Hi.
Yesterday, Friday, I decided to go for a day trip to visit some of my old haunts where we used to fish. We caught the first ferry to Departure Bay and set out North along the old Island Hwy 19A for a scenic seaside route. Having not had the occasion to head over there for a multitude of reasons, I can remember spending many Augusts over there for 3 weeks at a time every year--and sweet memories of fishing expeditions of years gone by, I haven't fished over there in 7 years. At any rate, we zipped up the highway marvelling at the growth of the communities, but a resounding theme soon became very evident. Where the heck was everyone? The highway didn't have a lot of traffic at all, granted, the new Island Hwy changes that, but there was a severe lack of motorhomes, boats being trailered, and overall business in general--even the ferry didn't have a lot of RVs or boats in line
We stopped at many of the infamous campgrounds and fishing camps as they once were known and we couldn't comprehend what we saw. Empty spaces, vacancies, and many of these places were ghost towns. Without naming any of the business names, we went in and were greeted with "look what the cat dragged in..." and "we haven't seen you in ages!" and chatted with old faces and personalities. Basically, non retention of wild coho, and the fact there is little in the way of other fish around, including bottom fish, resulted in that the death of those establishments. While they still may be open, they have a certain eerie ghost town feel to them. We interviewed many, and they stated, there just isn't any fish, I asked about local charter reports, and they scoffed at me and said, if your life depended on it, you'd lie too! I talked to a few residents, and they stated, no, nothing there at all.---we asked about all the great places, Sisters, Flora, Texada, the Top of Hornby..still nothing. We departed the legendary Qualicum and Deep Bay Area, and headed north to Comox. Again, little going on fish wise. We pushed on, headed to Campbell River, and then ran into someone that my dad has known for 40 years....he stated, yes, there are fish here, but just be prepared to put your time in for springs. Pinks showing now, with some Sockeye--but don't expect miracles they said. Then while stopping for gas I ran into one of my acquaintances with whom I used to guide, and he confirmed the theme.
While the express purpose of our trip was of a different purpose than checking out the fishing scene, we couldn't help but investigate and check it out the fishing, and despite the resounding natural beauty of the area, I couldn't help but feel saddened at the carnage of a sports fishery collapse on the east coast of Vancouver Island.
However, while returning to Vancouver we pulled into Nanaimo and did manage to hear that there is some pretty decent fishing to be had around there, Thrasher, Grande, Waterfall, Porlier-and we did see a guy bring in 2 25 lbers at the dock.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is these types of experiences that serve as a slap in the face to all saltwater anglers that we do impact the resource.
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Topic: East Coast Vancouver Isl. Parksville to Campbell River Saltwater Report (Read 2108 times)