2025 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports

[RBL]

Yeah it’s bonkers out there right now. Not many boats due to the fire and a solid run of fish. White hootchie was out producing chovy but they are hitting both with many double headers. Fleming was really good for the morning bite and Swale for the afternoon bite. Fresher harder fighting fish over at swale too

 

[Grappler_UNIfLi]

I think by 23 he meant the marine area?

 

[trophywife]

Opalescent Loligo
All the bigger fish are loving them.

 

[Fishalot]

Opalescent Loligo
All the bigger fish are loving them.

How do you rig these? Thanks

 

[trophywife]

i posted just to show the bait they are feeding on. use octopus hootchies. army truck worked yesterday! Pistachio, white and green. LR12 with a silver skirt. the longer ones are better. 5"

 

[Poppa Reelie]

i posted just to show the bait they are feeding on. use octopus hootchies. army truck worked yesterday! Pistachio, white and green. LR12 with a silver skirt. the longer ones are better. 5"

Nice to know! Likely doing alberni canal/ pill/swale or drive to ucluelet tomorrow. Are the fish pushing into the canal or deep in the sound or offshore. Gleaning information on making itinerary.

 

[RBL]

Nice to know! Likely doing alberni canal/ pill/swale or drive to ucluelet tomorrow. Are the fish pushing into the canal or deep in the sound or offshore. Gleaning information on making itinerary.

They are everywhere in the sound. Pill, Rainy Bay, San Mateo are all producing but for fresher harder fighting fish were at the Harbour Entrance area.

 

[Poppa Reelie]

^Nice!

 

[coriba]

I couldn’t get anything to work at Cree except bait. Got a good one though. It measures 84 cm but my scale says it’s 20 pounds. Seems light to me. The trailing hook grabbed its pectoral fin so it came in foul hooked, like pulling in a tire after it quite its runs.

 

[coriba]

Oh, and full of needlefish.

 

[Brockandahardplace]

I couldn’t get anything to work at Cree except bait. Got a good one though. It measures 84 cm but my scale says it’s 20 pounds. Seems light to me. The trailing hook grabbed its pectoral fin so it came in foul hooked, like pulling in a tire after it quite its runs.

I picked up an 81cm before that weighed in at 14.5. I checked my scale like three times, I was blown away. I guess sometimes they’re just full of helium. When I tell people about it it’s 20…..

 

[brutus]

I picked up an 81cm before that weighed in at 14.5. I checked my scale like three times, I was blown away. I guess sometimes they’re just full of helium. When I tell people about it it’s 20…..

Ya lots of 80cm 20lbs fish in fisherman’s mind only lol, I’ve yet to see one, I weigh a 84cm fairly fat one that was 19lbs , most 80cm are 13-15 lbs, with the bigger ones 15-18lbs

 

[Rain City]

Ya lots of 80cm 20lbs fish in fisherman’s mind only lol, I’ve yet to see one, I weigh a 84cm fairly fat one that was 19lbs , most 80cm are 13-15 lbs, with the bigger ones 15-18lbs

A legit 18lb fish will be VERY impressive to most people. Both in fight and visually when it hits the deck. I think the problem is that people just want to say "20" because "15" doesn't seem that impressive. We need to make 15 great again.

You hear that guys?! A 15 lb fish is a great GREAT fish. Stop being assh0les.

 

[Brett83]

One of the greatest threads of all time was the guy offering $1000 for a 20lb 80cm fish. Two were caught but he challenged the derby scale. Look it up. FYI power seems to be back on.

 

[tinhorse]

Nice to know! Likely doing alberni canal/ pill/swale or drive to ucluelet tomorrow. Are the fish pushing into the canal or deep in the sound or offshore. Gleaning information on making itinerary.

Fished the canal the last few days and it's been great. Limits easy and we were even throwing back 8-10 lbers looking for a something bigger. Today we ended up with an 18, 16, and 2 @ 13 lbs. White hoochies and anchovies were working well anywhere from 45 - 80 feet....

