2019 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

[Matsutake]

Just come out from a 6 day stay. Fishing out a 16 ft tinny so limited myself according to wind and waves but was mainly able to get up to Whittlestone and across to Kirby etc as needed.
Same basic report....fishing hot for the first three days then the rain and wind came in and things slowed right down. Still managed my tub limit of springs and coho.
Small white glo hootchie was top producer, wee G herring aid spoon a close second (fished off a small dipsy diver) then bait. Once things slowed down everything came on the white hootchie.
Road was brutal coming in but graded and better going out.
Had two crab traps pinched from out front of Brady’s beach area. Never had an issue there before but I guess things have changed.
Overall another fabulous experience!

 

[banger17]

One word for this morning - slow!

Tried a few different spots including assits, Pill and fleming and saw just a few caught. Reports all over the sound seemed to be the same for the most part. We lost a couple and scraped up a 10lb spring in the meat hole on spoon at 10am.

This afternoon was a bit different. Brady’s beach had a solid bite for a couple hours and we lost two good ones and boated a couple good coho and springs 10-18lbs. Our pals boat managed their limit of springs in the same spot with one up to 25.

For us, spoons out-fishing bait by slight margin, most 28-45 ft.

Good luck !

 

[Wildhootchy]

Just returned last night from 8 days in Bamfield. Fishing was hot and cold, depending on the weather and where you chose to fish. The best fishing for us was around Swale, Harbour Entrance,Sanford and Meares. The hot lures were the Skinny G Herring Aide, Coho Killer in the Herring Aid pattern and the White Glow Hootchie. All were used in tandem with a green and chrome flasher. Almost all of our fish were caught between 30 and 37 feet. Obviously, the mornings and early tide changes were much better than afternoons and evenings. Our largest was 28 lbs., but we caught 6 in excess of 20 lbs. Lots of nice fish out there! Go get’em!

 

[joe average]

Just got back from poett nook fished sat to Fri. Same report as everyone got fish pretty much everywhere. Chinooks on lemon lime flasher with herring aide skinny G at 44' and coho's purple haze flasher with purple haze hootchie 30" leader at 33' at 3 to 3.5 mph.

 

[banger17]

Sluggish morning for us - decided to stick with the bait and work the Brady’s beach area. Couple lost fish and a 12lb chinook keeper. Seemed a very slow morning bite overall from the reports. Nap and early lunch and back on the water...

Afternoon bite at 1-5pm was solid for us. Same spot, Brady’s beach and we got the rest of our limit and some nice coho. Biggest springs were 18 and 22. Kitchen sink spoon outfished anchovy all day long, 30-48ft as other reports.

 

[dmurph]

Just back from Barkley, spent Friday night anchored in the bay behind Dixon island, fished assists on the way in with no luck, tried it this morning also with no luck lol, looked real fishy but didn’t happen. Spent time fishing the to Beal, picked up one off Brady yesterday which jumped a good 3 feet out of the water 5 or 6 times, pretty fun fish. Did a loop through whittlestone but the swell was a bit much for the family, seemed fishy there though. Trolled Sandford to Flemming yesterday with nothing, hit a double header of good size coho trolling across towards swale from meat hole. Got into a good bite Gibraltar where my 7 year old grabbed the rod set the hook and landed a 22lber on a double header we had. The fish hit a spit up small bait fish my wife rigged up in a teaser head. Gibraltar was the best action we got into another highlight was jigging blackbass with really light rods and spinning reels, we got into a crazy bait ball and feeding frenzy where we hooked the bass, ling and s cabazon. On the way in today we stopped at stamp and the boy landed a 16 on a skinny g herring aid. Was another good trip and exploring the area a bit more, fishing Barkley is still pretty exciting for me even when we’re not into a hot bite.

