Fishing in BC

[magbrin]

Another question for you .......................

We have just discovered that Airtransat allows an extra bag, free, with fishing equipment. Our research into what fishing is available offers lots of information on holidays, expensive days with guides, etc. But what we are looking for is some fishing (salmon or trout) that can be found locally once we arrive at a campground, for the following day, for a reasonable cost. We understand also that there are various licences required.

What we would like to know is how you find out about where to fish, locally, and where you can get licences. The campground, Tackle shops, Tourist Info places or where?

[magbrin]

Wet Coast wrote:
oh boy, Inside passage is it's own trip! Northern Vancouver Island, well, You could spend a nice week over there if you were done on the sunshine coast in the two weeks.

There are a number of campgrounds on the North Island. Once the long weekend is done, folks will be heading home and it will get quiet up there. A nice Forest rec site to use as a central base is the one at Marble River. It's accessible by pavement, so no worries about gravel. Telegraph Cove is cool.

Alert Bay is worth a visit. Especially the U'mista Cultural Center. http://www.umista.org/

r

Oh so much to do! The weather is not looking as good as we had hoped and we may only have a few nights on the island, before heading east.
Already I feel we will be back next year, and we haven't arrived yet:S
Looking at Elk falls (have just posted new thread) and then Green Point. But then I think we need to make tracks east otherwise we will not get to the Rockies in the time we have left.

[Wet_Coast]

oh boy, Inside passage is it's own trip! Northern Vancouver Island, well, You could spend a nice week over there if you were done on the sunshine coast in the two weeks.

There are a number of campgrounds on the North Island. Once the long weekend is done, folks will be heading home and it will get quiet up there. A nice Forest rec site to use as a central base is the one at Marble River. It's accessible by pavement, so no worries about gravel. Telegraph Cove is cool.

Alert Bay is worth a visit. Especially the U'mista Cultural Center. http://www.umista.org/

r

[magbrin]

Thanks, Wet Coast
Already identified Skookumchuk Narrows Provincial Park hike as a "must do", and we should have time to catch the best state of the tide for it (although I haven't yet identified what it should be) and hope to get up to Lund & Desolation sound.
Have just identified today that there is a music festival on that weekend, at or near Powell River but there is just so much to do we could spend all three weeks on the Sunshine Coast.
Already ideas of the Inside Passage and N. Vancouver Island are fading.

Oysters, (as long as they are cooked) and all shellfish and seafood are also high on the list of priorities.

[Wet_Coast]

Sunshine Coast is beautiful. Not sure about the fishing over there. Here’s some of the stuff we did up that way a few years ago…
Coming from Sechelt, At Egmont is Back Eddy marina. It has RV sites that back right on to the water. http://backeddy.ca/
From the marina, you can take a boat tour to Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls. http://www.sunshinecoasttours.ca/princesslouisatour.html

Also right there is Skookumchuk Narrows Provincial Park. Great short hike to a very cool salt water rapids. The kayakers are usually playing in the very large standing waves.
At the very top of the sunshine coast is Lund. Very beautiful. It’s a jumping off point for the Mega-yachts heading into Desolation Sound. At Lund, you have Sunlund by the Sea for camping. A path from the campground takes you to the harbour where you can book a Zodiac tour of Desolation Sound. There is one run by the local First Nations Band. We did it a few years ago. It was excellent. http://ihostours.com/

BC ferries used to offer a circle route that gave you so many days to do the sunshine coast and then cross over to Vancouver Island. Looking quickly on the BC ferries website, I could not find it. It might take some digging, or they do not offer it any more.

Oyster farming is huge up there. Get yourself a good feed of them if you fancy them.

Rick

[magbrin]

sue.t wrote:
The ferries designate a limited number of spaces as reservable. Other spaces are first come-first served for those that drive up without a reservation. The reserving just means you can confirm the time you'll be going and be there for that time. It does not mean the ferry is full, it just means you'll be able to get on a specific ferry if the line-ups are long.

We've arrived early for our reservation and then been able to catch the earlier ferry because there was space. You do not get a refund on your reservation if this happens. This happened when we lived on the Island and were returning home from extended trips through Lower Mainland traffic, which made it difficult to be more precise with our timing.

If someone reserved and doesn't show up, the spot becomes a first come-first served spot. Your reservation is specific for the time/date you booked it.

If you show up late, you become a first come-first served client. There is no priority given to you because you missed your reservation.

