If you were planning a fishing trip??

[Jeff and Julie]

If you were trying to plan a fishing trip from Seattle, and really wanted to be sure you caught fish, where would you go?
I am trying to plan something for maybe early summer and besides catching fish, money is a big factor. We really want to catch some salmon and are thinking that maybe a trip into Canada would be our best bet??
If anyone has any suggestions for where you would trailer to, launch from, etc. we would love to hear about it. We don't want to motor to far due to fuel prices.
Maybe someone else is already planning something like this??

Thanks!
Julie

[Cutty Sark]

Well, I would love to do canada too, lots of good places up there. But I spend a week or two at Neah bay. It's pretty close, so the cost to get there isn't too bad, and the fishing can be outstanding. It opens for salmon in july, and usually you can get some rockfish at the same time and if the weather is nice run out to swiftsure's canada side for some hali's. I'll be out there for numerous three day weekends this year. Starting in early to mid July Around the 15th, maybe a weekend earlier. For sheer numbers of fish later in july is probably better for lots of silvers with early being better for kings. The quota out there is smaller this year so I wouldn't wait too long beyond mid july. Neah bay has great docks and a marginal launch. The fishing can be non stop when the silvers are in. Green and white coho killer spoon, or herring should get you into fish. I prefer the spoon, when your hitting fish after fish. La push can also be hot, but there is a bar to cross and it can get nasty. My buddies fish there and catch 30+ pounders every year, and two years ago got a 50#er. The coast is a ton of fun and I can not wait until july. Have fun.

Sark

[Jeff and Julie]

Sark,

How bad is the wave action out there? The other reason we were thinking Canada is because the east side of Vancouver Island seems more sheltered. We are just a little unsure of being around unprotected waters until we have more hours under our belt.

Julie

[starcrafttom]

I will be heading out to the coast too, but if you have the time then the campbell river area for vancouvor is a really great place to fish your own boat for kings and silvers. if you want to get away from the crowds and tie up to a really great lodge then look up dent Isalnd lodge. We stayed there last year in september but had missed most of the fishing. we still got some silvers but missed the kings. very protected and just beuitiful

[gljjr]

Julie,

My first response would be Alaska But barring that I would first look at Neah Bay or Sekiu, then the west coast of Vancouver Island, and then the east coast of Vancouver Island.

I actually bought my C-Dory simply for fishing these areas.

I have fished my Jet sled many times at Sekiu and twice at Neah Bay. So long as you pay attention to the weather/conditions you should be fine at Neah or Sekiu.

I love fishing at Sekiu and Neah. The fishing out there can be fantastic! It can also be slow. Last time I was out there I met RogerBum at Neah and we motored over to Sekiu to fish for chinook. We got one fairly early on and then nothing for the rest of the day.

I went on a guided weekend at Campbell River a few years ago before I bought my sled. There is no way I would take the sled up there to fish but a C-Dory would be no problem. Even though we had little to no wind the waves from the current could really get nasty in a hurry. However we probably caught 40 Pinks in 2 days of fishing

One place that I would really like to hit for Salmon fishing is Bamfield on the west side of Vancouver Island. I won't be heading there this year but hope to next year.

One of the first questions in making your plans would be what kind of Salmon do you want to fish for? That will determine when you need to go and where to a certain extent! For instance mid to late August at Neah Bay can be truly fantastic fishing for Silvers. They can be so thick at times that they will actually hit your gear as it dangles in the water right next to the boat before you have a chance to put it on the downrigger (that is when I pull out the flyrod!) Nothing like catching silvers on a fly trolled in the propwash! Lots of fun.

The nice thing about places like this is that there are usually good numbers of fish. Once you get into the sound the numbers drop off as the fish hit their respective rivers.

Just to give you an idea of what ideal conditions you CAN see quite often at Sekiu here is a picture of my son with an 18lb Hatchery Silver we got 2 years ago the second weekend of September.

It was one of 20 fish we caught that day!

[Jeff and Julie]

Tom and Gary,
Thanks for the responses! My first choice would be Alaska also!! I am from Sitka and it is very hard for me to fish down here without getting just a little frustrated.
That picture at Sekiu looks gorgeous. Is that water usually or unusually that calm?!
I think fishing for silvers would be a good choice for us with our young boys. I would really like them to experience catching something!
Now I am really wondering if we shouldn't just try around Sekiu??

Julie

[rogerbum]

Jeff and Julie,

I concur with the idea of hitting either Sekiu or Neah Bay and would recommend Neah Bay over Sekiu if you're planning to stay for any length of time. Neah has much better moorage with a very protective double break water in front of the marina and concrete floats with cleats and electricity. Most spots are Sekiu are not that well protected and the floats at most outfits are terrible. I can easily sleep on the boat in bad weather at Neah Bay. It's sometimes hard to even eat or cook on the boat while moored in Sekiu. If I moor in Sekiu, I sleep in a tent.

