Hi All
Fishing has been very solid here in Barkley Sound during early July. It always makes me wonder why more people don’t get out here in late June and July. The weather is good, the place is uncrowded and the fishing can be every bit as good now as it is in late August, and maybe, yup I said it, even better!
I’ve been fishing with guests Curtis and Martin from Vancouver. We have had a great few days. We have worked the reefs hard at Seabird Rocks in front of Pachena Bay. We have been fishing tight to the kelp and rocks with the gear at 27 and 30 feet. Skinny Gs from Gibbs / Delta are still the hottest thing going for us. We are running a glow Irish Cream behind a uv glow green moon jelly flasher on one rig and a lemon lime flasher with the same terminal end on the other. Both rigs were equally effective.
We fished the afternoon ebb tide in Wednesday for 3 hours. We had 6 springs on plus many shakers and put 2 in the box. We returned the next morning for the early ebb tide and were into 5 fish during the early morning bite landing two fat springs in the teens. The bite slowed down mid tide and we took a break and jigged for lings. We were not successful in our attempts at boating a ling cod but the boys had a blast playing black rock fish one after another. About an hour before the flood tide change we put the trolling gear down once more for spring salmon. It was quiet for an hour or so, but shortly after the tide changed the bite came on. We managed to boat 6 more springs as my partner, Makiko had joined us and we decided we’d like to put some salmon away for us too. A great afternoon of fishing. The sun was out and all was good!
On Friday the seas looked ideal for a hali hunt offshore. . At 8:15 am we were off and running southwest 210 degrees out to the banks with four of us and Charley dog on board. As my previous blogs will attest, we were looking for humps that come up on the bank 10 miles to 14 miles out. Typically the bank is about 225 feet deep. I’m looking for humps that come up to 190ish. I then will anchor the boat close to the hump in about 205 to 210 feet. Spreader bars with salmon bellies and herring are always my go tos ! Friday they did not disappoint. Between 10:00 am and noon we tagged 4 Hali’s measuring 120cm, 111cm, 107cm and 88cm. Basically we had one fish at 50 lbs, two at 40 and one at 27. As you can imagine supper that night was awesome!
Saturday we planned to make a run to Ucluelet for a visit to Zoe’s Cafe and some shopping for some essentials needed back at the lodge. If you are in Ucluelet check Zoe’s out. Great pastries, artisanal sandwiches, coffee etc… Worth a drop by for sure!
We also dropped the lines at the Turtle Head just offshore form Ucluelet along the way.
I haven’t fished up that way yet this season and was curious about it’s productivity.
We fished Skinny Gs once again at 110 feet this time. It wasn’t on fire by any means bit we did manage to land and release 5 nice springs from approximately 13 to 20 lbs. We fished the 160 foot contour line that runs south and north from Ucluelet about 6 miles out. At times this can be a very productive troll. Throw in an Orca show as we approached Ucluelet and we really had an amazing day!
I am fishing this week with returning guests Glen, his wife and best friend from California. Hopefully the fishing stays as good this week as it was last.
Aussie John is doing his thing down at the tackle shop and the docks. We just received a new shipment of Skinny Gs so get here and get ’em while they last, we were sold out in three days last week!
Gas and diesel are available, the coffee is hot and we are always willing to share our thoughts on what to use and where the fishing is hot. Please, by all means, drop on in for all the latest.
We have some charter days still available, moorage at the docks and some rooms at the lodge still to be filled at various times. Aussie John can help you with all of that.
It’s been a great start to the season. Don’t delay. Get here and enjoy the Harbourside experience before the summer wears on.
Coach (aka Jonathan), Aussie John, Tom and Brett.