Helpful as always, thanks, sue.t

[sue_t]

The ferries designate a limited number of spaces as reservable. Other spaces are first come-first served for those that drive up without a reservation. The reserving just means you can confirm the time you'll be going and be there for that time. It does not mean the ferry is full, it just means you'll be able to get on a specific ferry if the line-ups are long.

We've arrived early for our reservation and then been able to catch the earlier ferry because there was space. You do not get a refund on your reservation if this happens. This happened when we lived on the Island and were returning home from extended trips through Lower Mainland traffic, which made it difficult to be more precise with our timing.

If someone reserved and doesn't show up, the spot becomes a first come-first served spot. Your reservation is specific for the time/date you booked it.

If you show up late, you become a first come-first served client. There is no priority given to you because you missed your reservation.

[magbrin]

We have a plan for the first leg.

It is not what we really wanted to do, but thanks for the alert that it is necessary!

Having spent the last 24 hours on the case, we have booked our first night at Alice Lake. The only ferry left to Langdale for the Friday was the last one at 10.35pm - so that is booked. If there is a campsite for the night at Langdale we may go for it, I haven't heard yet, but I have booked for Halfmoon Bay (Homesite Creek if anyone knows it) where we will stay until the Monday. By then we will see what the weather is like and all being well we will continue up the Sunshine Coast and cross to the Island from Powell river on Monday or Tuesday.
Any local information on fishing in the Alice Lake area and Halfmoon Bay would be much appreciated.

PS. With a booking for the ferry, if we turn up early and someone booked on a previous one does not turn up, is there a chance of getting on, or will the space go to someone who has not booked?

[ejfranz]

Not all forestry sites are on gravel roads. They usually have directions to them and you should be able to tell the type of road.
Cortez island can be a long wait in a vehicle to get to and from. We camped on Quardra and motorcycled to Cortez (first on and off the ferry and no waits).
Getting to Vancouver island on a long weekend or just a weekend is not fun unless you have ferry reservations.

[Orion]

Just to confirm something, don't let the term 'Forestry' camp sites scare you off. I just looked up one we have stayed at and find that the 'Forestry' sites now seem to be listed under the 'Sites and Trails' site as shown above.
This is where we used to stay, it's shown on the website as 'Old Hedley Road' You can't see it on the Streetview image, but the sites are right on a really nice river. We even panned for gold there with the kids. Notice how the vegetation is getting very dry? This would be 'semi-arid' but a few miles farther on this road, the precip. drops to below 10" per year, making it a desert!

[Wet_Coast]

Smelt Bay is really nice. Cortez is a blast back in time; very laid back. Tie-died clothing is mandatory!

Check the BC Ferries website. I am not sure of you can reserve on the smaller routes. You need to go from Campbell River to Quadra Island then hop to Cortez. A nice spot to camp is at the Hariot Bay Inn on Quadra Island. They have a campground and marina as well.

[magbrin]

Wet Coast wrote:
Danger, long weekend and no reservations!

Unless you have reservations anywhere you are planning to stay, it might be slim pickins. Start goggling a route and check for campground availability before you commit to any direction!

Oops:S
Have just checked availability ................... not a lot and we can't do backcountry as we are not insured on logging roads. The weather is looking good, though, for next week - long may it last.

Thanks Orion for your pm - I will be spending tonight planning campgrounds before they all go, but will respond when we have a plan.

Does anyone have any knowledge of Smelt Bay, Cortes Island? There is space there, but will have to check that there is space on the ferries - no ferries and the spaces will remain available!

[Wet_Coast]

You might want to look at Ministry of Forest rec sites at
http://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/default.aspx
Most don't take reservations though. Good things is a lot of them are out of the way, but great back country experiences can be had.

and BC Parks for bookings
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/

r

[Wet_Coast]

Danger, long weekend and no reservations!

Unless you have reservations anywhere you are planning to stay, it might be slim pickins. Start goggling a route and check for campground availability before you commit to any direction!

[magbrin]

ejfranz wrote:
For web info go to http://www.gofishbc.com/ and
http://www.fishbc.com/.
The local tackle shop will have the current conditions and what is working best.
You need to know what type of water you are in. The Fraser river is tidal up tp the railway bridge in Mission and Fresh water above the bridge. A fresh water licence would allow you to fish for salmon above the bridge, but you would need a salmon tag.
Check the synopsis, it should be available online also.

Thanks for this info!