 

[dmurph]

Had a friend shift out off the Wesley ridge fire which was burning right behind my property and needed a much needed break. We met at my place Thursday afternoon and made the trek towards the sound. A stop at French creek for ice, then fuel followed by grocery’s and subways for that night had us launching around dinner time and put us at Danvers just in time for the evening tide change. Run out was glassy. Dropped right into some good fishing, some nice sized coho and some mid teenage chinook. We ran spoons and white hootchy. Was a nice way to kick things off. Anchored up for the night across from wizard at entrance anchorage, was a bit of a rough sleep but off an out flow happening with the heat and made a bit rolling and noise but woke up to glass conditions. Trolled ohait to Kirby with not much luck nothing marking and weedy. Hit Fleming same minus the weeds only one or two hits, trolled to sandford and small bites there. Ran out to try some bottom fishing at a small bank past seabird and didn’t have luck did pick up a keeper ling at sea bird.
Friday afternoon we hit Gibraltar after a fuel up at McKay bay. The fishing was really good, dropped into a double and had 3 more. Biggest was 21and didn’t matter what you ran. Really fun times only 2 other boats. Glassy water nice sun. Some nice size coho again. Had an awesome sleep in the broken group and hit the same area again Saturday morning but fish moved on or wasn’t right tide, tolled to swale and back and couple small keepers here and there. Busy with boats but lots of action around. Was a low tide. Was thinking about moving when a my wife called and said she woke up to 2 inches of water in the house. We packed up ripped home to north Qualicum by 1230 and I spent until now getting things done. Wife had a good amount of the water wet vacuumed out. Now to start on the processing of the haul. Was a great trip, we ran spoons and hootchy, all fish had empty stomach’s. Depth 65 to 45 was good

 

[Bobloblaw]

Had a fun trip out yesterday. Ran out from Port at first light, dropped lines near Rainy at 6 and were tied into 22 lb fish #1 ten minutes later. Then a lot of 6-7 lb springs so we moved past pill to the Baeria area and the blue flash hootchie started hitting at 60’. Two more teener springs in the boat, snapped off a drag-ripping donkey, lost another drag ripper, a few small releases, a 15lb ling on spoon mid-water column, final tag-out on 18lb #4 and a nice flat run home before lunch.

No hos hooked.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Wow sounds epic at there right now with this run size. Will be up in Bam for long weekend for Port Alberni derby with rest of beaks LOLOL steering all over the place. Will have a report...

Hopefully see a few of you there. I know the hootchies will be out lol.

 

[Birdman]

Had a great morning at San Mateo yesterday. Ran UV green flashers and teaser heads with extra large anchovy. Variety of depths produced but 55 seemed best, and not super tight to shore surprisginly. 8 chinooks + 2 large coho in the boat between 7 AM and Noon. Had my young kids out and they lost more than we caught, so realistically around 20 fish hooked minimum. No real size to ths chinook though, mostly 10-15 pounds, had one outlier at 18 and another about 8 that we released. Also released a coho that looked like it was covered in mould. How that thing even had the life left in it to hit a lure was shocking.

 

[Islandgirl]

Mosaic is unsafe for all traffic, prompting Mosaic to close the route with a section of the road being defined as a No Work Zone by BC Wildfire Services. Falling rocks, dangerous trees and a fire-damaged slope are presenting exceptionally challenging conditions, and there is no timeline for reopening the road in its current configuration. Mosaic has asked for assistance from the Province about solutions to make the road passable for public and commercial users. Further technical assessment is required to determine the timeline for any immediate fix to provide for public access.

Currently, the detour route through to Youbou remains the only available alternative ground route. The Ministry of Transportation and Transit is working with the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness and other partners, including Mosaic, to enhance the level of maintenance given increased public use during the detour.

“We take the safety of road users extremely seriously and there have been multiple geotechnical engineering assessments completed of the current situation,” said D’Arcy Henderson, chief operating officer, Mosaic. “Based on initial technical assessments, BC Wildfire Service has determined the road is currently unsafe for all transit. Safety remains our top priority in all decisions.”

Once Mosaic is given clearance from BC Wildfire Service to go back on the lands, additional geotechnical assessments can be completed, which will better position the company to determine when slope restoration efforts and road repairs can begin and will allow a timeline for this work to be established.

“We acknowledge and appreciate the primacy of safety that Mosaic has always held close as a core value, and we also want to underline the level of co-operation and communication that they have demonstrated throughout this whole emergency situation,” said John Jack, Chief Councillor of Huu-ay-aht First Nations, and chair of the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District. “While the situation itself is packed with challenges, we look forward to surmounting them with partners such as Mosaic and the provincial government.”

The 76 km long Bamfield Main Road is owned by both public and private entities, including 15 km managed by Mosaic.

Media Contacts​

Ministry of Transportation and Transit​

Media Relations
250 356-8241

Bamfield Road remains closed due to unsafe conditions

The Province of B.C. is lending its expertise to Mosaic Forest Management as it develops plans to reopen the Bamfield Main Road, sections of which were rendered unsafe due to the Mt. Underwood wildfire.

news.gov.bc.ca