2018 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

[slaydown]

Well back from a week in paradise. Caught the 515 ferry, booked it to alberni to stock up then hit the gravel road which wasn't too bad. Got the lines in the water by 4pm and had a beauty 10lb coho on the first rod before I could even get the other rod down and thought this is gonna be an epic trip and it was. Over the next 6 days we were in to at least 15-20 fish a day with a few feeders in the mix. Springs from 10-18lb and coho from 8-16lb with a few double headers. Lost a couple screamers and got our limit pretty easy. Want to thank trophywife for the info before we left, he gave me some tips to try and wouldn't ya know, it produced a few nice chicken halibut and a couple smaller guys (thanks brother) We were in my 16ft aluminum so were fishing all the normal inside spots. With the algae blooms we were running glow head anchovies and when they ran out the lime green 4 inch spoons, which produced our biggest fish, we were running 36 and 40ft on the riggers exclusively. Flemming, kirby, and Edward king were our main spots. With all the gloom surrounding this season I have to say this turned out to be an amazing trip with a ton of fish.
Cheers

 

[At Ease]

Took a friend out for his first time Saltwater Fishing on the weekend. Foggy Saturday and Sunday mornings. Did swale Saturday morning. Netted 1 of 2 springs we had on. Seen only one other fish boated, but then again it was foggy. Fished Pill and Blood bay for a night fish. Lost a scrappy coho at the boat. Sunday was about 10' vis in the fog so we went to Hoffart Bay and trolled back and forth between there and Diplock. Painted lots of bait in 30' but the fish were in 120' range. At about 8am we moved one rod down to 110' and still ran one the other setup at 35' and then Lost 3 on the 35', netted a 14# spring on the 120'. Purple Haze and small coho killer on the 35', Green flasher and white with green glow hoochie on the deep line. Fleming was sounding like a good place to be. Got gas in PA ( after threading my way thru the flotilla at the narrows). Ran into Tenacious at the Fuel dock. He had what looked to be his boat limit of nice fish in the bucket. He got those between Mactush and Arden creek.

 

[Fixit]

Would anyone be able to pm me a spot to find some halibut? We’ve been to 7 mile and every pinnacle we could try all the way to inshore
Anchored up with 4 rods and salmon bellies. Two dogfish and two rock cod to show for it

 

[Strait shooter]

Am I correct in reading the regs that wild and hatchery coho 2 limit is in effect in Barkley Sound

 

[4fishn]

Am I correct in reading the regs that wild and hatchery coho 2 limit is in effect in Barkley Sound

Correct
Inside Wild or hatchery is ok outside only hatchery

 

[ChrisL]

Just returned from Bamfield on Saturday after a week trip. Just one of those trips where nothing goes right. Blew a bearing on the boat trailer just off the ferry in Nanaimo, and the wheel literally fell of as we pulled into a mechanic. Luckily there was no damage to the axle and they had us back on the road by midafternoon. Was able to get to the cabin in grappler last Friday night.

Fishing was slow on the inside. We had a group of nine licenses (3 boats). Two boats were able to limit on springs inside by Wednesday and a few bonus coho. Almost entirely on anchovies (green hoods long leaders). Fishing seemed to be most productive at Whittlestone, Little Beale, and Beale. A few picked up on the wall.

Myself, I lost nearly every fish I hooked. A few went to the seal at Whittlestone, but other than that just bad luck. Wasn’t able to get fish to stay on the hooks. Only pulled in 4 springs the entire week between 3 licenses. The most exciting being a 22 that I hooked from a 14 ft Livingston that I like to fish out of when everyone wants to go out fishing from the big boats. Besides the poor fishing, we ran into more bad luck.

Being from Washington we only make the trip up once or twice a year. Typically ferry onto the island, and put the boat in the water in Alberni for the run to Bamfield. Park the rig near the ford dealership while we are gone. Well on Wednesday I got a call from the girlfriend’s mother while we were out fishing, she said that the sheriffs were at her place of work asking her about a missing vehicle of ours. The RCP in Alberni had called the sheriffs back home, who went to our home to find all our vehicles, but nobody home. They ran my girlfriends plates, which lead them to her mother. She called us up and put the sheriffs on the line letting us know that our truck had been stolen in Alberni. This really put a damper on the trip. RCP informed us that the truck was found broken into, door panel smashed, ignition punched out, and batteries stripped. We asked about the trailer and camper that were connected and they had no idea they were involved. Still no sign of either. My father hitchhiked from Bamfield to Alberni to get the truck out of the impound to a mechanic, and set up things with breaker marine for the boat to be dry docked on return to Alberni. He then hitched all the way back to Bamfield.

Anyway, all in all a fun trip and beautiful weather, but slow fishing and unfortunate events took the wind out of our sails. Everyone was safe so that is something to be thankful for. Just goes to show there are sleaze balls everywhere that could use a bullet.

