SNAPFisher
08-15-2021, 04:51 PM
I know I say epic too much,....eff it. EPIC!!!!
Spent the last two weeks on Vancouver Island. Two really different weeks. Week 1 was first time at Ucluelet. Stayed on Ocean front. Explored a lot. Eat too much. Shopped and talked to every shop owner...practically.
Fished two days out of Ukee. Was lucky enough to meet up with a guide who didn't want or need the glory of filling the boat and would rather expore, change it up and try all types of fishing. That made the fishing trip. It was rough, rough out front of Ukee. Every single guided boat went that way. When we all agreed to fishing on the inside and around the sheltered islands, I thought our guide was going to pee himself with excitement. He was beat up from a week straight of windy weather. Plus, I'm not fond of bouncing around and the wife would not even fish in the rough water. So, it worked amazingly. Had the place to ourselves until locals would show up around noon. Flat calm inside while outside passage it rocked and boiled. A lot of lost cookies for the other trips :)
Guide setup only two rods. Both with plugs, no flashers, and light action rods. Nice mooching reels to boot. First light, fast trolling and amazing action. According to the guide, we did better and caught better fish than the outside anyways. Karma was on our side.
Caught a first light fish during sun rise that I will not forget. We all caught nice springs, coho and a few pinks. We used all styles of tackle and the guide kept changing it up. I ran my fly rod, 7 wt, down the middle and picked up coho on the bucktail flies. Used some of my own lures....you name it. We left no tackle itch not scratched. After fishing around in the morning we would change it up to fly rod casting for rock fish and ling cod. No halibut but ...meh. This was a complete blast regardless.
Pics from part 1 in Ukee
Nothing like starting a day to this. Calm and beauty.
https://i.postimg.cc/3xGGXXN1/IMG-1947.jpg (https://postimg.cc/qNkg0C86)
https://i.postimg.cc/RVNKF5zj/IMG-1948.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8jgjKYcH)
And, catch a huge chinook like this. Interrupted my taking pics of the sun rise. Pretty special time of day to catch a big fish. Fight was amazing on the light tackle and no flashers.
https://i.postimg.cc/Mp1cMz3r/IMG-5791.jpg (https://postimg.cc/0z25h1sp)
https://i.postimg.cc/85zs0Mpq/IMG-5789.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cKPsKK8m)
Not to be outdone, the wife landed a couple of big chinooks as well. The 2nd one was one of the fattest I've seen for the short length... "hog!"
https://i.postimg.cc/3r6WtkPc/IMG-1957.jpg (https://postimg.cc/w3X6vjxX)
https://i.postimg.cc/HnKJ5nCF/IMG-1959.jpg (https://postimg.cc/FkysX9zx)
This is about as rough as we saw.
https://i.postimg.cc/Dy9JwS6X/IMG-1946.jpg (https://postimg.cc/0bC2t2Lk)
https://i.postimg.cc/0NqwczJs/IMG-1949.jpg (https://postimg.cc/rDQspFJn)
Woot!
https://i.postimg.cc/dVc3KzQR/IMG-5802.jpg (https://postimg.cc/BXN4T7Kt)
View from the place we stayed at for our anniversary - the big 25th!
https://i.postimg.cc/9F70KW2F/IMG-1970.jpg (https://postimg.cc/JGRRBCt9)
Private beach nearby made for an almost religious morning being the only one on the 15 mile stretch. And yes, I made sand castles for the tide to destroy as it came in.
https://i.postimg.cc/pdjzQgVp/IMG-1253.jpg (https://postimg.cc/6798tbvX)
https://i.postimg.cc/h42zmS82/IMG-1254.jpg (https://postimg.cc/6TGpJxmZ)
Part 2 - week 2 - East side near Englishman River
I booked a nice house through VRBO that was located at the end of a small road on the Englishman River. You could see the river from the house. Just an amazing place overall and huge. We had everything we needed and lived quite cheap for the rest of the trip.
River fishing various rivers did not disappoint. I`ve dreamed for years of fishing above a run of pink salmon where it looks like a carpet below me. That dream was fulfilled! I would estimate 30 feet wide by about 400 feet long... how can you miss! Only disappointment, and it was a small disappointment, is that they were not running near the beaches in Qualicum or Parksville yet.
Those darker areas are all salmon - nothing compared to some pools I saw...
https://i.postimg.cc/jjQJ9RzJ/DSCF1434.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8Fc5fQX1)
Nice pool that was full of salmon
https://i.postimg.cc/nrmq2gGd/IMG-1271.jpg (https://postimg.cc/sGVBDn8S)
Some vids of once of the pools - trust me when I say this gives an idea but does no justice to how many fish you could see with the human eye. Quality sucks but give you an idea.
https://youtu.be/YXzgSe8opkU
https://youtu.be/C_4Zs_fc-zI
Spent the last two weeks on Vancouver Island. Two really different weeks. Week 1 was first time at Ucluelet. Stayed on Ocean front. Explored a lot. Eat too much. Shopped and talked to every shop owner...practically.
