Hi All
Do you ever wish it was 5pm and going home time, or it’s Friday and the weekend, or your summer holidays? Keep doing that on a regular basis and you wind up wishing your life away. I am kind of doing that now I think. I am wishing for July to pass and with the onset of August our local fish will finally show. And you know I shouldn’t! The fish will arrive soon enough. I get it it’s been a hard slog trying to find some willing springs to play with but in the meantime you just gotta enjoy everything else around you.
For instance, I’ve had days this summer with very few fish in the box but… we had marvelous whale encounters, we’ve seen whole families of sea otters taking up residence in the sound, huge pods of Doll’s porpoises racing across the surface slashing at bait. And the least of it? Bamfield and Barkley Sound in the bright sunshine looking every bit the precious jewels that they are. Yup fishing has been tough but taking stock of this place and the wonderful people I get to share it with is a blessing all unto itself. I am a lucky man and July can just keep dragging on. August will come and so will our fish.
In the meantime, how does one make the best of it until then? Well the good news is we have seen signs of things picking up in the last day or two. My go to spots at this time would be Beale and Cree. Skinny gs on Irish Cream and Bon Chovy have been my best bets but anchovies are starting to be productive as well. Fish are generally in the 40 to 60 foot range although I like running some gear at 35 feet when I run through the reefs at Cree.
Coho seem to be soaring by us offshore and not cruising into the Sound to feed.
When hali fishing on the banks I am seeing plenty of coho. We use buzz bombs and MacDeeps while waiting for hali takes and just have a blast!
Frankly it is easy to see why the coho are staying off shore as the Sound is rather bereft of bait. That is the answer to our fish woes as far as I can see. There is very little bait showing. I’ve seen the most bait at Cree amidst the reefs on the south of Cree Island.
Halibut fishing has been very consistent. I’ve had some crazy good luck fishing Mudrakers while on the anchor. I was out with a crew yesterday and had salmon bellies and extra-large herring on spreader bars on the bottom. Of the four halis we put on board 3 we jigged up on the Mudraker. Give it a try, it might work for you too.
Harbourside is certainly different this year as we bubble our groups and socially distance from each other (I think the springs are socially distancing from us too!). We seem to be making it work though. All of our guests have been very cognizant of the times and are taking care to be safe as possible.
Please contact Aussie John for all moorage, accommodation and chartering enquiries, he’ll get back to you asap. Email: “john@harboursidelodge.com”
So keep staying safe, be kind and stop wishing for August! We are going to enjoy the heck out of July first ( oh and maybe catch a fish or two in the meantime…)
Coach….