Thanks for the tips guys, really looking forward to fishing the area again, it's been too long. I'm right on the edge of the bluff about the third lot from the end on 5th. My Dad owned the lot since the early 90's and I bought it from him about 12 years ago. I drive a brown F150 with a white canopy and have an older 20ft Hewes Craft...don't drink anymore so I try to stay away from happy hours but will definatley stop by to say hi..lol !
Thanks again,
Brent
 
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I'll fishing from Ukee Sat-Monday. trophywife mentioned a number of places to try right outside Salmon Beach if it blows on a different thread. Weather looks okay on some apps, but gales on GC forecast.

Ya forecasted winds don't look to bad locally close to shore south of Estevan and says light winds south of Barkley....anyway, I'll just have to hope for the best I guess, would hate to be blown out first trip in 7 years..lol . Thanks for the advice, good luck !
 
It seems the orcas are justification for DFO to destroy sportfishing and dependant communities with no science to support the closure decisions. Like many others, I have fished inside and outside of Barclay Sound, seeing orcas only very rarely.

There are many variables affecting Chinook survival. Many scientists suggest offshore poaching may be one of the biggest factors, with Korea, Taiwan and Japan running miles long nets in the open Pacific. Perhaps DFO might put some effort into sustaining a fishery where it does the most good.
I still want to insist they remove the fish farms. They have been outright lying about infecting and killing wild stocks for 20 years and now the Orca's are starving. No food and that will reduce reproduction and increase die off. This isn't something that requires catching infected salmon in the wild, that would be almost impossible as they are easily caught by predators and the first to die. Just shut down the FF's for 5 years, manage the fishery a little better for five years and see if the virus disappears and fish stocks rebound. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to correlate declining wild stocks with the introduction of FFs or that worldwide FFs have created massive problems for wild stocks.

This thread will be derailed or astro surfed claiming climate change, oil spills, droughts over fishing, just about every possible reason except this killer virus for stock reduction, heck maybe even sound in the water, BUT this idea is something that can done immediately, LOCALLY and results could showup as soon as one year, five years just insure all stocks get a year without the virus.

Maybe the virus is killing the orca's damaging their digestive or internal organs. Never hear what they find when they do a necropsy/autopsy on a whale, odd.
 
Short trip, short report: Chinooks good for me at Wya today and yesterday. Done by 7am both days. I don't know if there is still squid around there, but there is lots of baby needlefish. I used trout spoons (1.5") and 8" flashers. Tons of cohos today; mine were all wild.
I sucked at hali this week. So many dogs and the odd skate.
Hot sun, lobster face, no fog.
 
I'm tying up some gear for my son that is heading up your way this Thursday,any suggestions for must have gear? I've tied some sanora,turd,glow white,green and tiger prawn hootchies. Should I make some needlefish size squirts? Any spoons producing? What size is the bait now? Thanks. I'll give him my plugs and anchovie rigs too. PM (start conversation) if you like.
 
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I'm tying up some gear for my son that is heading up your way this Thursday,any suggestions for must have gear? I've tied some sanora,turd,glow white,green and tiger prawn hootchies. Should I make some needlefish size squirts? Any spoons producing? What size is the bait now? Thanks. I'll give him my plugs and anchovie rigs too. PM (start conversation) if you like.
The bait is tiny, forget about the big gear. It's epic fishing right now! They are coming right down the beach
 
Short trip, short report: Chinooks good for me at Wya today and yesterday. Done by 7am both days. I don't know if there is still squid around there, but there is lots of baby needlefish. I used trout spoons (1.5") and 8" flashers. Tons of cohos today; mine were all wild.
I sucked at hali this week. So many dogs and the odd skate.
Hot sun, lobster face, no fog.

Just got back this evening, did pretty good considering how long it's been since I've fished the area. Fished yesterday at Wya and then at Swale this morning. I was a little nervous at Wya, it's been awhile since I fished so close to the rocks in choppy swells, but still managed a 20lbs and a second a little smaller...as well as endless wild coho all through the morning. Swale was endless shakers but we still managed two 10 to 12 lbs keepers as well as lost another big one right at the boat after multiple line screaming runs ! All in all not a bad trip......I was surprised to see so few boats around as well.
 
