2024 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports
- Thread starter SFBC
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Umos
Well-Known Member
Just got done a flash fishing trip to Bamfield. Got in at 5 PM last night and headed out to Mears. Was very slow with only a couple of other boats there and no action. Then went nuts for about an hour and we got our six Chinook. Spent the night on the pick behind Effingham Island and then headed out for first light this morning. Was a slow start then again went pretty steady and we got 6 more Chinook, mostly 12-18lbs. Found no coho, and was a bit too lumpy for the kids to go for bottom fish. 50-75’, White UV hoochie the main performer. I haven’t been at this long, but this was easily the best salmon fishing I’ve seen so far.
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fish brain
Crew Member
We are going to be in Bamfield from the 16-19. We are contemplating a tuna run on the 17th or 18th and would like to join up with a buddy boat. Is anyone else thinking of heading out?
Islandgirl
Well-Known Member
We fished pill pt on Saturday, got 3 coho, nothing big and lost a Chinook. Not sure what size. 120 ft on the rigger was the ticket with a white/ green spoon and a coho killer.
ShipDisturber
Member
Arrived late in the afternoon for a week by way of the Bamfield highway. Road is in great shape, easy tow. Got out for an evening fish at Fleming. 3 for 5 (one coho), biggest was ~25lbs. Snapped a downrigger belt on our 1106, hoping Breakers has one for us tomorrow. If anyone has a spare in Bamfield I’d be happy to exchange for some extra cash.
Charleygirl
Well-Known Member
Harbourside Lodge will have them
trophywife
Crew Member
get out for first light!! last 5 days, the biggest fish of the day have been caught in first one hour of daylight. small spoons still and white hootchies.
i have been fishing deeper troughs and cuts as the day progresses. 90-120 feet and still 3mph.. if we get some good rains and it gets closer to spawn time then it 2.2mph time.
i have been fishing deeper troughs and cuts as the day progresses. 90-120 feet and still 3mph.. if we get some good rains and it gets closer to spawn time then it 2.2mph time.
fish brain
Crew Member
We are planing on going out for Tuna on Saturday. Looking for a buddy boat or two to join.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Just got back last night. It was really good, and was there Friday to Wednesday. Nice fish are in some places. Cree/Austin fore me was still the best, but that started changing when I was leaving. Kirby was good on/off. We fished Diplock, Sanford, Swale and tended to be bit slower with all that brown warm water. Could have been timing in the tide changes.
I am seeing a lot of guys coming up here from other areas never fished here saying its slow and this and that. This is a very big area. Your not going to slay everything your first time. Work the tide changes and find the fish. Sometimes moving around pays off.
Limited out on chinook 15- 20lbs, and coho 8-10lbs. Got some lings, halibut, rockfish, so a really good time overall. The big wave bulk of run is just about to drop. There were seals/sea lions working just down from 3 mile when I was offshore on Tuesday. Go get em...
I am seeing a lot of guys coming up here from other areas never fished here saying its slow and this and that. This is a very big area. Your not going to slay everything your first time. Work the tide changes and find the fish. Sometimes moving around pays off.
Limited out on chinook 15- 20lbs, and coho 8-10lbs. Got some lings, halibut, rockfish, so a really good time overall. The big wave bulk of run is just about to drop. There were seals/sea lions working just down from 3 mile when I was offshore on Tuesday. Go get em...
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Aces
Well-Known Member
Good for you sir
carpeweekend
Crew Member
Also, just got back from the area. Fished from Friday afternoon to Monday. Caught two nice Springs and a Coho at Beale on Friday afternoon. Went offshore on Saturday getting our 3 unders and some Sable fairly quickly. Started trolling for salmon and couldn't keep the Coho off the line. Caught Coho from 2 feet to 180 feet and could rarely get the line down to depth before hooking up. Had to wade through a fair number of wilds to get hatchery but didn't take long. Tried to use larger spoons and huge plugs to stay away from Coho and get some Springs but to no avail. Ran in and fished Beale again for a couple of hours but no results.
Focused on Springs on Sunday and hit Beale again early. No bites and very little bait showing. Moved over to Kirby and joined the parade. Picked up one Spring right away but the bite seemed to go off. Decided to move on and trolled down to Hammond. Just us and one inflatable trolling around. The bite really came on and we picked up another 5 good Springs to get our limit while losing a bunch too. Great to fish away from the crowd and have lots of room to play fish.
Monday was another offshore day to get some more small Hali. Again, easy to pick up 3 unders and finished up our Coho limits. Stopped for some bottom fish and ling at a fishy looking pinnacle. Ran back to Hammond in the afternoon and again got into a good Spring bite. Only one other boat fishing the area. It was hot again and lost a couple of really nice fish before boating our last two Springs including a really long but not so fat 28 pounder that ran over 150 yards on the initial run. Nice not to try to play that fish amongst the fleet.
Our crew did really well by staying away from the more popular spots. As mentioned by others, the fish are feeding on tiny bait. We had more success on white glow and white/green glow hootchies rather than small spoons. Most fish caught between 75 and 100 feet. Really noticed how important having a charged up flasher and hootchie/lure is. Fog/cloud/murky water meant that there was very little visibility at that depth. Numerous times we changed out the flasher/hootchie to a new fully charged combo and got a fish within 5 minutes of the new combo going down. We rarely left anything down for more than 30 minutes and it seemed to make a big difference.
Great trip in my favourite part of the Island to fish.
Focused on Springs on Sunday and hit Beale again early. No bites and very little bait showing. Moved over to Kirby and joined the parade. Picked up one Spring right away but the bite seemed to go off. Decided to move on and trolled down to Hammond. Just us and one inflatable trolling around. The bite really came on and we picked up another 5 good Springs to get our limit while losing a bunch too. Great to fish away from the crowd and have lots of room to play fish.
Monday was another offshore day to get some more small Hali. Again, easy to pick up 3 unders and finished up our Coho limits. Stopped for some bottom fish and ling at a fishy looking pinnacle. Ran back to Hammond in the afternoon and again got into a good Spring bite. Only one other boat fishing the area. It was hot again and lost a couple of really nice fish before boating our last two Springs including a really long but not so fat 28 pounder that ran over 150 yards on the initial run. Nice not to try to play that fish amongst the fleet.
Our crew did really well by staying away from the more popular spots. As mentioned by others, the fish are feeding on tiny bait. We had more success on white glow and white/green glow hootchies rather than small spoons. Most fish caught between 75 and 100 feet. Really noticed how important having a charged up flasher and hootchie/lure is. Fog/cloud/murky water meant that there was very little visibility at that depth. Numerous times we changed out the flasher/hootchie to a new fully charged combo and got a fish within 5 minutes of the new combo going down. We rarely left anything down for more than 30 minutes and it seemed to make a big difference.
Great trip in my favourite part of the Island to fish.
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SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Second the UV white hootchies and glow. I used combination of those and mini turds and it completely out fished bait this time. I got a charger onboard and seems to make a difference on low light/ murky conditions. I didn't find my usual spoons worked as well. The fish were plugged with 2.0 size herring. There were also 3 other boats with us on this trip, and they all did well. @chris73 got really nice hali last day.
Yeah, fantastic trip with some lights out fishing. We moved away from areas with murkey and warm water as the salmon either stay away from there or don't feed there. Sometimes 6-7 degrees difference in water temp between places. Salmon were hungry in places with temps of 12-14 degrees, anything more, move on.
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How come I never get flat water like that in Bamfield? Damn
Believe me, the first two days were NOT like that!
coastrunner
Member
carpeweekend
Crew Member
Yes, Hammond Channel by Edward King Island
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