18' Boat in Ucluelet. Good idea or no?

[Corey_lax]

My fiance and myself are planning a week long stay in Ucluelet in late July/early August and I'm contemplating bringing my boat. I have an 18' Starcraft Fibreglass with a 115 and a 9.9. I've never actually launched out of Ucluelet but I'm familiar with Barkley Sound on the Bamfield side. Are we going to be alright leaving the channel in Ucluelet in a smaller boat? It can get pretty hairy sometimes. Obviously we'd have to pick our days well for weather and fog. Are all the fish offshore at that time or can we get into decent fish inside? Hows the fishing inside of Tofino if we decided to be a little sheltered due to weather?

 

[Foxsea]

We fish from a 17 foot Malibu Tyee. Ensure your boat and motors are in good condition and watch the weather, as you say. There's plenty of good fishing close by to Uclulet. On a good day you can venture further out , if you like, but you don't need to.

 

[Matsutake]

I think you're good. You've got the right approach safety wise. I've fished just outside around the corner on early morning calm days from my 16ft. Safety first.

 

[searun]

Don't venture out there in the fog tho

 

[Hagar]

You should be fine I have fished from there mostly on the inside for over 20 years in a 17 double eagle and you are going to be ok. You need to pick your days to go farther out but there is usually fish on the inside along the shoreline and near the islands . I like Mara rock it’s the last group of rocks before the south bank there can be some swells there so plan for that . Try along the shore further turning left from the harbour on the inside from the food islets towards mussel beach trolling in about 60 ft.of water usually not bad there . Try alley rock or great bear rock also. I have just bought a new 18 ft boat that I am confident that will get me anywhere I need to go in that area within reason. You just have to pick your days.

 

[uclueletcharters]

No problem, 14 foot tinnies fish red can etc no prob weather dependant. Years ago I ran a 16 K&C to all the in close banks just not big bank.

 

[ericl]

All great advice. I used to run a 14ft Livingston out there. June will be primarily offshore, but you may be able to get fish at the South Bank about 5-6 miles due south out the Ukee harbor. August should see more fish along the Lighthouse - Little Beach shoreline. There are probably Salmon to be had year-around close to shore, but folks are after bigger numbers of fish & head to where the catching has been best. At any rate unless you head 8 miles or more out the largest swells will be leaving Ukee where the inner bouy is, which you need to do to fish the shore as well. The swells can be avoided by going into Barkley Sound.

 

[UkeeDreamin]

As above, so long as you’re cautious of the weather and fog, which is a factor that time of year (they call it fogaust for a reason!), 18 is plenty. I fished out of a 17ft harbercraft for years and could fish all the banks and outside structure depending on weather/sea state. I will add from my experience in a smaller boat you really want to pay attention to the forecast for the direction of the prevailing swell vs prevailing wind - when they’re 90 degrees to each other the resulting slop is very uncomfortable in a small boat no matter where u are! Also, depending on where you are be aware of building aftn wind, particularly if fishing in the lee of islands. I’ve had my most harrowing boat rides fishing a bit too long at Effingham/Cree only to find the wind from the NW was howling and wind waves across London channel were in the 5-7 ft range at a 4-6sec period ... scary **** in a small boat!

For fishing inside, find bait you should find fish. That time of year you often don’t have to go far plus there should be coho around. Harbour mouth, light house to little beach, red can, food islets and chrow island are all close and mostly protected. A bit further afield Great Bear/ Alley rock area is good that time of year. South bank, lighthouse bank and Wya point aren’t too far of a run with good seas and a stable forecast. Of course, a run through the broken group is beautiful if it’s not foggy in the sound and lots of areas to fish on the south side - meares/effingham, cree, Gibraltar and swale rock.

I’m jealous, good luck and tight lines!

Cheers!

Ukee

 

[Sharphooks]

My first trip to Ucluelet was with wife and kids in the early 90's. We camped at the head of the inlet at the big campground there. I put a 5 Hp Tohatsu on a 9 ft Avon Redcrest and went out to the red can by the lighthouse. There were 3 M swells but no breaking waves. I hooked a 15 lb spring on a jig, slung it into the raft and made a heroic entrance back in the campground. (there had been some snickers when I left a few hours earlier when people saw me toting a rod and a bathtub boat to the water's edge)

Being in an 18 footer would have been like being in a yacht back in those days. You'll be fine if you pay heed to the weather. The Mara and Starlight suggestion was a good one....all inside water if you hang a left leaving the harbor.

 

[Corey_lax]

Sounds like we’re gonna be good to go as long as the weatherman cooperates! Thanks for all the good advice. Gonna be fun to get into a couple fish, crabs, and prawns while we are over there clearing out our lot. Crab was around $20 a piece at a store when we went last year lol. Needless to say that wasn’t happening....

 

[Fishalot]

I used to buzz bomb for springs on the edge of the harbour in my 16’ boat and did quite well. Little beach was another productive spot for a small boat.

