Another terrific sport fishing season is upon us in the Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound. The Sockeye numbers returning to the Somass River system are excellent with just over 750,000 returning salmon. In Barkley Sound Chinook, Coho, and bottom fish have been plentiful and will get even better once the “forecasted” large return of West Coast Vancouver Island Chinook begin to migrate to the many local streams and rivers.
A healthy return of Sockeye Salmon to the Somass River system should allow for some fantastic Sockeye Sport Fishing through the full month of July. The fishing is historically best from Cous Creek out to Nahmint and Ten Mile Point with the greatest concentration of sport boats in Underwood, Cous, the Narrows, Slide, and Leaning Tree. The daily retention for sport anglers should remain at four Sockeye for the duration of the season. Sockeye fishing is a wonderful opportunity for every “age” to land a salmon.
The pristine quiet waters of the Alberni Inlet make for fabulous family sport fishing opportunities. In early July the Sockeye can generally be found in forty to fifty feet of water and by months end at eighty to over one hundred feet of water. The Sockeye are attracted to the boat by color meaning many fisher persons will use four rods with flashers and mp hoochies and add dummy flashers close to the ball to create more color behind the boat. For the past few years the mp blue and pink and black and pink hoochies have worked very well with leader length from sixteen to twenty-five inches. Some anglers are using “Black Hooks” and seems to be doing very well using shorter leader from sixteen to eighteen inches. The Sockeye fishing in the Alberni Inlet up to the end of June has been relatively consistent. There have been some days when some cooler moist weather changed the pattern of the sockeye as the river water cooled and the Sockeye headed right for the river hoping to make their way through the counters and then sit in the deep cooler water of Sproat and Great Central Lakes until the fall when they will spawn in the many tributary creeks and streams. Sockeye are a wonderful salmon for summer barbeques and if properly vacuum packed can last for several months in the freezer and be used for those fall and winter nights.
The sport fishing in Barkley Sound has been solid with transient Chinook and Coho swimming the West Coast of Vancouver Island and coming into the many areas of scenic Barkley Sound to rest and feed heavily before continuing their journey to the Big Watersheds to the south. In late July the West Coast Vancouver Island Chinook will begin to appear which will allow for an abundance of salmon in this vast body of water. Sport fishing should be world first class during the summer months. The local hotspots are often Austin-Cree, Meares, Great Bear, Sail Rock, Kirby, King Edward, Swale Rock and Gilbraltor. The most common gear for best results for Chinook are spoons in the two and half to four inch variety. Skinny G green and blue herring aid spoons are a perfect choice. The Silver Horde/Silver knight spoons or Trap Shack and Bon Chovy, Gold Nugget, and Cop Car are wonderful choices. Favorite hoochies for Chinook and Coho are the AORL 12R, Purple haze, Pistachio, and green spatter back. Flasher colors could be a mix of blue silver, purple silver, and green. Many anglers have their own preference. There has been some great fishing. The last ten days of June were terrific especially in many of the surf line locations with Chinook salmon in the twelve to twenty pound range and Coho ranging from six to seven pounds.
Bottom fishing in the Sound can be very good in July. Many fisher people will troll around the rocky pinnacles for lingcod. Some anglers will use weighted swim tail jigs which are becoming very popular. As well the Gibbs/Delta 4 ounce Power Paddles in UV orange and Herring Aid are very good. When fishing for lingcod it is important to have your lure or bait ten to fifteen feet off the bottom. For best results when halibut fishing using herring, salmon bellies, and octopus are terrific. If jigging a Mud Raker or Berkley Grub tail on a Spreader Bar is a great choice.
Tight Lines,
Doug Lindores
Slivers Charters Salmon Sport Fishing
www.catchsalmon-ca.com
250 731 7389 mobile
888 214 7206 toll free for U.S. and International
[email protected]
