Chinook
The early season Chinook fishing in April and most of May was very good. After the commercial opening late May things slowed down for over a month.
In the past it has often been the same where the fishing slows down for a while. With the limited area that we can fish for Chinook it makes it more impactful. Obviously we can be sure that there is always a connection but Ucluelet seems to be the feeding grounds for feeder Chinook early season.
Mid July the Chinook fishing really picked up and in close to shore and offshore. Hotspots were Long Beach, Inside South, Great Bear, Fraser Rock, Wya, Flo and Big Bank. Southwest corner was also good late July and early August.
The August run around Wya picked up around August 10 and for about 15 days it was crazy action. We had lots of days when you got 1 fish on you just had to wait 30 seconds for the double hookup.
This September the Chinook salmon fishing was decent up until Sept 10 like the trend has been.
Halibut
The good halibut fishing started to get going in late May and picked up in early June and continued until late September. There were lots of nice catches in closer to shore this year for Halibut and we really didn't have to try as hard or run as far most of the summer.
Halibut fishing during September stayed hot throughout the month which seems to be a trend in recent years. We didn’t do a lot of days offshore but when we did the halibut fishing was fast and the guests were stoked! You never really know what September fishing is going to bring.
Coho
Coho started in June and there were periods of very good fishing but overall maybe not as strong as other years.
The coho were around until mid September though not in large numbers. Normally we see a fair amount on Big Bank though we didn’t find them on the few days we were out for halibut.
Lingcod
Lingcod fishing all summer was very strong if you know spots and methods.
Weather:
May - August was very consistent, really not much for wind and a mildly foggy year. Ucluelet is the best spot in my opinion to fish the west coast for weather.
We had a little patch of strong northwest winds early September which wasn’t normal so that kept us fishing close to shore for the first week. Overall the weather was decent.
If any of you are coming fishing in Ucluelet and staying for 4 plus nights during the summer we have a property where you can park trailers and we have different sized cabins which can handle groups. If you want to fish with us we also do packages and our 3 day package has 50 lbs a day guarantee. We donate part of the package prices to the local fish hatchery.
Best of luck in planning your 2024 fishing trips and you can see a many more photos on the website fishing reports.
Below are some pics from the past month.
Tight lines,
Sam Vandervalk
Salmon Eye Fishing Charters
www.salmoneye.net