Any information on a neighbor in the Alberni area showing up with a new camper or boat trailer would be greatly appreciated. Camper is a white/crimson 8 footer with a WSU courgar decal on the back. trailer fits a 23ft bay boat.

We had a boat trailer show up on our boulevard overnight last night - it has BC plates on it so not sure if it may be yours or not, could have had plates switched? I've posted pictures on AV Chatter Box. Contact me if you think it may be yours. Further to this message, I've contacted the RCMP with the plate & VIN information - it does NOT appear to be yours, sorry if I got your hopes up.

 

[bentley]

Any recent reports from Barkley sound, heading up for this week and hoping there’s some fish in numbers around. Not interested in heading off shore as I’ve got my wife and 2 kids with me this time. Staying close to swale rock, any info is much appreciated, feel free to pm me.

Thanks

 

[tubby]

Any recent reports from Barkley sound, heading up for this week and hoping there’s some fish in numbers around. Not interested in heading off shore as I’ve got my wife and 2 kids with me this time. Staying close to swale rock, any info is much appreciated, feel free to pm me.

Thanks

I’ve been fishing the Sound quite a lot over the last couple of weeks, this coming week will be as good as any. In regards to where’s hot, my moto at this time of year is go to where it was ‘slow’ yesterday. All the traditional Aug spots are producing, with the Austin, Mearse and Swale side quite consistent. Swale water been abit dirty (stained) while the Kirby / Beale side is slightly clearer.
Of course anchovies working but I find hootchies to also work well at this time of year. Small spoons were also working well over the last while but I’ve been finding where the stained water is....not as well as bait.

 

[Islander30]

Any recent reports from Barkley sound, heading up for this week and hoping there’s some fish in numbers around. Not interested in heading off shore as I’ve got my wife and 2 kids with me this time. Staying close to swale rock, any info is much appreciated, feel free to pm me.

Thanks

I'm heading up with my 10yr old son to do pretty much the same, his mom worries it's just the two of us and doesn't like us going off shore. We are based at Salmon beach so hoping to find fish somewhere between Wya and Swale. Haven't been up since July, but I like "tubby"s advice and will probably move around with anchovies, small spoons and hoochies. If you want to pm your cell number we can text each other...maybe help each other stay on the fish ? I'm heading up Friday to fish till probably Monday or Tuesday.

 

[Matsutake]

Got back Monday from 5 days in Bammy town. So, fishing out of my 16 ft tinny I worked the wall up to past Tapaltos almost Beale and inward to Danvers. A bit slow compared to other years but I was able to hit fish every time out. I found when I was in 150+ feet of water I would pick up smaller/shaker sized but when I worked in tight,60-45 ft ish, I picked up the bigger springs. None were monsters (12-18) but definitely the bigger sized were in close to the rocks.
A couple on green and white needle fish hootchies at first then anchovies all day long. Spoons only caught shakers, some super smallies that don't even twitch the rod but you ain't fishin' when they are on so I dropped all spoons for anchovies. The one exception was an experiment with butterfly jigs just off Whittlestone, a beauty 23lb'er that was some serious fun on the jigging rod to bring in.
Most fish were picked up right around the corner from the lighthouse/Aguilar Point and in front of Dixon Island. I fished solo for a few days then had my brother from Ontario and his boys join me after they had finished hiking the west coast trail. Pretty much put an exclamation point on their trip as they went home with two boxes of fresh salmon and a big crab feast in their bellies. Smiles all around.
Heading to Winter Harbour tomorrow to give it a look-see. Could be fun.
Thanks for all the reports and info guys, it's super helpful to us guys who don't live on the Island.
Ciao for now!

 

[Oh Sure]

Fished China creek yesterday from 6-9 am. Not even a sniff on anchovies, spoons or hootchies. With all the boats there, only seen a net come out once. Went up to Pill Point (foggy) for 2 hrs of fishing not a bite. Went over to Swale in the fog and joined about a dozen boats (including some charter boats). fished 3 hrs throwing everything at the fish. No bites. Pretty sad fishing for end of august in the sound.

 

[Sentinel]

Fished China creek yesterday from 6-9 am. Not even a sniff on anchovies, spoons or hootchies. With all the boats there, only seen a net come out once. Went up to Pill Point (foggy) for 2 hrs of fishing not a bite. Went over to Swale in the fog and joined about a dozen boats (including some charter boats). fished 3 hrs throwing everything at the fish. No bites. Pretty sad fishing for end of august in the sound.

Just bad timing methinks. There have been some pretty good bites at Swale recently.

 

[Docmedia]

Just back from a 3 day trip to Bamfield with 5 buddies. The fishing was a real rollercoaster of emotion from hours-long sessions without a sniff, to absolute chaos with multiple fish in super short windows.

Between 6 guys, we caught 24 spring and 9 coho. Springs ranged from 10-23 lbs, and we lost maybe a dozen more. We released a bunch of fish as well in the 12-15 lb range. Coho from 8-12 lbs. They were all mixed in together.



