Wayne in BC
New member
Two days before the Labor day weekend 1993, i casually said to my then 13 year old stepson Mitch, do you think we should go out for an overnighter and prefish our favorite area for the derby? His reaction was an instant smile and an enthusiastic yeah!
The "Derby" i referred to takes place every year in Port Alberni, which is on the west side of the Island and lies at the head of a 20 odd mile long inlet that varies from a mile wide to a few hundred yards. Lying between mountain ranges and much like a Fjord, it is very deep, often 7-8 hundred feet and stunningly beautiful. In Aug/Sept it is the liquid highway for large runs of huge Chinook Salmon returning to the Somass river which the town is built around the mouth of. The three day derby had a $20.000 prize for the largest Chinook. We fished that derby as a family fun thing for many years, camping and enjoying the whole package of superb fishing, wonderful scenery etc.
Mitch loved to fish (still does) and any extra time on the water was fine with him! We hooked up the smaller 16 ft aluminum boat to the truck, chucked in some grub, a tarp, and a couple light sleeping bags then pointed the old pickup west on the highway to cover the 25 miles to our jumping off point at China Creek Marina, 5 miles "out" the inlet from Port Alberni. Leaving home at 3:00 am, we were to be back the next afternoon to pick up Carol (she enjoyed it also!) and the pouty 10 year old sister who would have much rather stayed home and got into trouble, then return again to our camping spot for the next three days of fishing and hoping......
The boat was launched by 4:00 am in the dark as i wished to be on the spot we fished at by daylight. Traveling up the inlet 15 miles at speed in the dark is problematic but i had long ago solved the problem of not hitting huge logs or debris (it is an historic logging community) by waiting for one of the local fools, of which there were many
to come flying past in their cruisers, heading for the "outside", tuck in a few hudred feet behind them and coast in their wake while watching for them to go Kaboom! Warning me of an obstacle
Daylight almost as we put our lines down and began trolling along a rock face next to a small bay that the Salmon tended to "hang up" in. There were 6 or 7 others fishing in the area but none closer than a few hundred yards. This is good, as when one hooks a 30+ lb Chinook it can easily take 100 yards of line on a run and pass under another boat! Game over at best if it catches their prop, and at worst such a horrendous tangle of lines that one is reluctant to get near the other boat for fear of their wrath!
I was using my favorite plug off the downrigger at 45 feet, a 7 inch pearl colored sweetie covered with teeth marks.....ya a "hooker". Mitch was using his own favorite which also showed battle scars, on the other downrigger at the same depth. We were in an average of 60-80 feet of water, fishing the dropoff below the towering rockfaces that are typical of the area. These rock walls have stunted trees, some hundreds of years old and only 20 feet tall, scattered along them wherever there is a crack a few inches wide. Their roots often exposed to the elements and running along the rock. Sometimes there would be a tiny beach in a cove maybe 100 ft in and 60 or so wide, often in early morning there would be a Black bear scrounging among the tidal debris, this morning there was and we watched him while he ignored us and i was totally unprepared when the downrigger "thumped", followed by the zeeeeeeeeeee!!!! of the reel!
Continued.......
A log barge next to one side of inlet near Port Alberni, he is getting ready to "tip off' his load, mountains are not much here.
[attachment 39995 Bamfieldfishing002.jpg]
Coming back, gives an idea of the Inlet, though it is wider and gentler here.Sorry don't have pics of the real high walls.
Close to where we fished
[attachment 40012 Bamfieldfishing003.jpg]
The "Derby" i referred to takes place every year in Port Alberni, which is on the west side of the Island and lies at the head of a 20 odd mile long inlet that varies from a mile wide to a few hundred yards. Lying between mountain ranges and much like a Fjord, it is very deep, often 7-8 hundred feet and stunningly beautiful. In Aug/Sept it is the liquid highway for large runs of huge Chinook Salmon returning to the Somass river which the town is built around the mouth of. The three day derby had a $20.000 prize for the largest Chinook. We fished that derby as a family fun thing for many years, camping and enjoying the whole package of superb fishing, wonderful scenery etc.
Mitch loved to fish (still does) and any extra time on the water was fine with him! We hooked up the smaller 16 ft aluminum boat to the truck, chucked in some grub, a tarp, and a couple light sleeping bags then pointed the old pickup west on the highway to cover the 25 miles to our jumping off point at China Creek Marina, 5 miles "out" the inlet from Port Alberni. Leaving home at 3:00 am, we were to be back the next afternoon to pick up Carol (she enjoyed it also!) and the pouty 10 year old sister who would have much rather stayed home and got into trouble, then return again to our camping spot for the next three days of fishing and hoping......
The boat was launched by 4:00 am in the dark as i wished to be on the spot we fished at by daylight. Traveling up the inlet 15 miles at speed in the dark is problematic but i had long ago solved the problem of not hitting huge logs or debris (it is an historic logging community) by waiting for one of the local fools, of which there were many
to come flying past in their cruisers, heading for the "outside", tuck in a few hudred feet behind them and coast in their wake while watching for them to go Kaboom! Warning me of an obstacleDaylight almost as we put our lines down and began trolling along a rock face next to a small bay that the Salmon tended to "hang up" in. There were 6 or 7 others fishing in the area but none closer than a few hundred yards. This is good, as when one hooks a 30+ lb Chinook it can easily take 100 yards of line on a run and pass under another boat! Game over at best if it catches their prop, and at worst such a horrendous tangle of lines that one is reluctant to get near the other boat for fear of their wrath!
I was using my favorite plug off the downrigger at 45 feet, a 7 inch pearl colored sweetie covered with teeth marks.....ya a "hooker". Mitch was using his own favorite which also showed battle scars, on the other downrigger at the same depth. We were in an average of 60-80 feet of water, fishing the dropoff below the towering rockfaces that are typical of the area. These rock walls have stunted trees, some hundreds of years old and only 20 feet tall, scattered along them wherever there is a crack a few inches wide. Their roots often exposed to the elements and running along the rock. Sometimes there would be a tiny beach in a cove maybe 100 ft in and 60 or so wide, often in early morning there would be a Black bear scrounging among the tidal debris, this morning there was and we watched him while he ignored us and i was totally unprepared when the downrigger "thumped", followed by the zeeeeeeeeeee!!!! of the reel!
Continued.......
A log barge next to one side of inlet near Port Alberni, he is getting ready to "tip off' his load, mountains are not much here.
[attachment 39995 Bamfieldfishing002.jpg]
Coming back, gives an idea of the Inlet, though it is wider and gentler here.Sorry don't have pics of the real high walls.
Close to where we fished
[attachment 40012 Bamfieldfishing003.jpg]