 

[fishbadger]

Fished Barkley last week for 6 days. Similar report. Found good to very good fishing for springs every day, just moved around a lot to find them on any given day. High number of basic cookie cutter size mid teens up to 20. No big ones for us although we did look for them. Found our coho readily, by accident fishing for springs all week too. . .good grade 8-12 lbs, surprising number which were clipped inside. Anchovies outfished spoons and hoochies slightly, especially when the bite was off or later in the day. Fished inside exclusively of course, morning bite was vigorous. Every spot produced at one time or another for us. Lings worked out well, got our hali's in the slot. Pro tip: it doesn't always pay to get to the hot spot first in the morning, the seals were waiting for us every time. . .lost 4 full setups to seals over the course of the week, 3 at fleming, one at whittlestone. Great trip, pinnepeds withstanding,

fb

 

[trophywife]

jIn love with a new lady named "Bamfield"!

great report,, bamfield was a guy. lol,, and was actually Banfield.

 

[trophywife]

Nice heading out in the am, sorry new to area harbour entrance referring to bamfield or inlet? Gonna head out for an overnight somewhere.

over in the broken group, basically the south east side of gibraltor , some maps will actually say "harbour entrance"

 

[Sea.P.P.]

Just come out from a 6 day stay. Fishing out a 16 ft tinny so limited myself according to wind and waves but was mainly able to get up to Whittlestone and across to Kirby etc as needed.
Same basic report....fishing hot for the first three days then the rain and wind came in and things slowed right down. Still managed my tub limit of springs and coho.
Small white glo hootchie was top producer, wee G herring aid spoon a close second (fished off a small dipsy diver) then bait. Once things slowed down everything came on the white hootchie.
Road was brutal coming in but graded and better going out.
Had two crab traps pinched from out front of Brady’s beach area. Never had an issue there before but I guess things have changed.
Overall another fabulous experience!

Nice report curious on length of leader on your hootchie

 

[trophywife]

i run a short leader on the hootchie..30-32, 60 lb test, get it whippin.

 

[Matsutake]

Nice report curious on length of leader on your hootchie

Leader length is around 3 ft of 40lb.

 

[Islandgirl]

We fished Sunday August 25 at Pill. totally different game than the last Sunday. Totally dead there and Diplock. Not much chatter on the radio. As someone else stated, with those rains the fish moved on into the inlet.

 

[John s]

No fishing reports ?

 

[bulldog10]

Going to be tight lipped with the derby this weekend

 

[Cole Brownlee]

Going to be tight lipped with the derby this weekend

I’ve never been out for the derby is the whole sound packed? Where might the least amount of boats be. And can you still get tickets?

 

[bigbruce]

Just back from two and a half days at Barkley Sound Lodge (Great place to stay!!!) Fished Swale, Harbour Entrance, Meares Bluff and Austin. 10 springs and a coho. Chovies at 45'. Lots of boats at Swale and HE. Not so much at the Bluff and Austin. Lots of action when the bites were on, but pretty much of a grind otherwise.









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[Aces]

I’ve never been out for the derby is the whole sound packed? Where might the least amount of boats be. And can you still get tickets?

You can practically walk across the boats

 

[tubby]

I’ve never been out for the derby is the whole sound packed? Where might the least amount of boats be. And can you still get tickets?

Yes, most fishing outlets (eg Gone Fishing) still have tickets.
Least amount of boats?....gonna be a wise guy, where the fish aren’t.
Though to be semi serious, all the popular spots will have plenty of boats because these are known spots that produce fish.
Less boats, outside spots (where the rollers are) usually have less boats

 

[trophywife]

tickets available at breakers in port and in bam.

fished yesterday for 2 hours behind flemming, 2 chins in 20-25 lb range, 2 nice ho's on hootchie. bait for the chins. large anchovy ftw.. 23' and 33'. the algae bloom has settled a bit but there are a lot of jelly fish around now.
tonnes of bait and great grey whale show. see you all on the water for derby time!

I do not fish the crowded areas, lots of contours and areas that produce fish that aren't packed. The outside edges are always quiet because most do not like fishing the swell also.