Fishing Forecast Spring/Summer 2016 Ucluelet
| Chinook Salmon Forecast The Chinook (King) salmon forecast for the Ucluelet area is the best we have seen in a quite a few years. Higher returns than normal are expected in many Washington rivers around the Columbia including the Columbia itself which all affect us. While not all areas in Southern Vancouver Island are supposed to have strong runs, Ucluelet should do very well. The winter sample numbers of Chinook caught around southern Vancouver Island as well as very strong March/April catches in Victoria and Ucluelet point to a better than normal early season and summer. Barkley Sound/Stamp River  This year we are expecting to have good returns to the Stamp River and Barkley Sound based on last years 3 year old returns. During 2015 there were almost 60,000 Chinook that returned to the Stamp river system, almost twice what was expected and above the trend the past few years. The good news for all fishing in 2016 is that the majority of the Chinook that spawned were 3 year olds. Since only 15% generally head back as 3 year olds and 55% come back as 4 year olds, the greatest part of the fish are still out there from the 1 year old juvenile salmon entering in 2013. So in conclusion we expect to have better than nomal fishing for Spring, Summer and Fall. We are already getting confirmation of that since most of our early season trips have limited out with Chinook including some that were hampered by early season winds. We expect to have larger Chinook showing up in August like has been expected in most of the years past. We had a little dip in size in 2013 and every year it has been getting better since then. July should have the best numbers but we should see the most Tyees (over 30lbs) come during August. Limits have stayed the same with 2 Chinook allowed per person per day and 4 as the carrying limit. Coho limits are the same as Chinook. We are waiting to see if they will let us keep 1 wild Coho per person offshore. If not we would have to keep hatchery Coho when not in Barkley Sound. Halibut Forecast Our halibut fishing should be similar to past years or slightly better. Halibut are already starting to show up in the early season and we expect them to start being strong in starting in May like happened last year. Ocean conditions around the Ucluelet area appear favorable this year. Limits have stayed the same with 1 up to 133 cm and 1 up to 83 cm. Check out our fishing packages to book your fishing trip today! Space is limited.
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