Barkley Sound Report

[teamchachi]

Fished Bamfield and Ucluelet from the 21st to 28th.

It was really tough fishing. We had to work MUCH harder than usual and the strikes were few and far between. We fished Austin, Gibraltar, Swale, Robbers Passage, Kirby Point, Bamfield Wall, The beachs (best success was here - find the bait balls and work them hard), South Bank, and the Rat's Nose (lots of little Chicken halibut).

Big fish were being caught, but the action was nowhere near what it is usually like at this time of year. Guys in Bamfield were keeping fish that were embarrassingly small ("nice mackerel dude"). Many boats were getting completely shutout.

The boats who did have some success were few and far between. If you got into fish, it was because you were in the right place, at the right time, with the right lure in the water. Doesn't sound like the late August Barkley that I've come to know and love!

Bait seemed much more scarce than in previous years and was really small. Most fish that we cleaned were full of tiny needle fish. Some pilchards around.

Talked with some Ukee guides at the Driftwood on the night of the 27th and they said they were resorting to fishing with bait offshore. That is almost inconceivable. The three guides went out together the previous day for fun, covered a lot of water, and only came back with a few teenagers.

The closest thing to a hot lure / flasher combo we could find was a red hot spot with a purple haze hootchie.

Interested to hear how others who were there view the world.

 

[Slabby20]

We fished Bamfield August 21st to August 26th. Found the fishing tougher than normal but worked it hard and got our limits of springs (5 fisherman). The fish we were catching were larger than what we caught the last couple of years. Our largest was a beautiful 44 lber. In all we got 6 fish over 30 lbs.

80% of our fish came out of Kirby real tight to the kelp beds and points. The rest of our fish were caught at Edward King. By far the best bite was 1st morning light or the last two hours of the day. The rest of the day was mostly a boat ride. All were caught on anchovies using 8' leaders and green glow or purple and gold flashers. We were fishing in water 35-45 feet deep and we set our chovies at 15 to 25 feet at first light and 30 - 35 feet in the evenings. The first two days we also towed around white and purple haze hootchies and coyote spoons with no luck. Gave up on that and ended up using bait exclusively. Another group staying at the same place we were had luck with the purple haze hootchies fished with 7' leaders and set way back of the downriggers beyond the prop wash. They had limits of nice big fish using that method. We tried it with no luck. Maybe our speed was wrong.

We went out to 7 mile twice. Nothing much there. No springs and caught only two clipped Coho. Caught and released maybe three unclipped Coho. What I was hearing on the docks was that the Coho were out 25 miles or so and that they are huge. When they come in should be fun.

 

[teamchachi]

We almost limited. But I also had a boat of rookies who last most of their fish.

People should just know that it is currently NOTHING like past years. We had to work way harder than we have for the past 4 years. We're accustomed to 10-15 hookup days and throwing back everything under twenty pounds. I would have given my left arm for a 5 hookup day (not including all the <1 lb rats). We had a couple of 2 hookup days and we threw the kitchen sink down there. Very slow compared to what most people are used to for the last week in August.

Kirby was also our best spot. But, my experience with Kirby is that its either very hot, or very dead. That was true this week. The afternoon bite was good over by the kelp on a falling tide when there were baitfish present.

I agree about larger fish. My buddy boated 3 fish over 30 pounds and we saw several others. Those fish would have been 25 pounds last year.

 

[Riptide2]

Fish Ukie every year but this year tried to book to late no space at Island West. So we fished Tofino, we limited out most days both offshore at Hyson and inshore at Bluden and Wilf. Our catch included #31,30,29,27.5 lbs springs, and we were releasing fish upto #25

One of the days I was there a guide from Weigh West fished the Wreck a favorite spot for Ukie guides and brought back 24 fish 9 Halibut the rest salmon.

 

[Slabby20]

Teamchachi,

It's obvious we were fishing side by side at Kirby because I agree with everything you say. It was a long way from being "hot" fishing. Lots of hard work and hours to get fish. We were very fortunate to get some real nice sized fish.

Two of the guys that fished with me this year hadn't been with me for the last 5 or 6 years. I told them how good it's been the last two years with lots and lots of hookups each day. Like you said, that was not the case. We never got skunked for a whole day but did have a couple of mornings, or evenings, where we had maybe one strike and no fish. Never seemed to be good for both the morning and evening on the same day. The fish seemed to be moving inside in small bunches, nothing consistant. Even when there was a bite on it wasn't as if everyone was getting hookups like the last couple of years. At least it wasn't like it had been a week or so before we got there. Sounds like it was just dismal up until about the 15th.

Did you see the guy fishing by himself in the small aluminum that kept getting all the doubleheader hookups right in next to the kelp in the mornings? I counted 4 doubleheaders for him. His problem was that he got the hookups but wasn't landing many. Sure looked like he was having fun though!!

 

[Slabby20]

Riptide,

A co-worker was at Tofino the 17th - 21st. Gave me the same report. Lots of springs but very few coho. He didn't do any butt fishing. He and his friends boat did very well at Hysen Bank and Blunden.

 

[teamchachi]

Riptide, sounds like the fishing up near Tofino was much better than we were experiencing in Barkley Sound and offshore from Ucluelet.

