Has anyone made the pilgrimage to Vancouver Island to fish? I went up to the Campbell River area this last weekend to gather information and investigate the possibilities for a summer excursion. Its my understanding that June/July are pretty hot around Campbell River. Come August the West side of the island picks up (Barclay Sound or Nootka Sound). I'm leaning toward a late July early August trip and wondering what other people have done. Where did you stay....lodge or do it yourself? Any recommendations? Email me if necessary and we can share information.

JSullivan@kennedyusa.com
JMS

Little Fish,if you can,hold off your trip till mid August.The pinks will be running in large numbers this year on the upper island.The Campbell River/Oyster River area will be red hot and fishing will be non-stop.Definately worth the wait!

Nothing personal AD, but if your going to spend the time and money to do a trip like that, don't plan it around pinks, go earlier and get in on the real fishing, silvers and kings (tyee/springs as they call them) just my 02 worth,

...and the Oyster is like the last place on the island I would fish, unless you like fishing in someones back yard!!

The more remote rivers, especially those on the West side and the northwest tip are where you will reap the benefit of Vancouver Island's phenomenal fishing opportunity. Wild, pristine (for the most part) temperate rainforests far removed from peoples back yards, which is all you will find in Campbell river. Much like Washington the fishermen of Vancouver Island have a serious case of backyard syndrome, "why drive an hour to fish some remote stream when I can catch a fish in my backyard?"...

Hi: A lot depends on what species and kind of fishing you want to target.
If summer run steelhead are your thing then you want the west side of the island where there are summer rains. The gold R and the Hebert R are prime summer run rivers.
If its flyfishing or salt trolling you want then Tofino on the west side has a lot of shallow water where you can flyfish for coho with fast sinking tips.
somebody noted that there would be lots of Pinks in the northers rivers this is the even year and northern rivers will be full of pinks.
July is the time for red chinook you would probably do well on the Stamp river at Port Albernie There is good accomodation at Murphys sport fishing as well as guided fishing from drift boats or on the saltchuck. Murphys has a web site with information and a newletter.
for information on guides and accomodation search this site http://www.anglingbc.com/

have been fishing the west side of the island for kings and coho the last 4 years and seems to be getting worse every year,If you fish barkley sound better check those regs it is closed most of the summer,its fair for kings in july but i believe it closes at the end of july,went to campbell river in the end of august and found very few fish,tried for two days and moved to ucluelet found a few fish with in 2 miles of shore wound up following the guides off shore 30 miles to fish.limited out in about twenty min on cohos,funny thing about the fish out there is that there not even headed for the canadian rivers they are the upcoming years fish for the washington and orgeon rivers found this out after talking to the fish and wildlife dept once we got home,I've heard the vedder river is good for kings in the summer might check this out if you want to get some of the candians fish.

AkKings,I would rather catch a hundred pinks a day on the fly that a couple of springs any day.As far as silvers go,you won't find any in the rivers then only the salt.The Campbell has never been crowded when I've been there but the Oyster can be.I only suggested those two because it sounded like that was the area he was planning to go.The rivers further north will offer more secluded opportunities.To not take advantage of the pink run,IMHO,is crazy!It's the best action of the year.

If I wanted big springs I'd fish Esperanza the last week of July and first week of August at Ferrer Point. I'd troll with flasher and anchovy in a bait holder along the kelp at 25 feet deep.
You can stay in Tahsis. I've done well here, you will too.

Little Fish: I have gone to Vancouver Island for a week each of the last 5 years fishing the salt. I'm presuming you are also interested in saltwater fishing by your mention of Nootka & Barley. Here's my two cents worth: Don't bother with Cambell River. You can do every bit as good staying home at the same time fishing locally. If your boat can handle the open water, Barley or Nootka is great. If you need flat water for smaller boat, go to Nootka 5-minute run till fishing after the cruise to base lodge, caters to blue collar bring your own boat crowd, combined with realistic chance of catching 30 lb kings, go to Nootka. Been there 4-times & love it. I stay at Critter Cove (tie your boat up to your cabin, they have a website & the family run business is superbly hospitable) and the weeks you mentioned are prime time. Nootka is getting very popular now, about 65% American. Ya want an option "B" where the Canadians go? Port Renfrew at the SW tip of Vancouver Island. Two hours drive closer than any of your other options listed. Much more primitive although you can drive right to it. Awesome halibut fishing if you can run the one hour to Swiftsure, finish your day catching kings right along shore and the best crabbing I have ever seen. Want even more varity in your freezer? Run offshore & catch your fill of silvers & sockeye at the same time of year you listed. Put a pot out for 4 hours, you will have 8-10 keeper crabs no problem. Most of the accomodations there are tent or RV's, but is an old style fish camp without the frills.
If you want any more info, let me know, I will try to help.