Fished two days out of Ukee. Was lucky enough to meet up with a guide who didn't want or need the glory of filling the boat and would rather expore, change it up and try all types of fishing. That made the fishing trip. It was rough, rough out front of Ukee. Every single guided boat went that way. When we all agreed to fishing on the inside and around the sheltered islands, I thought our guide was going to pee himself with excitement. He was beat up from a week straight of windy weather. Plus, I'm not fond of bouncing around and the wife would not even fish in the rough water. So, it worked amazingly. Had the place to ourselves until locals would show up around noon. Flat calm inside while outside passage it rocked and boiled. A lot of lost cookies for the other trips :)
Guide setup only two rods. Both with plugs, no flashers, and light action rods. Nice mooching reels to boot. First light, fast trolling and amazing action. According to the guide, we did better and caught better fish than the outside anyways. Karma was on our side.
Caught a first light fish during sun rise that I will not forget. We all caught nice springs, coho and a few pinks. We used all styles of tackle and the guide kept changing it up. I ran my fly rod, 7 wt, down the middle and picked up coho on the bucktail flies. Used some of my own lures....you name it. We left no tackle itch not scratched. After fishing around in the morning we would change it up to fly rod casting for rock fish and ling cod. No halibut but ...meh. This was a complete blast regardless.
Pics from part 1 in Ukee
Nothing like starting a day to this. Calm and beauty.
https://i.postimg.cc/3xGGXXN1/IMG-1947.jpg (https://postimg.cc/qNkg0C86)
https://i.postimg.cc/RVNKF5zj/IMG-1948.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8jgjKYcH)
And, catch a huge chinook like this. Interrupted my taking pics of the sun rise. Pretty special time of day to catch a big fish. Fight was amazing on the light tackle and no flashers.
https://i.postimg.cc/Mp1cMz3r/IMG-5791.jpg (https://postimg.cc/0z25h1sp)
https://i.postimg.cc/85zs0Mpq/IMG-5789.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cKPsKK8m)
Not to be outdone, the wife landed a couple of big chinooks as well. The 2nd one was one of the fattest I've seen for the short length... "hog!"
https://i.postimg.cc/3r6WtkPc/IMG-1957.jpg (https://postimg.cc/w3X6vjxX)
https://i.postimg.cc/HnKJ5nCF/IMG-1959.jpg (https://postimg.cc/FkysX9zx)
This is about as rough as we saw.
https://i.postimg.cc/Dy9JwS6X/IMG-1946.jpg (https://postimg.cc/0bC2t2Lk)
https://i.postimg.cc/0NqwczJs/IMG-1949.jpg (https://postimg.cc/rDQspFJn)
Woot!
https://i.postimg.cc/dVc3KzQR/IMG-5802.jpg (https://postimg.cc/BXN4T7Kt)
View from the place we stayed at for our anniversary - the big 25th!
https://i.postimg.cc/9F70KW2F/IMG-1970.jpg (https://postimg.cc/JGRRBCt9)
Private beach nearby made for an almost religious morning being the only one on the 15 mile stretch. And yes, I made sand castles for the tide to destroy as it came in.
https://i.postimg.cc/pdjzQgVp/IMG-1253.jpg (https://postimg.cc/6798tbvX)
https://i.postimg.cc/h42zmS82/IMG-1254.jpg (https://postimg.cc/6TGpJxmZ)
Part 2 - week 2 - East side near Englishman River
I booked a nice house through VRBO that was located at the end of a small road on the Englishman River. You could see the river from the house. Just an amazing place overall and huge. We had everything we needed and lived quite cheap for the rest of the trip.
River fishing various rivers did not disappoint. I`ve dreamed for years of fishing above a run of pink salmon where it looks like a carpet below me. That dream was fulfilled! I would estimate 30 feet wide by about 400 feet long... how can you miss! Only disappointment, and it was a small disappointment, is that they were not running near the beaches in Qualicum or Parksville yet.
Those darker areas are all salmon - nothing compared to some pools I saw...
https://i.postimg.cc/jjQJ9RzJ/DSCF1434.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8Fc5fQX1)
Nice pool that was full of salmon
https://i.postimg.cc/nrmq2gGd/IMG-1271.jpg (https://postimg.cc/sGVBDn8S)
Some vids of once of the pools - trust me when I say this gives an idea but does no justice to how many fish you could see with the human eye. Quality sucks but give you an idea.
https://youtu.be/YXzgSe8opkU
https://youtu.be/C_4Zs_fc-zI