I got chinooks on plain white hoochies, and a white glow turd at Wya, but I got a chinooks and cohos on nearly every pass when I switched to the two small spoons in the pic while trying to find a hatch. I gave up (all wild) and went dogfishing (or not halibut catching) both days.
I did get a few more chinooks offshore trolling turds and kajikis when I tried to troll up a hali.
Water was about 55F on the beach and 62 out about 5 miles.
The Gibbs Stewart spoons are size 1 and size 7. I only used the small one this time. Check your grandpa's tackle box. The white/red07172018328.jpg one is a needlefish spoon; they are still around.
I think bigger hooks would allow me to go faster and play the fish quicker.
 
I got chinooks on plain white hoochies, and a white glow turd at Wya, but I got a chinooks and cohos on nearly every pass when I switched to the two small spoons in the pic while trying to find a hatch. I gave up (all wild) and went dogfishing (or not halibut catching) both days.
I did get a few more chinooks offshore trolling turds and kajikis when I tried to troll up a hali.
Water was about 55F on the beach and 62 out about 5 miles.
The Gibbs Stewart spoons are size 1 and size 7. I only used the small one this time. Check your grandpa's tackle box. The white/redView attachment 39044 one is a needlefish spoon; they are still around.
I think bigger hooks would allow me to go faster and play the fish quicker.

Wow, really that small hey !!! Well that explains it, the smallest I had in my tackle box was a skinny G in herring aide...which is what we got the 20 lbs on actually...
and the other I think was on a 3 inch kitchen sink...other than those two we had no other hits from springs at Wya, even tried anchovy for awhile but nothing except wild coho the rest of that morning. Both the keeper springs we got at Swale were on skinny G's as well as the big one we lost at the boat
Looks like I Won't be back before August now, but will be loading up on some old trout spoons before then that's for sure. Thanks again !
 
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Thanks for the info,I'll make sure he has lots of coho killers ,skinny G's and AP needlefish spoons.
 
The bait is tiny, forget about the big gear. It's epic fishing right now! They are coming right down the beach
I'm not familiar with the Ucluelet side of Barkley,I've always fished Bam town side,What do you mean by "down the beach"? Is that just inside the Sound?
 
I'm not familiar with the Ucluelet side of Barkley,I've always fished Bam town side,What do you mean by "down the beach"? Is that just inside the Sound?
Migrating down the surfline, like Wya and Cape Beale. We are getting them real good in our spots similar to these I mentioned
 
Thanks for the info,I'll make sure he has lots of coho killers ,skinny G's and AP needlefish spoons.
Late report, but fished a week ending last Sunday. Limits of Springs and lots of Big Coho for my wife and I 99% all on the Herring Aide Coho Killer. Didn't take long to realize fish were stuffed with 2" Herring, so went with the same spoon on all 3 rods we fished. First time fishing the Ukee side of Barkley, so felt uncomfortable fishing out front, being told we needed to fish big hootchies and Turds because of the squid present. Couldn't get bit. Out of frustration, ran to Cree most days where we found on every tide change there was a good to excellent Spring bite with Coho mixed in. All on the Herring Aide Coho Killer typically at 70'. Did get fish as shallow as 30' though. 6' 40# Flouro leaders and an 11" HotSpot UV Crystal Flash flasher . Fish were good sized with Coho to 16# and two Tyee sized Springs in our possession limit kept. Best ending was about 11:00 AM on Sunday we were coming back from Cree with 2 Springs and a couple of Coho when my wife suggested we finish out front by the lighthouse. Two other boats were trolling the inside tract, so we set up outside in about 130' going North with 2 Herring Aide Coho Killers at 50' and 70'. Just about the first rock outcropping as we started to turn to do the inside tack the 70' rod went off. As we continued the turn to set up to fight the first fish the 50' rod also got bit. My wife ran to pick that rod and since it wasn't going 'crazy', decided to just leave the rod in the rod holder. A couple of minutes later, after we netted my fish, she went back over and her fish was still on. About 5 minutes later we also netted her Tyee fish (31# on the scale) to limit for the day. Total time out front about 15 minutes. A beautiful way to end our week. Both those fish also were loaded with those 2" herring. Two of the 3 Coho Killers had lost their eyes and most of their paint, but still worked great. As long as those tiny herring are in the area, that's all I would fish. We did get lots of jacks/feeders too, but during the tide changes, it was mostly adult fish. After over 25 years fishing the Inlet and suffering through the insane management of the Sockeye fishery by DFO, this was a fantastic introduction to Ukee. We will be back. Like everyone has said, there are fish everywhere. Enjoy.
 
