2016 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

[Sharphooks]

Just got back from Bamfield. More or less a shake-down cruise for the new (to me) boat before heading up to Port Hardy in July. Got a few days in with my daughter --- fished the normal spots---Great Bear, Kirby, Bordelais etc. Short answer on the trip-----sloooooow

My first morning I hooked 5 springs and thought to myself---wow, it's going to be a light's out trip. ..........Not!

The next 3 days was scratch at best, with a huge amount of shakers and a few almost-teeners

I was with my daughter who was good for a few hours on the boat at best so even though I knew Rats Nose would have been the best bet, we never went outside the surf line.

The boat was a dream---the Suzuki DF300 ran like a sewing machine so that part was good.


A few pics: daughter's first fish at Bordelais:





My first spring of the trip: first 5 minutes of fishing at Kirby. A guide passing by my boat said ....."wow, well done!" I'd never had a guide say that to me before.

In retrospect, he might have said that because he knew what would take me three more days to figure out----I'd been lucky to get one!





Pulling out last day at Klutesi





Ya, I'm embarrassed to say that boat is pimped out!

 

[Aces]

Nice looking boat!

 

[TheBigGuy]

Nice boat. Are the killer whales on the hull to scare off the seals

 

[jeffywestcoast]

X2 Great looking boat !

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Just got back from Bamfield. More or less a shake-down cruise for the new (to me) boat before heading up to Port Hardy in July. Got a few days in with my daughter --- fished the normal spots---Great Bear, Kirby, Bordelais etc. Short answer on the trip-----sloooooow

My first morning I hooked 5 springs and thought to myself---wow, it's going to be a light's out trip. ..........Not!

The next 3 days was scratch at best, with a huge amount of shakers and a few almost-teeners

I was with my daughter who was good for a few hours on the boat at best so even though I knew Rats Nose would have been the best bet, we never went outside the surf line.

The boat was a dream---the Suzuki DF300 ran like a sewing machine so that part was good.


A few pics: daughter's first fish at Bordelais:





My first spring of the trip: first 5 minutes of fishing at Kirby. A guide passing by my boat said ....."wow, well done!" I'd never had a guide say that to me before.

In retrospect, he might have said that because he knew what would take me three more days to figure out----I'd been lucky to get one!





Pulling out last day at Klutesi





Ya, I'm embarrassed to say that boat is pimped out!

I bet the "guides well done" was about your awesome boat and not the fish.

 

[Sharphooks]

I never thought those sexy decals would scare off the springs.... But even with skinny fishing there's always the charm of Bamfield:

 

[Black Bird]

Just back from bam
Fishing scratchy for sure .... managed 2 shy of our limit for springs , 4 days fishing
Fished Cree , Kirby , Edward king .... Lots of shakers ... Larger fish and better luck and fish size for us Was at whittlestone .... First light to 8am was best ... Most Bellies full of large squid so hoochies where lhure of choice there

 

[BradS]

Just got back from
Poett nook yesterday. Was out on the water from
430 am to 830pm and managed to get 5 springs in the boat. All small springs biggest was about 10 lbs. we fished from whittlestone to Edward king then trolled all the way down to robbers! Lots on undersize fish around, we prob release 15-20 under size. It was a fun day just wish some bigger fish would start showing up

 

[Stosh]

Besides Bamfield and Poet Nook, where is there FUEL in the Sound? Is Green Cove operating?
Thanks
Stosh

 

[AquaDisiacIII]

Green cove is shut down last I knew of. Those 2 are your best bets other than ukee.

 

[RadicalSalmon]

Can we assume that there will not be a slot limit for Bamfield (area 23) this year? Or could it still happen?

 

[getbent]

Can we assume that there will not be a slot limit for Bamfield (area 23) this year? Or could it still happen?

No there is not one

 

[Strike Zone]

Just came back from 2 days of heavy fishing in the Barkley Sound... Tried Kirby, Edward King, Swale, Diplock, The Wall etc... 20 hours of fishing produced a 12lbs Spring, and a 10 lbs Coho, caught at Swale Rock yesterday... Fishing is still very sloooowwww ... Lots of shakers, but that's about it... We're still waiting for that record run we were told was going to be the best of the last 10 years... So far, it's a bust.... We shall wait and see....

 

[sir-vivor]

Got out Jul 7th to our favorite Hali hole near Carmana and picked up this in 3 hours ... to bad the rest of the week was so wet and windy ....

We ended up with Hali, black rock cod, small springs, ling cod and one lonely Sockeye on the way back through China Creek..... Agree the Chinook fishing Sucked !! But still a good week



Hali 58 lbs - 131 cm and the small guy 38 lbs - 93 cm

 

[Slivo]

Got out Jul 7th to our favorite Hali hole near Carmana and picked up this in 3 hours ... to bad the rest of the week was so wet and windy ....

We ended up with Hali, black rock cod, small springs, ling cod and one lonely Sockeye on the way back through China Creek..... Agree the Chinook fishing Sucked !! But still a good week



Hali 58 lbs - 131 cm and the small guy 38 lbs - 93 cm

Got out Jul 7th to our favorite Hali hole near Carmana and picked up this in 3 hours ... to bad the rest of the week was so wet and windy ....

We ended up with Hali, black rock cod, small springs, ling cod and one lonely Sockeye on the way back through China Creek..... Agree the Chinook fishing Sucked !! But still a good week



Hali 58 lbs - 131 cm and the small guy 38 lbs - 93 cm

Wow.......nice haul boyz

 

[daddystoy]

Nice hali's guys! I was up there from June 24 to July 3 and the fishing was tough to say the least. The wind never cooperated for us to get offshore so that eliminated getting out there. We had a decent day a Swale one day getting 2 nice coho 1 15 lb spring and 4 more smaller springs. We ran up the inlet and caught a bunch of sockeye but even that was a grind. And the ride back got nasty due to the winds again. Had a couple of buddies come up for 4 of the days and we really struggled to catch fish. Tried all over. The wall, whittlestone, tried to get to beale but that was nasty, bordelais to kirby over to meares up to swale, stopped in at pill pt on the way back down from a run up the inlet to fish sockeye... tried all sorts of stuff and all sorts of depths. All without much success. Disappointing to say the least. Oh well ... that's fishing I guess..
Hey where's the watermelon helmet for your flatlander fishing buddy???!!!

Dave

 

[sir-vivor]

Hahaha, he left it in the Boat!

 

[Kita Carol]

Got out Jul 7th to our favorite Hali hole near Carmana and picked up this in 3 hours ... Care to share where 'Carmana' is? is it near the Prov park? We're planning on being up in Bamfield the last week of July and catching a Hali is on my bucket list (If I can handle off-shore - didn't make it last year )



Hali 58 lbs - 131 cm and the small guy 38 lbs - 93 cm

impressive! Where's Carmana - did you mean near the Prov. park? We'll be up in Bamfield in a couple of weeks and catching a Hali is on my bucket list (if I can handle the seas!)

 

[easydoesit]

Informative post, thanks!

 

[Oh Sure]

Hit Pill Point yesterday and nailed 1-5 lb spring. Only hit in 2 hrs. Went to Swale, not one hit in 3 hrs., not a beep on the finder. Inside fishing is slooooow.