
When the Sockeye build up in big numbers the sport fishing action for the number one commercial salmon really heats up and is a lot of fun for all fisher persons young and old. The Somass River Sockeye begin migrating into the river in May and usually begin to school in good numbers around the 10th of June. This happens periodically but most years the Alberni Inlet has the best sport fishing from mid June to mid September. There has been some good sized hatchery Winter Steelhead in the mid teens with a few reaching the Upper teens to date.Īt times during the winter months a few schools of Winter Chinook will make their way up into the inlet and feed on bait fish in the Bells Bay and Nahmint-Franklin areas. The Stamp River had excellent returns in terms of the summer run of Steelhead and to date returns of winter Steelhead have been good with the peak of the current season expected in February. Winter fishing for Winter Steelhead in the Stamp River has been steady and winter (feeder) Chinook fishing in Barkley Sound and around the quiet hamlet of Bamfield and also the Ucluelet Harbor has been off and on with some reasonable fishing opportunities on those days that the winter season offers. This often means that fisher persons can fish the inlets, sounds and offshore waters for Chinook and Coho and also Sockeye and have opportunity to fish river mouths and various Vancouver Island beaches for Pinks and Coho. Of course these species do arrive at certain times of the summer or fall and each species also peak at specific times. This gives all avid sport fishermen an opportunity to sport fish a choice of salmon he/she might enjoy to target. Vancouver Island is a destination on both coastlines of all five salmon species (Chinook, Coho, Sockeye, Pink, and Chum). Barkley Sound and offshore Ucluelet should be strong as good numbers of Chinook and Coho migrate to those distant watersheds. The Inlet is a great spot to sport fish as the Alberni Inlet water is fairly quiet and pristine. The Sockeye season in the Alberni Inlet will again once again be fairly good with numbers hopefully reaching 600,000. The 2015 West Coast Vancouver Island sport fishing season which will begin in the late spring and continue into the summer and early fall months looks to be very similar to that of the 2014 season. In the Alberni Inlet Sockeye returns were not as high as forecast but returns were still over 1.2 million. Salmon returning to local streams and rivers arrived in August and continued in relatively good numbers into September. Chinook fishing for migratory salmon headed to distant southern watersheds began in late April and continued through the late spring and summer. 2014 was a fairly memorable year on the scenic West Coast of Vancouver Island. It’s again a New Year for sport salt water fishing and many sport fishermen, guides and potential guests are beginning to think about the many sport fishing opportunities that await them in 2015. No report this week British Columbia Alberni Inlet
