Island is Open for Summer Business

Brandonkop · #1 06-28-2020, 07:54 PM

So some people have asked me if the island is open to guests. Well it is... hesitantly by the locals. As of June 1st the hotels and resorts opened to BC residents and as of June 16th I believe they were accepting reservations from outside BC. Nobody wants to see the USA boarder open this summer understandably. That means more availability and less guys out there fishing... and tons of fish! Only issue... DFO shut down the majority of Chinook fishing till July 15th again and extended the local chinook closure on the Straight of Georgia till September first. So we miss out on the amazing fraser summer run chinook fishing we had last august unfortunately.

Well I was out last week with the family Wednesday till Friday at Ucluelet. We rented a cabin. Launched and moored at Island West resort where their campsite and hotel is closed till August the lady running the show told me.

Took me most of Wednesday to figure things out and hooked three small chinook and one decent one by my daughter before she got sea sick, then the baby tossed her cookies so we headed in. Roasted a rockfish over the fire which was excellent. Went to bed and got the kids up as early as possible like 6am. Got out to the spot and the ocean was alive with coho everywhere, humpback whales and bait schools like I haven't seen, turning the surface black. The coho action was crazy. Got our limit of 8 in no time and lost a few. Released some more trying for chinook. Ended up with two decent chinook as well. Day three first thing in am tried south bank for halibut. All I caught was a giant pacific octopus and*a ling cod so headed back in for salmon before*the kids woke up on the boat and got sick from the swell. The coho had moved outside of the*sound and I drove through them headed back into the sound. They were jumping like*crazy again and probably could have caught a bunch but two swelly for the kids. Trolling*for chinook was crazy with tons of sublegals double*headers. Must have released 20 before got the first legal. Then it calmed down a bit and headed to a more exposed area after most of the boats took off. First pass double header for my daughters and both landed. Make another circle and wife hooks up on a nice*fish around 20. As soon as it is netted and kick motor back into gear the second rod still down goes off. Then third circle my middle daughter hooks up for our 8th fish and we were limitted. It was insane with humpbacks surfacing scooping bait right near where we hammered the chinooks. I tried for lings and rockfish a bit but slower than usual for me. Couldn't find any good schools of black rockfish and all the lings we got were too small. Hot ticket was the green and silver skinny g and Koho killer. Once I put those on I didn't take them off and they just*kept catching fish.

So that's what is happening on the west coast for any of you salt addicts like me.

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Brandonkop · #2 06-28-2020, 08:01 PM

More pics.

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Fishhunter · #3 06-29-2020, 06:41 AM

Congrats dad!!! Could have done without the sea sickness but that’s fishing on the salt. Looks like everyone had a great time. We also hope to get our kids out as soon as we get the green light in rupert.

Greatwest · #4 06-29-2020, 08:50 AM

Looks like a great trip. Glad to see your kids enjoy it out on the water and them holding the fish like champs. Great to see you and your wife take the time and have the patience to enjoy something like this as a family.

jungleboy · #5 06-29-2020, 10:00 AM

Great write up. Hope you have a video coming of that adventure . I have only fished the coast twice but they are my favourite fishing adventures by far.

SNAPFisher · #6 06-29-2020, 10:25 AM

Nice! Great report Brandon. Lots of nice fish there and a good haul. Eagle shot is also awesome!

I'm out to Port Hardy on the 12th. Looking forwards to it.

Brandonkop · #7 06-29-2020, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishhunter

Congrats dad!!! Could have done without the sea sickness but that’s fishing on the salt. Looks like everyone had a great time. We also hope to get our kids out as soon as we get the green light in rupert.

Yeah it's unfortunate the Wife, my oldest and now the baby get sick. Only my middle one and me can handle the saltchuck. The wife is ok with a Scopolamine patch but the kids can't wear one till after 12 per recommendations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greatwest

Looks like a great trip. Glad to see your kids enjoy it out on the water and them holding the fish like champs. Great to see you and your wife take the time and have the patience to enjoy something like this as a family.

Yeah I think they've watched me hold up so many fishing they think that's what you do. Especially the baby, she has a great grip and always wants to hold one, haha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jungleboy

Great write up. Hope you have a video coming of that adventure . I have only fished the coast twice but they are my favourite fishing adventures by far.

Thanks, yeah there will probably be a couple videos, one from each day and two catch and cooks. If I even get around to editing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Nice! Great report Brandon. Lots of nice fish there and a good haul. Eagle shot is also awesome!
I'm out to Port Hardy on the 12th. Looking forwards to it.

Thanks. That eagle was sitting on a rocky outcrop and when I caught a rockfish he flew right over and soared right beside us into the wind, like less than 10 feet away. It was awesome. I thought he knew how to catch, but he did not catch any rockfish that day, haha. I just asked the wife last week to book something in Port Hardy the Second week of August, so I hope to get up there as well this year. Have fun out there. Let me know how it goes.

Brandonkop · #8 07-18-2020, 10:21 PM

VIDEO LINK FOR DAY 2 of our Trip. I posted the pics earlier at the end of June from our trip with the family. Finally got the video edited for Day 2 which had the most action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVYxi9MTLNI

Ucluelet, British Columbia fishing Barkley Sound with the Kids for Coho and Chinook salmon while surrounded by Humpback Whales and Huge schools of Bait. Whatever this day lacked in fish size it made up in crazy constant action and double headers. Not to mention a fabulous show from some of the largest mammals on earth, the humpback whale. For some reason the Sound was just a 100 percent changed from the prior day, so much life and the coho had moved in probably by the thousands. They were even taking spoons that were skipping along the surface. We even caught a couple nice Chinook after weeding through a lot of coho and undersized chinooks. We limitted on Coho early on and then we dropped the gear deeper to try for Chinook. It was hard to get awar from the coho though. I even put a camera down but the water was a beautiful color on the surface but had quite limitted visibility below unfortunately. I'll keep trying and hope we get some clear water for some great footage later on this summer. I can't tell you how much fun it is seeing the kids enjoy a day of fishing. I love watching them get excited to pull in a salmon. This was the first time Sierra really wanted to get on the rod and pull in some fish. Cali really surprised me getting to the rods, releasing off the rigger and getting the rod out of the holder. She's getting quite skilled quick. I hope they keep coming out with me for a long time and get more and more into it. Well I know this was a very long video, but I love every minute and in the end this is a piece of my life and memories for years to come. Thanks for coming along with our family on this spectacular day of fishing!