Happy Canada Day Everyone!
I love spending Canada Day in Bamfield. Just finished watching the Boat Parade in the inlet here. Dozens of boats all decked out in red and white, you gotta love it!
I could regale you with all sorts of Bamfield stories but I know what you really want me to chat about. So let’s get to it.
I just finished up with long time repeat guests Jeff and Scott (and Scout the dog!) from Vancouver. Always great food, great times and great fishing with these two.
Our weather has been iffy to start the season and our first day out was wet and then some. Always important to have good clothing when you are out in the elements. We stayed dry and got in a full day of salmon fishing.
We spent the day at Little Beale. Our tack started just west of Lawton Point, then trolled west past Dagger Rock to what I call the wash rocks (a flat series of rocks that the tide washes over). We dropped our gear to 65 and 75′ on the rigger. Flash flies and glow white turds were the terminal gear, attached to lime green flashers. There is still a solid squid spawn happening and we were not disappointed with the results. We kept 6 springs all between 23 to 16 lbs and released another 6 or so between and 8 and 12 lbs. We were also fortunate enough to pick up the odd coho. Great 1st day.
Our 2nd day was much dryer but the swells coming hard into Beale made fishing uncomfortable and challenging. We braved the seas for a couple of hours and managed 3 nice springs to the boat. We then picked up our gear an hour and a bit before tide change and headed to calmer waters at Kirby. The bite came on quickly as we dropped our gear between Edward King and Kirby Point. Within 30 minutes we punched our spring tags with two twin 16lbers and a 14. We managed 3 coho to round out the day.
Day 3 was an attempt to find some white gold while on a hali hunt. The sea, however, had other ideas. It 2.4 meters and 8 second intervals which made it unlikely that we could get outside. We tried a hump in the Sound just south and east of Effingham. We stayed on the hook for 3 hours with no results. We received word that the seas around Beale and settled down a bit so we attempted to get outside of Beale to a hump that comes up to 130 feet. There was a nasty south easterly blowing which really didn’t help. I did get the boat on the hook and we hunkered down with salmon bellies bouncing on the bottom. We managed to get the Canada vs South Africa game on our phones and huddled over them cheering the boys on. (Great win for Canada!). We also managed one small hali that could feed maybe four folks so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Day 4 was strictly a half day coho hunt and, wouldn’t you know it, we wound up releasing a number of gorgeous springs along with 2 coho we kept.
So here is the lowdown. Glow white hootchies, small spoons such as skinny Gs, coho killers should all be in your spread if you are up fishing Barkley. I suggest dropping one set of gear just off the bottom and then mix it up with the other rigger until you see a pattern. The best spots have been Edward King, Kirby, Beale, Austin and Cree. I’ve heard mixed reports regarding Swale Rock and Harbour Entrance, but they won’t ever be a waste of time.
The past two days things have definitely slowed down, there are fish around but it seems that we are in between waves. Fingers crossed the next wave shows up asap.
In the meantime and in between time (to quote the great Ed Whalen from Stampede Wrestling back in the day), I will be out on the water and I promise I’ll report back soon!
Coach is out…