Barkley Sound Report (pics)

This trip had long been on the books but there always seemed to be something that came up. Finally, we decided to make the kamikaze run up to Barkley Sound for bottomfish and salmon fishing. Sidra, being highly prone to seasickness, has never been able to do bottomfish out of the kayak and I figured Barkley Sound was probably one of the best places to make that happen for her. With border crossings, ferries, the long dirt road to Bamfield, and the 45 minute paddle to our cabin it took us 13 hours to make the journey. We had arranged a cabin stay owned through a fellow kayak angler on this trip, Mike, who at 72 still chases fish all over the state from his Hobie Pro Angler. The cabin has several bedrooms and came complete with a UTV on the beach to help haul gear up to the cabin, propane fridge and freezer, hot water on demand, and a generator for power. 





Day 1: We decided to troll the morning tide change for salmon. We ran one dodger with a white hoochie and another rod with rotating flasher and various cut plug lures. A third rod had a flat lined diving lure out of the back. Boats around us were hooking up regularly including our fishing partner in a Pro Angler who had a double of Kings on bass crawfish crankbaits! A little frustrated with our lack of action we picked up and ran a couple miles to a reef. We immediately starting pounding Black and Copper Rockfish as well as sublegal Lings in the 20-24" range. Sidra loved catching the Lings on light spinning tackle. We decided to beach the kayak, eat lunch, and give our sea legs a break. Refreshed we decided to slide in between some rocks and a Kelp bed. On the first drop I hooked up with a Greenling which was immediately grabbed by an 8 lb Ling. I gently netted that fish and sent the greenling back down. It didn’t take long before another big Ling came up off the reef and locked on. A second big Ling trailed the other to the surface and Sidra enticed that one to bite with a Lancer jig. In a matter of minutes we bagged 4 lings in the 8-10 lb size class. 





With a bag of Lings and some Rockfish we switched back to salmon trolling and I rolled all of our rods over to various diving plugs as that was the only gear we had any bites on in the morning. After just a mile of trolling we had two vicious takedown and on the third landed a dandy ocean bright Coho. We decided to make one more pass before calling it a day and on our approach to the beach hooked up once again with another solid Coho. We cleaned our catch in the failing light, Sidra bagged and tagged the catch while I snagged a hot shower. Afterward we grilled up some fresh Coho and finished with tasty fresh breaded and fried Lingcod. 







Day 2: Like the previous morning we found little luck with salmon, catching and releasing one jack King Salmon. Sidra caught a Common Murre 30’ down on a crankbait which caught us both by surprise. We stopped by our previous Ling reef but could only muster 1 keeper ling, several sublegals, and a whole lot of Copper and Black Rockfish. We decided to troll the kelp line in search of Kings and in the first mile we hooked one salmon losing it shortly thereafter but soon after hooked another that nearly spooled my reel. After a long protracted chase and fight we netted a beautiful ocean King. We made another pass picking up another King on the reverse pass. We decided to call it for a shore lunch and prep to shuttle some supplies back to the vehicle to reduce the next morning’s final retreat. 







We quickly cleaned our Kings, ling, and rocks followed by some grilled PB&J. Sidra stayed behind to tidy up the cabin in preparation for our departure. I loaded the front of the Oasis down and Mike his Pro Angler. We made the uneventful paddle to Bamfield and off loaded our gear. On the return trip boats were pouring into the Bamfield harbor. As I rounded the corner I could see why as a 20 mph wind combined with the incoming swell had the sound churned up into a washing machine. We decided to push on at measly pace. We made about ¾ of the way home when I noted Mike’s Pro Angler was clearly nose heavy. He signaled me he was going to beach the kayak on a narrow rocky beach. I watched until he made it safely to shore and then proceeded back to the beach below the cabin and waited for him to join me some half hour later. I quickly backed the UTV into the surf and pulled him clear of the surf. 



We did a quick assessment of Mike’s health as he had been tossed a bit on the emergency landing on the other beach. He had a little cut on his leg but for a 72 year old guy he’s pretty damned tough. We got the kayaks cleaned up and drained and then built a big fire in the fire place finishing off the evening with fish stories and grilled sausage and sweet corn. 

The next morning we loaded the kayaks in the dark on the beach and made an uneventful paddle back to Bamfield with our catch and gear. For 1.5 days of fishing we did pretty well harvesting 2 Coho, 2 Kings (releasing 1 jack as well), 5 Lings with numerous sublegals released, and a dozen rockfish (releasing many more). All in all a pretty fantastic trip. 

Epic trip, dudes and dudettes!

Great report: Barkley is a fantastic place to fish.
T2