 

[banger17]

Great idea! (to answer your question)

Any boat can fish any water depending on the weather and waves. I've had my 16' campion out off Ukee in snotty conditions and we had our tail between our legs.

I've also had a 12' tinner with an 8hp out off the can buoy in Renfrew and had amazing days for fish and its **** calm.

wait for your weather window and be modest about your skills and all will be fine.

If weather fails, hang a Larry out of Ukee harbour and find the calmer stuff

 

[cohobankie]

Took my 18ft glasply up there two years, sadly haven't been back, we did fine in that craft.

I will echo what others mentioned. Watch the mid-day and late afternoon NW wind. Otherwise you might get stuck behind meares until they die down in the evening.

We discovered Cree/Meares/Swale/Pill/Kirby. Great times. I think you can just wander left like they all stated.

A GPS/Fishfinder is worth it's price. Could have killed the two of us coming full tilt from fueling in bamfield as we cut between an island at high tide with 5ft of water under us. Realized my luck and stupidity when I returned home and looked on a map. Dropped $1K after that. Lots of rocks and reefs.

Best part is you have a paved road.

 

[goitzy]

Everyone has been bang on about watching the NW wind. I have crossed the imperial channel in some nasty stuff and it wasn't much fun in a small boat. It's all good until it isn't ...so head in or find refuge once the afternoon chop starts.

 

[TanTastic84]

Took my 18ft glasply up there two years, sadly haven't been back, we did fine in that craft.

I will echo what others mentioned. Watch the mid-day and late afternoon NW wind. Otherwise you might get stuck behind meares until they die down in the evening.

We discovered Cree/Meares/Swale/Pill/Kirby. Great times. I think you can just wander left like they all stated.

A GPS/Fishfinder is worth it's price. Could have killed the two of us coming full tilt from fueling in bamfield as we cut between an island at high tide with 5ft of water under us. Realized my luck and stupidity when I returned home and looked on a map. Dropped $1K after that. Lots of rocks and reefs.

Best part is you have a paved road.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who's done this. This happened to me recently and thankfully we were able to realize the mistake and correct our course before we ran aground with the new boat. That dual screen gps/depth finder is AWESOME! I thought I was getting false readings on my depth finder when it was fluctuating between 3-4ft of water. Oops. Gotta pay attention to detail.

 

[Bifmalibu]

Ha ha. That's the shortcut above Kirby across to Bamfield? I always cut across there. Keep waiting to smack something one day...

 

[Corey_lax]

my dads buddy ripped his leg off out there years ago before GPS. I’ve got a HDS 7 and couldn’t imagine going out without it.

 

[Corey_lax]

New topic time...

We are booked at the campsite that is very close to the public boat launch. It turns out that the campsite doesn't allow boats or boat trailers. Can anyone point me in the right direction of someplace to store the boat and trailer? Can you overnight park a boat/trailer at the public launch? I would also be OK with mooring the boat at the marina and storing the trailer for a week.

Our main purpose of the trip is to clear out the bushes of the lot we have and see what we got underneath all the brush, but I think the lot is too steep at the road to park a trailer. It's kind of a rocky cliff at the road so I'm not sure if we could drive up with the trailer, especially with a camper on the back of the truck. It's been so long since we've seen the lot so I can't remember if that would be feasible to park the trailer there after clearing the bushes lol. I could probably get the empty trailer up into the lot but definitely not with a boat on it.

One more thing, I don't plan on using the boat everyday because we will be busy with city hall permits and working on the lot. If anyone could recommend some short term storage for the boat and trailer, I'm not apposed to pulling the boat out of the water every time we use it. Something where we can pull the boat/trailer in and store it for a day or two would be nice.

 

[brutus]

New topic time...

We are booked at the campsite that is very close to the public boat launch. It turns out that the campsite doesn't allow boats or boat trailers. Can anyone point me in the right direction of someplace to store the boat and trailer? Can you overnight park a boat/trailer at the public launch? I would also be OK with mooring the boat at the marina and storing the trailer for a week.

Our main purpose of the trip is to clear out the bushes of the lot we have and see what we got underneath all the brush, but I think the lot is too steep at the road to park a trailer. It's kind of a rocky cliff at the road so I'm not sure if we could drive up with the trailer, especially with a camper on the back of the truck. It's been so long since we've seen the lot so I can't remember if that would be feasible to park the trailer there after clearing the bushes lol. I could probably get the empty trailer up into the lot but definitely not with a boat on it.

One more thing, I don't plan on using the boat everyday because we will be busy with city hall permits and working on the lot. If anyone could recommend some short term storage for the boat and trailer, I'm not apposed to pulling the boat out of the water every time we use it. Something where we can pull the boat/trailer in and store it for a day or two would be nice.

weigh west resort might be able to help you out,might be a bit pricey