Port Alberni will be a mecca for anglers this year, as record runs attract sports fishers while other areas of the coast are under retention bans.
Chinook fishing in Johnstone, Georgia and Juan de Fuca Straits have been curtailed to protect dwindling Fraser River Chinook stocks, while Somass Springs are coming back in record numbers according to DFO’s Michael Spence.
130,000 chinook are expected to be returning to Robertson Creek, which Spence says has been building for a few years.
Anglers will be able to catch 2 chinook and 2 coho per day through the summer, and 4 coho per day starting August 1st.
The news isn’t as great for the sockeye fishery as 350,000 are expected to start entering the inlet within the next few weeks, and DFO remains concerned about the Great Central Lake stocks that are dangerously low.