Alberni Sockeye

[tinhorse]

Any luck with sockeye this year yet? We have been out twice and nothing so far. Fishing from 20 feet to 120 feet between China Creek and McToosh. Hopefully soon it turns.

[jeff]

talked to my dad he lives in port his buddy was out all weekend and got 2 off nahmint but very slow

[IronNoggin]

The river is still high and very cool at this point. Given the snowpack up top (over 6 feet at the old Arrowsmith Ski Hill yesterday) it will likely stay that way for a while. Under these conditions, the fish literally scream right through the Sound and up the Inlet, running as hard as they can to the river. No stopping to stage and no schooling. Good for the fish (those that escape the in-river nets that is) not so great for the fishing.

Limit upped to 4 per day now. Netting has begun...

Cheers,
Nog

[tinhorse]

Thanks guys we are planning on going out in 2 weeks from now so hopefully it will pick up by then.

[spreerider]

a buddy of mine and his GF limited out yesterday, i didnt get a chance to ask where but usually they fish the river.

[IronNoggin]

Just a Head's Up here Fellas:

The raising of the limit to four per day at Papermill Dam was due to an oversight by DFO. That is scheduled to be reduced back down to two per day in short order. Just don't want to hear of anyone realizing a problem when they do so...

Cheers,
Nog

[Johnnybear]

due to an oversight by DFO.

Gee that was really surprising:roll:............

Thanks for the heads up Nog:-D!

[tinhorse]

Better hit papermill early then. Commercial opening right now 6am - 8pm tonight. Should reduce fish numbers for the next few days anyways

[tinhorse]

Reports of people starting to get their limits by Namint and China creek over the last few days. Starting to heat up a bit.

[tinhorse]

friends got their limits in the channel this weekend.. Alos they lowered the papermill dam catch to 2 per day

[Johnnybear]

Thanks for the updates tinhorse:-D. Hoping to have the battleship ready for the weekend. Very late start for us this year (my bad for not getting her ready earlier):icon_frow.

[joelp37]

limited out both days this weekend, infront of mctush. 48 ft was the deepest rod. first day was spotty until u found a school then it was mayham. good luck

[Johnnybear]

Great report Joel!

[tinhorse]

More reports of guys going and getting their limits quickly around couse creek, china creek and mctush. Shallow rods at from 15' - 45'. Infront of McKay mill has been good apparently in the 40 - 60 foot water?

[bigshooter]

What was the wind like in the inlet? I have a smaller boat and young kid but I'm thinking of trying it Saturday. Lots of boats I would guess aswell?

[lorneparker1]

fishing is ******ed. limits in short order. the wind has been decent. I have a smaller boat as well. just launch at china creek and if it gets windy you dont have far to go

Lorne

[Johnnybear]

fishing is ******ed. limits in short order. Lorne

Great report lorne but your killing me here:twisted:! I can't get on the water till late next week:cry:.

[spreerider]

its been pretty rough looking out there the last few days from APD

[bigshooter]

Anyone have up to date news on the inlet. I plan on taking my son out on Saturday. How is the fishing pressure, condition of the fish, wind, any chinooks this time of year?

[tinhorse]

Very windy yesterday, and a little slower it seemed, probably because of the seiners earlier in the week. Fish are mixed from 2 lbs up to 9 from what we've caught. lots of boats starting to pour in. Ive heard of very few chinooks being caught but one nice one by mctush that was 23 lbs. I would guess fishing should be great again by the weekend and that there will be tons of boats out there. We were getting them from 20 feet to 65 feet. If nothing was hitting for 15 minutes we would change it up (either drop or raise our gear) and would usually get bits right away again. Good luck out there.

[835]

You guys running dummy flashers?

[bigshooter]

Thanks for the update
.

[tinhorse]

Yes we use dummy flashers on the ball with 10 feet of line. Seems to work.

[IronNoggin]

Fishing for sockeyes here is Good and getting Better!
Springs are showing well in the Sound below, and halibut are still close to the beach!

The time to play has started!! :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Nog

[tinhorse]

Terrible today!!! Only seen a few fish caught and only ended up with one in our boat. The commercial guys are taking the majority right now but it should pick up again quickly.

[bigshooter]

Wow big change from Saturday we ended up with 12, our limit, we just stayed on the schools and did circles. The downrigger cable was bouncing when we would go through, they were so thick. Thanks for the info from all that posted it was my sons first real day salmon fishing and he had a blast.

[robertmcallan]

any idea when the well make it down to port renfrew waiting on another fun year fishing for them if it opens

[Seth]

Just got back from Alberni. The commercials have devastated that sockeye fishery. Don't even bother if thats all your targeting. We counted 20 seiners within a 1km stretch right in front of China Creek yesterday. Fished sockeye saturday morning for 4 hours, 4 rods without even a bight. Last weekend and the one before we had four guys in the boat and limited out in about 2-3 hours. The DFO has really screwed up!!! Headed out to Bamfield Sunday and picked up 18, 15, 14lb springs, 6 coho and 8 red snapper. AS far as the sockeye go, I think that fishery might be done for the year for the sportsmen.

[tinhorse]

its amazing how port alberni is voted the fishing capital winner last year and they do this to us. there was so much publicity and press saying how good the fishing is and there were a ton of out of towners coming in to fish and now this. Its great that a few people can make some cash from the commercial openings but it's really crappy how hundreds or thousands of people will loose money. Just brutal in my opinion. just because the run was early this year. Hopefully they don't do the same thing with springs and coho.