Also at Neah Bay in area 4, you're allowed 10 rockfish/day/person where as the limit is one/day in area 5 (Sekiu). Even if the salmon are sparse, when the weather is good, you can go out south of Tatoosh and, with a little hunting, find good schools of black rock cod in the 3-5 lb range. When you do get on a school, they will hit almost anything with hooks on it and the action can be very fast. They key to fishing for them is to cruise around over structure with the fish finder until you find a good school and then set up a drift that will take you through or keep you on the school. Have all hands ready to drop their lures when you get over a school. Then pull 'em in as fast as you can, through them at your feet in the cockpit and drop the lines again. On a calm day with a big school below, you can often do this 3-4 times before you get off of the school. Then cruise around a bit until you find that same school (or another) and repeat. It's loads of fun and it's not unusual to pick up 10 fish in a 5-10 min drift if you get things just right.

As for weather and waves - it's highly variable but generally the swells and waves inside the straight are OK in July/august. However, I have been in 8-10 foot long period swells with 2-3' of chop on top even at Sekiu. If the swells are long period and there isn't much wind, it's just an annoyance (and sea sickness inducer). However, in that west end of the straights the weather can get very nasty quick. Generally, the 22' CD will handle more waves/swells/weather than the captain can and after a few times of boating out there you'll get used to operating in swells that you might find scary at first. Long period swells are really not much of an issue but the first time you are in swells that are taller than your boat, it can be a bit disconcerting. I always look at the Swell Watch NW site prior to going out along the coast. It has a model that predict size and direction of swells for a week from the day and it's prety accurate (at least for the first few days). Last year when I was out at Neah Bay for 9 days, I had the people I was taking out each day printout a copy of the Swell water data for 2-3 days and ring it with them. This year, I'll probably set up my cel phone for internet access when I'm there (BTW - you get great Verizon service at Neah Bay and upto 15-20 miles off shore - no other service provider had decent coverage out there last year). When the weather isn't that good, you can generally still catch silver salmon just off of Waddah island and be in a position to quickly get in behind the breakwater if the weather kicks up.

The other major issue out there is operating in thick fog which can come in at any time of day. If you have a radar and a good GPS, it's really not much of an issue. If it's not too thick (1/4 mile-1/2mile visibility), a GPS is sufficient.

[gljjr]

That picture was taken at about 7am. I've seen that kind of water at Sekiu many times early in the morning and in the evening. It usually gets a bit rough during the day but sometimes it is like that all day long!

I've also had it where I turned around at the mouth of the bay and headed back in to spend the day on the docks due to it being too rough to go out. You just never know.

[gljjr]

Roger,

Good points on the docks! Sekiu needs a serious revamping of the facilities in that regard.

Black rockfish can be a blast to fish for. My son and I found a school of them in the kelp at Tatoosh when we were there in Sept of 04. We fished that school for about 3 hours without moving. Justin and I must have caught over 60 fish during that time releasing all but 15 of them (Tasty fish and chips for weeks!). A couple of them were about 8 lbs. We were fishing in about 20' of water and using steelhead and trout gear. They were as much or more fun than Salmon

[Sawdust]

Gary,

No better eating fish IMO! Enjoy catching on light gear!

Dusty

[john schuler]

I plan on going to Campbell River area in late July. Read settled weather and
warm nights. A fish or two would be nice but a good time is first. Anyone
have a good place to stay there we need a marina with hotel. Three guys
in a boat isn't gona work for a week.
john

[gljjr]

I've only been up there the one time. I wouldn't mind going again. The rough water would be much more bearable without having a guide who's sole purpose seemed to be to get us to the fishing spot as fast as possible without concern for our comfort! Needless to say I would never recommend him to anyone regardless of how good he was at getting us into the fish.

I do remember there was a hotel/marina right as we were pulling into town. I just don't remember the name of it. Also, we did all of our fishing about an hour north of the marina. So you might try looking futher up the coast as that was where everyone was fishing.

[Jeff and Julie]

Roger, Thanks for the info and the web site!!

I don't think I have ever fished for rock fish. We mainly fished for salmon and halibut when I lived in Alaska. It sounds like fun and we may give it a try.

Julie

[CAVU]

John,
Will you be trailering to Campbell River? If you are I would recommend you tow further up the Island and try Port Hardy. Very calm waters and usually some good fishing that time of year. There is a nice marina and big hotel combo along with a good launch ramp. I haven't fished the area in many years but used to be a nice trip. No experience with Campbell River.

[gljjr]

Julie,

Black rockfish can be a blast. And as Dusty said they are awsome eats!

While most people I know run and gun looking for schools like Roger described, I've found that you don't nessecarily need to do that. If you find a good rocky point with kelp beds around it you can often find them. I used the Storm Wildeye 4" swimbait in the bunker color. I placed a 1" piece of pencil lead in its belly to add a little weight without affecting it's action. We would then toss this into the edges of the kelp. Let it free fall to the bottom and then slowly pull it in. If you feel it going up the kelp frond go slowly and then let it fall again once you have gone over the kelp. Usually on the fall the fish will pick it up! Justin and I picked up so many of them doing this that we finally quit because our arms hurt

I know that on charter boats they will use the run and gun method. But they put three droppers on their lines and bring in 3 fish at once. If you are just going meat fishing that is OK, but I prefer fishing with light tackle and giving the fish half a chance

Next time I'm going to try fishing for them with my fly rod. We were only fishing in about 20' of water so a sinktip or full sink with a good streamer should be pretty effective.