I got chinooks on plain white hoochies, and a white glow turd at Wya, but I got a chinooks and cohos on nearly every pass when I switched to the two small spoons in the pic while trying to find a hatch. I gave up (all wild) and went dogfishing (or not halibut catching) both days.
I did get a few more chinooks offshore trolling turds and kajikis when I tried to troll up a hali.
Water was about 55F on the beach and 62 out about 5 miles.
The Gibbs Stewart spoons are size 1 and size 7. I only used the small one this time. Check your grandpa's tackle box. The white/redView attachment 39044 one is a needlefish spoon; they are still around.
I think bigger hooks would allow me to go faster and play the fish quicker.
looks like a Dick Nite spoon would also work.
 
looks like a Dick Nite spoon would also work.
Lots of stuff will work right now, I think. One of the things that brings me back to that area is that it is always changing.
Each year/trip is different: big spoons and plugs, 4.o spoons, small rockfish imitations, squid hoochies, anchovies, tiny spoons, etc... Big turd on one side coho killer on the other, and both catch well. Next week could be different again.
You have to find out if the small stuff will work with a decent size hook on it. Going back on Tuesday to fish wed-sat. Tofino though. I tied up some needlefish hoochies but shortened the legs by half. Worth a try. The cool thing about small spoons is you can put a pile of them in a small box that'll fit in a pocket. I'll still pack too much gear until we get dialed in.
 
Thinking of taking the rv to island west resort next year in the summer but reading some iffy opinions on the place. If anyone has been there can you let me know if it's any good for a family trip?
 
It's fine. Nothing fancy. They paved the road and part of the parking lot which reduced the dust, but turned it into a bit of a speedway for people passing through. Cheap, very cold walk in freezer. Most spots have power and water now.
Moorage, launch fees, and camp spots have gone up in price, but still affordable. Hasn't changed much, but the number of fishers is down, while the number of campers/surfers/Euros is taking up the slack, so it's still busy. It'll be interesting to see if it gets back to normal busy July 20-Aug 20. I have a feeling the less-informed are avoiding fishing trips this year due to Area 20 Syndrome. Some charters are way down from my conversations.
 
Thinking of taking the rv to island west resort next year in the summer but reading some iffy opinions on the place. If anyone has been there can you let me know if it's any good for a family trip?
We were staying in an airbnb a block away for our stay last week and used the ramp and 'eventually' moored there. Heard frequent complaints that the 'new' owners weren't spending any money on the property. Can only speak to the ramp and marina, but was VERY quiet (4 or 5 boats moored) when we were there. Everything looked a little dated, but moorage was fine. We typically launch daily ($20.00 per day!), but on a low tide below possibly 3', the ramp is unusable. It needs at least one or two new 'boards' to make it usable in all tides. It forced us to moor, which was fine. Because of the rule of no guts in the water from the cleaning station now, no sea lions either. We know one of the managers, Ron, that worked at China Creek years ago, that mentioned that late July and all of August the place is packed, very busy, and hard to get spaces/moorage. By the way, crabbing was exceptional just across the inlet. Enjoy.
 
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