Again, some guides would go offshore and come back raving about the fishing at the Wreck, Big Bank, etc. But then they would go back the next day and come back with next to nothing. Very inconsistent fishing. It really comes down to getting lucky and stumbling upon the fish.

We are running a larger boat (34') and my buddy was running a 17' whaler. Both of us had no problem getting moorage every night at the public Ukee marina in front of Canadian Princess. We stayed on the boat, but he easily found a motel room at the last minute. The public marina is nice and they have a rule that forces all boats to raft up if their isn't enough space. Lots of big boats to raft too which haven't moved for some time.

Slabby20, is your boat the Slab Slayer? Didn't see that guy in the small Aluminum, but we never fished Kirby in the morning either. In my experience its typically a high tide fishery so we usually dropped by in the afternoon.

Everyone, I should mention that my buddies boat tooking almost all of his fish (including several over 30 lbs) on silver and blue 4.0 Coyotes with a 80+" leader. I didn't find that out until the last day on the ferry home...

 

[Riptide2]

Thanks for the info teamchachi,

I thought about the gov dock but was told it was first come first serve, did not know the rafting rule.

The previous two years at Ukie it was so hot I only fished one rod most of the time. But what I liked about the fishing in Tofino was that the fish were bigger than what I was catching in Ukie. I realize they were likely Robertson creek fish in both cases, a couple had the yellow spot on the belly.

Not sure whether I will go to Ukie or Tofino next year.

 

[Slabby20]

Teamchachi,

My boat name is Slabseeker. It's a 21 Trophy. I remember your 34'er. Didn't know about Kirby being a high tide fishery. I'll keep that in mind next year. This is really the first year I've fished Kirby hard. I had always noticed it produced a number of large fish but for some reason in prior years I always seemed to fish elsewhere.

I never tried the blue/silver 4'0 coyote this year. I pulled the green/silver around a lot the first couple of days with no action. Long leaders did seem to be the ticket this year. Our best chovie set up was 8' leaders.

Have you ever fished Bamfield around the 2nd week of September? Just wondering if there usually are still springs in the area. I'm sure the Coho would really be heating up by then. Thought maybe a trip in September might be fun. Less boats for sure.

Thanks,
Slabby

 

[Alpha-C]

Fished Lyall Point Saturday afternoon for 2 hours. Very good bite around 4pm (high slack). Lots of fish taken from the few boats that were there.
Back to Lyall for a couple hours Sunday morning. Picked up 2 springs, 16 and 24 pounds. Both fish taken on a spoon.

 

[teamchachi]

Right. Slabseeker. I knew it was slab-something. I remember seeing your trophy several times over the week. We were the 34' Tollycraft "Sea-era". We didn't name her, and so far too lazy to change the name. We were NOT the completely clueless gongshow catamaran flybridge that everyone was yelling at!!! Just to be clear.

 

[leftyodoul]

Slabby20 - I fished the Bamfield area the second week of September last year and caught equal numbers of Springs and Coho. Typically I got the Springs early or late and was able to take lots of Coho during the middle of the day.

 

[scottyboy]

NEVER CHANGE YOUR BOATS NAME , IT`S TABOO,just my 2 cents, seem it and heard it will jinx your boat . myself i would never do it. tight lines scotty

 

[Slabby20]

Teamchachi,

I remember your boat as well. I knew your boat wasn't the catamaran. That guy was clueless and wasn't catching *!*!. Cut me off more than once. I heard him get yelled at several times.

Thanks Lefty for the September info. I may not be able to do August next year and but can get reservations Sept. 8th-14th. Sounds like it would still be good for springs with Coho as bonus.

Thanks,
Slabby

 

[teamchachi]

We kept running into that catamaran everywhere we went. I don't think they were malicious or jerks, just completely clueless. I actually wonder if they even realized that anybody was upset with them. I think that they cut off virtually every boat in the fleet at least once.

 

[wetbeaver]

Hey just wondering whats going on out at the big bank? Im going to enter in the port alberni derby but if there is too many boats Im going to throw my tickets in the garbage and hit up the big bank.

 

[wetbeaver]

Hey just wondering whats going on out at the big bank? Im going to enter in the port alberni derby but if there is too many boats Im going to throw my tickets in the garbage and hit up the big bank. See if I can make salty a little sick. Heard there was alot of coho out there but what about springs and hali?

 

[wetbeaver]

Hey just wondering whats going on out at the big bank? Im going to enter in the port alberni derby but if there is too many boats Im going to throw my tickets in the garbage and hit up the big bank. See if I can make salty a little sick. Heard there was alot of coho out there but what about springs and hali?

 

[Slabby20]

Wetbeaver,

From what I heard while I was there, fishing 23 to 32 miles out of Bamfield was great. One guy I talked to that has a 26 Grady said they just hammered huge Coho to 20+ pounds (mostly wild and released) and hook up after hook up of springs. He did say that the springs weren't huge fish, upper teens to low 20's. He said they were getting 20-30 spring hook up's a morning plus all the Coho. He also did great on the halibut. Just a little too far out for me and my 21' Trophy. Fuel costs entered into my decision as well.

 

[wetbeaver]

Thanks for that slabby I will be heading out there saturday afternoon if the weather is good which I think it is supposed to be if not I will go on sunday early morning. I will be coming all the way from port alberni so it should probably take upwards of two hours.
GAS, THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT[8D]