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EARLY SEASON FORECAST 2023 FOR WEST COAST VANCOVUER ISLAND, UCLUELET BC
Hello everyone,
We are excitedly getting ready for the upcoming season.
We are going to be setting the first boat in soon. Fishing reports have been very good from those with local boats in the water including some Chinook in the high teens.
Last summer fishing stayed good in close to shore much of the year.
May and June were great months and more like July fishing for numbers and maybe even better. Its very possible it will be similar this summer. The bait in close to shore has been more abundant.
Right from the northwest part of Vancouver Island down to Ucluelet, the near shore fishing for Chinook was great and better than offshore fishing.
We are expecting the good fishing in close to shore from all signs we have seen, though of course anything can happen.
According to Mark Yuasa, WDFW, the 2023 Columbia River fall Chinook salmon forecast is 545,300.
The 2022 forecast was 484,900 but had an actual return of 674,786. The run forecasts have gotten consistently better the past few years partially with improving ocean conditions.
Much of the Columbia Chinook head past Ucluelet during June and early July.
Other species
Halibut numbers are forecasted to be similar to the past few years. Generally the best fishing is in June and July though we still find halibut up into September.
Coho numbers may be sightly better during July and August considering forecasting from BC and Washington.
Our lingcod fishing in May, June and early July was phenomenal in 2022 and we are hoping for a repeat of that.
So needless to say we are expecting Great early fishing again.
Below are a couple photos from June 2022.
The August run of Chinook
Our August run saw over 150K Chinook return to the Stamp River making it the largest in a very long time. We had many good catches though we would have said it was a fairly normal good year–not crazy numbers, but good. The fish were largely 3 year fish so the average size wasn’t as high as the past couple years.
The good news is that next year is the 4 year cycle so we should see bigger average Chinook in 2023.
Thanks for everyone who fished with us and we hope to see you on the water in 2023!
The Salmon Eye Crew.
A few pics are below!