Afternoon high-slack was the best time for us, as well as first light, which we only did the last morning.

The absolute hottest bite for us was off of Scott’s Bay/ Brady’s Beach at high slack in super tight to the rocks in 45’ of water, fishing 28’ and 31’ on the rigger. Virtually all of the fish were caught on a cop car/glow coho killer. The lure was absolutely battered by the end of the trip. It seemed the more fish slammed the lure the better it got.

I was fishing with a couple of buddies who don’t fish a lot, and they were absolutely giddy. It was a special trip.... the kind you don’t forget, and the reason you keep coming back. Happy they got to share that experience.

Now it’s time to process some fish! Tight lines everyone.

 

[walleyes]

Nice fish Docmedia sounds like a heck of a trip for your guests, well done.

 

[Michael J]

Just got back from 7 days at the Nook. As always the staff and accommodations were top notch. I have a hard time leaving. 3 person crew this year with 12 Springs and only 6 Coho for the journey home. Anchovie was the top producer for us. Had a little trouble this year with losing fish, not quite sure why? Lost 15 or so fish. Haven’t had this problem in years past. Whittlestone,Kirby, Sanford we’re good for us. Morning bite was the best for us. Looking forward to next year already. Good luck everyone.

 

[Highliner]

Just back from a 3 day trip to Bamfield with 5 buddies. The fishing was a real rollercoaster of emotion from hours-long sessions without a sniff, to absolute chaos with multiple fish in super short windows.

Between 6 guys, we caught 24 spring and 9 coho. Springs ranged from 10-23 lbs, and we lost maybe a dozen more. We released a bunch of fish as well in the 12-15 lb range. Coho from 8-12 lbs. They were all mixed in together.

View attachment 39787 View attachment 39788 View attachment 39789

Afternoon high-slack was the best time for us, as well as first light, which we only did the last morning.

The absolute hottest bite for us was off of Scott’s Bay/ Brady’s Beach at high slack in super tight to the rocks in 45’ of water, fishing 28’ and 31’ on the rigger. Virtually all of the fish were caught on a cop car/glow coho killer. The lure was absolutely battered by the end of the trip. It seemed the more fish slammed the lure the better it got.

I was fishing with a couple of buddies who don’t fish a lot, and they were absolutely giddy. It was a special trip.... the kind you don’t forget, and the reason you keep coming back. Happy they got to share that experience.

Now it’s time to process some fish! Tight lines everyone.

View attachment 39790

Awesome work Dave!

 

[Drink]

Just back from our annual 7 days on the Boardwalk. Weather was great, kinda fogged in the first 3 days and with the stained water fishing in my opinion was considered slow at the traditional spots, Kirby,Danvers, Williston, the Wall, Aguilar Point, Sanford , King Edward, etc. Hook ups were on average 2 springs a day in the 12-15 pound range , the odd nice coho, everything on anchovies as not much else we traditionally use was overally effective. I understand most anglers were in the same position and generally it was one fish per outing. Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday at first light Flemming was producing well and our 4man crew easily reached our spring limit. Mostly males in the 10-14 pound range again, the females all were 18-20 pounds. Had trouble all week with fish sticking, we lost for whatever reason at least a dozen fish even with a stinger . Frustrating as I think the fish are starting to figure us out or something. Rest of our time was chasing Coho with not overall great success so I can't comment.
One thing we moved to medium anchovies, drew in the flashers and wallah.
Great trip overall, great guys and as mentioned the weather cooperated and the channel back was most pleasureable. Then the ferries.

 

[Adam barry]

Headed out to bamfield for the long weekend, any tips on where to drop a few crab traps? Used to drop them in grapler inlet, but noticed its been getting slower everyyear

 

[LouDogII]

Headed out to bamfield for the long weekend, any tips on where to drop a few crab traps? Used to drop them in grapler inlet, but noticed its been getting slower everyyear

Try in front of Brady's Beach. You'll see the floats. Usually produces pretty well. I drop one in ~90' and one in ~60' but some go in close in as little as 25'. Good luck.

 

[Islander30]

Great 3 days fishing at Swale ! Had a buddy come up the first day but then it was just me and my son for the last 2 days. This was the first time fishing the westcoast with my son just the two of us. First day when my buddy was up we got 3 nice springs and a couple really nice coho. Second day and first day with just my son and it didnt go so well. We snagged a downrigger on bottom playing the first fish of the day, then lost the fish and the canon ball. After that we proceeded to lose 6 more springs and only managed a couple tiny coho to the boat. The 3rd day turned around completely and we got our limit of springs right away and were headed home for breakfast. Really proud of my son, he has very tired arms but is still grinning from ear to ear ! All fish caught between 30-45 feet on anchovies and Skinny G - herring aide...biggest was maybe 18lbs and the rest between 12 -15.