I think there are some missunderstandings in some of the posts. There are plenty of coho in the rivers in october right through to november but you sure wont find them there in july.Early smaller fish start coming in in september .
The idea that most of the fish around vancouver island are headed for american spawning waters is pure fiction. There are major runs of springs , coho pinks chums and sockeye that run down vancouvcer island and spawn in the Fraser system including the Vedder, the thompson the shuswap the north thompson the clearwater the raft and the whole Squamish system
There was a major loss of chinook two years ago due to warmer northern waters which brough predator fish north from california but last years runs were excellent. most good guides and their clients limited out on chinook during july in the salt and fishing in the rivers was excellent the Stamp, the cowichin and most middle island rivers had good returns.
summer and fall runs of steelhead are way down and not worth the travel to fish for.

coot,maybe your familar with ucluelet and you can help educate me in their fishing,why is it that all the guides run thirty miles off shore to fill there clients limits,you rarely see a guide boat with in five miles of shore.If the runs are still so great why so far off shore.not looking for arguments just trying to get the stories straight.

Loomis: last couple of years there has been a no fishing (or size restricted) corridor from surf line to one mile off shore along all of the west side of Vancouver Is. Since this is the zone most of the west coast tributatory kings travelled (& the native fish they were trying to protect), boats were forced off shore to other target zones. By the way, I was told the one mile zone is removed this year, but haven't confirmed it yet.
Coot: sorry if my post seemed misleading, I didn't mean the fish were 65% American bound, I meant the fishing crowd at Nootka was now mostly americans looking for a productive fishing hole.

Hey Everyone,
Thanks for all the good information. This is exactly what I'm looking for...I've been researching this topic for a month or so, but with one post doubled what I know. Of course, come next summer I'll let everyone know how the trip went.
JMS

If crowds don't bother you you might want to try the Fraser. Last year the Spring fishing was great and you could keep one per day. They also have one heck of a Sockeye run and it's not uncommon to catch fifty fish each day. Some years they have a fairly long kill season and than some years it can only be a week or two. But if C & R doesn't bother you you can have a blast. June and July are best for Springs and mid to late August for Sockeye's.

went to nootka sound in august for 17 days. stayed ay critter cove for 14 days then chinooka lodge and was guided by ralf the onwer and caught many kings to 35 lbs. oing to barkley sound this august with freinds for 5 days. has a better bottomfish fishery then nootka i guess with lots of good salmon fishing. Ben

rockfish,check the regs the last two or three years barkley sound closes for salmon fishing at the end of july,this means you must fish out in the ocean and it can get ugly out there in a rush.

Hi :I stopped fishing the salt chuck about 20 years ago so most of my information is second hand. Nowadays I spend a lot of time on the Fraser system and tributaries .My favorite is the Vedder simply because there is a wide variety of species and fishing virtually every month of the year except June when everything is closed.
I believe that there is an excellent sport fly fishery for coho in the shallow waters of Claquot Sound out of Tophino. It is about 30 miles north of Uclulet beyond Long Beach.
They have developed special flies and fish fast sinking heads from medium sink running lines. I`m not sure of the best times but I would think that september would be good. There are good accomodations at Tophino and boat rental shouldent be a problem. There should also be good guiding services available.

I've gotta second fishingtoos opinion on Port Renfrew. We spend up to 2 weeks there every August. Don't stay at the "Pt. Renfrew Resort & marina" unless you're into hardcore fishcamps. It's an old log yard that they turned into a campground. You're close to the dock, but I wouldn't want to spend 10 days there. Plus, if you are moored in there, you're up the river and can only come and go on a high tide.

We rent the cabin at the base of the old Government Dock. It's very rustic looking, has 2 bedrooms, a sleeper sofa, a hot tub, full kitchen, washer & dryer, full size freezer and a million dollar view. We've seen everything from otters, seals, eagles, ospreys and bear to whales ( one was about 30 feet out from the dock ). The canadians run a test fishery off the dock, and the Belina and several small boats offload daily, making for very good entertainment. The crabbing is excellent and takes about 20 minutes from motoring out to motoring back. The first pot we ever set was a commercial one that came up stuffed 3/4. Hubby could hardly lift it over the side.

Salmon fishing starts 3 miles out, at the mouth of the San Juan Harbor. The bank is a drop off and you troll along the face of it. King fishing is excellent. When the kings are running good, which is late July into August, the silvers are closed. You can go farther out and catch them, which we do just for fun, but you can't keep them. The sockeye are running at the same time, and this is usually what the Belina is fishing for. Watch for them when you're out....they are purse seiners and will be on the fish.

If you ever just want to check out PR, launch at Neah Bay and make the run over there. Follow the San Juan Harbor all the way up to the end and you'll see Government Dock on your right, and the Gordon River is at the far left end ( that's the one that goes to the "marina")

I've been to both Campbell River and PR and will go to PR every time. It's beautiful, pristine and still very wild. Do a search for Trailhead Resort. He has a very nice place about 500 feet up the hill from the dock. He owns the float dock and you can rent a space from him if you stay at that end of the harbor. It enables you to come and go anytime rather than waiting for a tide. A much better deal, I think.

Do a search for Port Renfrew....you won't be disappointed.

diana

Here is a site to check river levels in B.C.

http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/water/StnFrame.asp?stnID=08GA022

You got to play around a little bit but it is a good site.When you get there,it links you to the main site,I don't know why.Then click on one of the stations listed and you go to a searchable area.Maybe one of the literates can clean this up. Bigdog out....