Oak Bay Marine Group

[mikeo2]

Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with either Painters lodge or april point lodge with oak bay marine group? Or any salmon experiences in the Campbell River area at all?

[dss44]

In terms of accommodation, they are extremely nice. Great food too! I always stop there on the way up island for the clam chowder and fish and chips haha. Can say plenty of good things about the grub and accommodations.

In terms of fishing in Campbell River, not so much. Every time we stopped in for food, we'd go down to the dock and see what they brought in, of the 5 times we stopped there only saw 4 Chinook brought in from at least a dozen boats each time. Plenty of pinks though :ashamed: Their fishing days are split up into 4 hr increments as well...so the most you will fish at one time is 4hrs, then come back in, then go out again. If the best tide is when you are supposed to come in then you are SOL. The food and accommodation are luxurious...but the boats they use are not.

I guess it all depends what you are looking for. If you want good fishing then I'd say PL and AP are not the places to go. If you just want to take it easy and are not too worried about the fishing or taking home fish...then they wouldn't be a bad choice.

I'm sure I am bias (but results speak for themselves), but if you head north 2 1/2 hrs to Port Hardy...that is where you will catch a lot of fish.

[Buckwheat]

I would have to agree with DSS. We stayed at Painters once and fished two four hours trips. Ended up bringing home 4 average bluebacks. The accommodations were great but not the fishing. Best to hit the West or North sides of the island.

Oak bay has "party" boats that operate out of Ucluelet that we've seen while out fishing. Half the passengers were fishing the other half were chuming :lol:

[gramps73]

If you are going that far up the island, keep going to Port Hardy try the Cod Father well ran great fishing.
Gramp

[dss44]

If you are going that far up the island, keep going to Port Hardy try the Cod Father well ran great fishing.
Gramp


I'm sure I'll see you up there assuming you are going again this summer gramps. Were you up there this past summer?

[dss44]

I'll take that as a no comment :p :rolleyes:

[tchow]

I've been out to Canadian Princess out at Ucluelet about 6 times now and each time had a blast. First year we stayed right on the Canadian Princess Ship. Not bad if you like sleeping in a Tin Can....LOL
Second time, our accomodations were in the Condos and these were much more roomier and comfortable. From then on, its always been in the Condos.
As for fishing, you got a chance at Chinooks, Coho's, and Hali's. There are additional trips out, where they concentrate strictly for Bottom Fish. Never know what you're gonna catch till you bring them up.
Prices are very reasonable as it is much cheaper than AP or PL. One suggestion that I have is to bring your own Equiptment if you have it. Their equiptment is used almost 7 days a week/5-6 months. Hard to maintain upkeep on all that equiptment.
There is plenty of reputable outfits, so it all depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

[John Spartan]

Stayed at Painters - good fishing, good accomodations, good food, good golf.
Tried April Point - poor experience, the guide was a joke and the fishing tackle should have been retired 50 years ago. Got the distinct feeling that as a Canadian, I and my family were not worth Oak Bay's time and that they were more interested in catering to Americans - there were lots of "jokes" belittling Canadians, Canada. I was not impressed.

I would not recommend Oak Bay ever, based on my experiences.

[Dark]

12 of us went with Oakbay out of Ucluelet last summer had a great time, we caught a good share of chinook coho and halibut I hammered a 33 lb and 26 lb chinook,and some nice coho, we caught 24 hali's in about 2 hours. Fishing was good but rough water out there. The bummer was they lost a 10 guy's fish about 300lbs worth shipping them back to Edmonton and never found them. They sent us a fleece jacket, 2 small cans of salmon and about 6 oz's of smoked salmon and gave us 50% off this year. We will go again but this time we will not board their plane until our fish is loaded.