Weather was keeping us inside till Friday. Fuel was another factor as we would need enough to make Alberni-Clayoquot via water. Towing boat and trailer through Youbou would be rough. However two fuel barges arrived today at McKay. Phew! No hot water, Fishing has been slow, scratching out some decent fish. Better than doing chores around the house
2025 Bamfield and Barkley Sound Reports
- Thread starter Admin
- Start date
My boat (Hewes Ocean Pro 22 with an Honda 200) usually doesn’t need refueling for our run back and forth to Alberni and 4 days of fishing (about 3 mpg at 29 mph with 100 gallon tank) but I may bring a couple 5 gallon gas cans in case we want to run out to the Rats Nose.
TipUp
Well-Known Member
Fished Meares to Cree for the morning tide change. Hooked up on some very decent sized coho. Bloody nose anchovy at 45 feet and trapshack wee gee were the hot lures. Saw multiple boats catching springs and coho. Boated over to Gibraltar for the afternoon looking for bigger springs. Caught a 26 and a 20 pound spring which were a challenge to land in the loose kelp! The big springs are definitely moving in to the sound it seems!
Attachments
trophywife
Crew Member
lots of fuel coming in now reliably
BDog Fisher
Active Member
I saw a post that the Port Authority was closed due to smoke. Calls to Clutesi Boat Ramp went to voicemail. Does anyone know if it is open?
brutus
Well-Known Member
It’s nasty, just went for a joy ride a couple weeks ago and turned around after 10 km, and that’s with my work truck,
What's the word on the plankton bloom? Still there? Reducing? Increasing?
I’m interested as we arrive Monday to McKay Bay Lodge. I was hoping the rains would start to bring the springs into the sound.
trophywife
Crew Member
fishing has been great in the first light bites, pick your spots!! tapers off of course as the morning progresses but, bites still come on.
i went through bait today so thick my screen couldnt find bottom. nice coho too!! i put the bait away today, ran the little spoons of the west coast tackle (great quality) no need for hook exchange. biggest was 28lbs at the wall. 12:30 pm.
long legged white hootchie was also producing. 35'-55'.
time to take my bird bath and switch generator over to freezer and charging station.
Bamfield businesses are not happy with the other local government who DO NOT govern us, going to the media and saying stay away.
i went through bait today so thick my screen couldnt find bottom. nice coho too!! i put the bait away today, ran the little spoons of the west coast tackle (great quality) no need for hook exchange. biggest was 28lbs at the wall. 12:30 pm.
long legged white hootchie was also producing. 35'-55'.
time to take my bird bath and switch generator over to freezer and charging station.
Bamfield businesses are not happy with the other local government who DO NOT govern us, going to the media and saying stay away.
Islander91
New Member
Back from 3 days fishing 4 man limit on springs all on the inside. fishing is good just have to hit the right spots and know what your doing. all our fish besides 1 were on bait multiple high teens and a couple lows 20s. We didn’t get 1 shaker the whole time but got 4 very nice coho earlier in the week. cowichan road on the way out is in terrible condition don’t recommend it.
willydw
Active Member
Was there yesterday. Open.
Skins88
Well-Known Member
Still a bit of bloom, but not too bad.
Fuller
Member
We drove out from Bamfield on Wednesday.
It definitely wasn’t great, but also wouldn’t say it was terrible.
If your willing to take your time and go slow it’s fine, if your in a hurry you’ll get bounced around pretty good.
Took us about 3 hours from Bamfield main until we hit concrete again.
That being said, we did pass a grader early on the way out that had only done about a kilometre, so it could have improved since we were on it.
Shish-kebab
Member
Well it’s been about a week since returning from our annual Bamfield 2025 trip from August 1-8, so I’ve had time to digest everything that happened. Unfortunately since we’ve left power has been knocked out in the area due to the Mount Underwood fire that started last Monday. Luckily we made it out a few days before that. On our way in on hwy 4 this year we saw flames and smoke plumes all around Cameron Lake. This wasn’t a good sign to start. Last year same time we encountered a car accident around the Alberni summit which snarled traffic for quite some time. This year made it into PA without much delay. A quick bite at McD and some lotto at PetroCan and we were on our way to Poett Nook. Again the drive in was lovely. It’s hard to believe just a few years ago I had to drive in white knuckled for 3 hrs hoping that the undercarriage of my car wasn’t gonna get ripped open by some sharp rocks or change a flat on the ole logging road. Arrived into the nook without incident and setup camp. Interesting little spot this year beside a white trailer home filled with cats and a humming transformer. Didn’t bother me though, I’m usually too exhausted from a days worth of fishing and rocking in the boat and usually asleep by 9. So onto the fishing report. Let’s just say it was tough for us, both fishing & weather. I think we averaged travelling 50 miles a day around the sound looking for fish. Tried all the usual productive spots: meares, cree, howell, swale, pill, kirby, beale, the wall, danvers, you name it we were there. By day 3, I think we only had 5 fish in the freezer and nothing to really talk about. We were really getting desperate. Luckily we got a little tip. Beale but not the typical Beale. Let’s just say we were out in the ozone, in the middle of nowhere. Saw bait on the screen, a fish would hit. Nothing big for us but a nice assortment of small springs, coho and a lot of pinks. We didn’t limit out this year like last year, but we did end up with some to take home. Had quite a few nites of eating tasty dungeness in our trap and prawns from friends. So all I can say is that’s fishing for you. Some years you get them sometimes you don’t. At the moment now it doesn’t really matter that I was mostly wet & cold out there and sometimes chumming for salmon due to the large rollers out there, however it’s just another eventful fishing trip to put in my memory bank. And as usual after we left, the big ones moved in, c’est la vie! Til next year shishkebab signing out.
Attachments
TipUp
Well-Known Member
Arrived home yesterday after a five night stay at Imperial Eagle Lodge. Fishing was pretty consistent the whole week with small spoons and bait being the most productive for us. Bloody nose teaser head and the trapshack wee gee were the hottest lures at 40 to 50 feet. All the usual spots were productive with Cree, Swale, and Robbers being the best. Robbers had a really good morning bite yesterday at tide chsnge Lots of bait balls on the sounder towards the end of the week. Another awesome trip to Bamfield!
Attachments
Aces
Well-Known Member
I just love belly content pictures
MikePA
Well-Known Member
I also just got back from Bamfield. Trip was truncated due to the fire situation. Fished 2 days with 3 of us on the boat. Ended up with 12 springs and 9 coho. Our springs were between 12-18lbs, coho were a decent size. Fished Sanford the first day in the morning and did well there. Next day went back to Sanford in the AM and didn't sound a thing, moved onto to robbers which was on fire. Every boat was hooking up, baby herring was everywhere. Bait was the most productive for us. Like @TipUp picture, the fish were stuffed with bait. In the 5 years I've fished there I have not seen that. Looking forward to next year! 
Similar threads
