait at times and fish could be ground out. Fish were very nice size, low teens to 20 for us and a few coho around, though either very small or topping out at 3-4 lbs. Also saw a few tyee class fish brought in, so good fish are out there already
Weather was gorgeous all week but the sun and afternoon warmth made for convective onshore wind that made it sloppy out there most mornings - good size wind chop at short period coming from the SE most days mixing with NW swells that were 1.5-2 m and only 8-10 seconds apart. Made it very sporty first half of the week depending on where you were. Later in the week the swell lessened and period increased to 16+ seconds making for beautiful seas under blue skies.
Can't wait to get back!!
Cheers!
Ukee
Early in the week Wya/Flo Bay was holding no bait and fishing was slow. Lighthouse and South banks had a bit of bait and gave up a few nice fish if you ground it out. Meares/Austin/Cree area was loaded with bait but also infested with undersize feeders. Fished there two days and waded through a lot of undersize chinook and coho for every good fish. Relocated lots to try to get away from them.
Later in the week Wya was stuffed with bait, not sure I've ever seen so much bait in an area, you literally had to fish around the whales because they were in tight gorging. Also had an Orca show there mid-day Friday with the big bull orca breaching -doesn't get much better than that. Still with all the bait the fishing was a grind! frustrating to say the least. I'm starting to think the fish were keyed in on the tiny 1/2" herring they were all stuffed with and all our presentations were too big to be a good match. Smallest spoons we ran were 3", way bigger than the natural bait. Spoons seriously out fished hoochies where the tiny herring bait balls were thick. Great to see al the bait, even if the fishing was a grind.
Last fishing day was Friday and the radio was alive with hot action from Long Beach, guides were slaying them up there. Would have pulled the pin and run up but had to be in the harbour by noon so stuck it out at Wya and enjoyed the whale show.
In summary, lots of bait near Ukee harbour: Beg/Chrow/Food Islets but no love for us. Great Bear and Alley also holding some bait and fish could be ground out. Southside of Broken Group: Gibraltar and Meares/Cree holding bait and lots of undersize as well as nice fish. Wya/Flo Bay no bait early in week but loaded with insane amounts later and fish could be ground out. As fish move down from Long Beach could get very good this week. Closer banks - Lighthouse, Adipose, turtles head, inside South etc holding bait at times and fish could be ground out. Fish were very nice size, low teens to 20 for us and a few coho around, though either very small or topping out at 3-4 lbs. Also saw a few tyee class fish brought in, so good fish are out there already
Weather was gorgeous all week but the sun and afternoon warmth made for convective onshore wind that made it sloppy out there most mornings - good size wind chop at short period coming from the SE most days mixing with NW swells that were 1.5-2 m and only 8-10 seconds apart. Made it very sporty first half of the week depending on where you were. Later in the week the swell lessened and period increased to 16+ seconds making for beautiful seas under blue skies.
Can't wait to get back!!
Cheers!
Ukee
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