Bamfield Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
Bamfield on the east side of Barkley Sound: salmon and halibut water at the end of a gravel road, next to the West Coast Trail’s northern trailhead.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 11:18 a.m. model
Air / High
6 °C / 11 °C
Wind
NE 9 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Bamfield has cold water and fish that move for very little; fish the warmest hours. Today brings cloud cover, wind NE around 10 km/h, rising pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 11 °C. Tides: high 11:18 a.m., low 5:17 a.m. and 6:08 p.m.: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 10 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 12:08 AM-2:08 AM and 12:27 PM-2:27 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Chinook (spring) salmon
Slow
Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Tie on: Jigging spoon through the ice · Dead-stick minnow · Tip-up with dead bait · Tungsten jig and wax worm. Prime windows: 12:08 AM-2:08 AM, 12:27 PM-2:27 PM, 8:52 AM-9:52 AM. Similar at 13 °C with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
British Columbia requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$11.43. British Columbia fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing chinook (spring) salmon here? Check the size and bag limits with BC Freshwater Fishing before you keep anything; the Chinook (spring) salmon page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Bamfield today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (08:20), sunset (17:47), the moon and today's score, with the modelled tide changes in the panel below. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 12:08 AM-2:08 AM and 12:27 PM-2:27 PM; minor 8:52 AM-9:52 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
A modelled tide curve for these coordinates and the forecast for the day.
Tides (modelled)
Modelled sea level curve from Open-Meteo Marine for these coordinates, datum mean sea level. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
A model, not the official prediction: times can drift by tens of minutes inside bays and estuaries. Check the Canadian Hydrographic Service predictions at tides.gc.ca for the exact times before you rely on them.
Mon
LOW5:17 a.m.-0.20 m
HIGH11:18 a.m.1.82 m
LOW6:08 p.m.-1.34 m
Tue
HIGH12:40 a.m.1.27 m
LOW5:52 a.m.0.02 m
HIGH11:48 a.m.1.83 m
LOW6:40 p.m.-1.21 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low11 °C / 6 °C
WindNE 9 km/h, gusts 25 km/h
Pressure101.62 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset08:20 / 17:47
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~10 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bamfield
Today is the pick of the week on Bamfield, at 3 out of 5.
Best day this week: today, Nov 9 — fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.
Today, Nov 9 — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 12:08 AM-2:08 AM and 12:27 PM-2:27 PM
- Minor period
- 8:52 AM-9:52 AM
- Sun
- 08:20 to 17:47
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 29 km/h
- Rain chance
- 100%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bamfield: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Chinook (spring) salmon
BC coast: spring to late summer; Great Lakes tributaries: September and October
The biggest Pacific salmon, called spring or king on the BC coast. Feeds along the kelp lines, points and tide rips of the BC coast before running rivers in late summer; introduced to the Great Lakes, where it runs the tributaries in fall. Retention on the BC coast changes by area and by DFO fishery notice. Winter feeders on the BC coast, deep and slow, on the calm days only. In the Great Lakes, the run is over until next fall.
Coho salmon
BC coast: July to September; rivers: October and November
Silver, aggressive and surface-oriented. Feeds hard along the BC coast through summer and runs the Fraser Valley and Island rivers in fall, the Vedder and the Stamp among them. Hatchery coho are marked by a clipped adipose fin; what may be kept depends on the water and the DFO notice. Late fish in the rivers are dark and done; the coast is quiet until spring.
Pacific halibut
Spring and summer on the BC coast, under DFO limits
The big flatfish of the outer coast: Bamfield, Ucluelet, Tofino, Nootka and the north coast. Annual and daily limits and size rules are set by DFO and change during the season. Out of season or unfishable weather.
Lingcod
Spring to fall, with a winter closure in many areas
Open now Closes Nov 16, 2026. Outside waters are open to rockfish and lingcod 1 April to 15 November; lingcod 3 a day, 65 cm minimum. Rockfish Conservation Areas, and the permanent finfish closure in the Broken Group, are closed to all finfishing. Rule as read from Fisheries and Oceans Canada on 2026-09-27.
The toothy reef fish of the BC coast, on rock piles and pinnacles. Limits and closures vary by DFO management area. Closed in many areas for the nesting season.
Pink salmon
Late summer, mainly in odd-numbered years in the south
The smallest and most numerous Pacific salmon. In the south of BC the big runs come in odd-numbered years; the fish crowd the estuaries and the lower rivers in August and September. Out of season.
When to come: the Bamfield calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Chinook (spring) salmon
Coho salmon
Pacific halibut
Lingcod
Pink salmon
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 10 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bamfield today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 12 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 13 °C, wind to 32 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 39 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 14 °C, wind to 39 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
BC freshwater fishing licence, from C$11.43 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy → In salt water you also need the federal BC Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence.
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by BC Freshwater Fishing and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the British Columbia licence page before you keep anything. The zone-by-zone seasons and limits are on British Columbia fishing seasons.
Access
The DFO tidal licence and the salmon conservation stamp apply, and each halibut kept must be recorded on the licence immediately.
About this water
Bamfield is a coastal town in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Bamfield: the full guide
Fishing Bamfield
Bamfield is the small community on the east side of Barkley Sound, a short way north of Pachena Bay, the northern trailhead of the West Coast Trail. Parks Canada gives the drive as about two hours on gravel logging roads from Port Alberni, or three from Duncan. Its fishing is the mouth of Barkley Sound and the open coast beyond. This report is scored for Bamfield, and its tide curve is modelled.
Species and seasons
Chinook and coho feed along the outer coast and at the mouth of the sound in summer, halibut are fished on the banks offshore, and lingcod and rockfish live on the reefs. DFO manages Barkley Sound as Area 23 and the offshore as Area 123; in 2026, beyond a line about one nautical mile (1.9 km) off the surf, chinook rules in late July were tighter than inside it.
Where to fish it
Boats fish the edges of the sound and the offshore banks on calm days, and the sheltered channels when the swell is up; the Deer Group islands on the Bamfield side give small boats some shelter. Check the notices first: from August 1 to September 30, 2026, Numukamis Bay, between Poett Nook and the San Jose Islets, was closed to finfishing, and across the sound a large part of the Broken Group Islands is permanently closed to fin-fishing.
Planning a visit
The gravel road demands care with logging traffic, so check conditions before leaving. Services in Bamfield are limited and cell coverage is patchy; Parks Canada notes an ATM at the Huu-ay-aht First Nations market and café. The West Coast Trail closes each year from October 7 to April 30, and in summer hikers share the town with anglers.
The water through the year
Summer is the season for salmon and halibut; the rest of the year belongs to the weather, with Pacific storms through the winter. In 2026 DFO kept halibut open coast-wide to December 31, but after the fall gales begin, few days are calm enough to reach the offshore banks from here.
Reading this report here
The tide panel is a modelled curve, not the official prediction, which comes from the Canadian Hydrographic Service. On the open coast the swell and wind decide whether you go out at all.
Licence, access and rules
The DFO tidal licence and the salmon conservation stamp apply, and each halibut kept must be recorded on the licence immediately. Rockfish released from a boat must be returned to the depth they came from with a descending device or an inverted weighted barbless hook, a condition of the licence. Area 23 and 123 rules are in the DFO Fishery Notices.
Common questions
How do I get to Bamfield?
By gravel logging road, about two hours from Port Alberni or three from Duncan, according to Parks Canada.
What can I catch at Bamfield?
Chinook and coho in summer, halibut on the offshore banks, and lingcod and rockfish on the reefs, under DFO’s Area 23 and 123 rules.
Is Bamfield near the West Coast Trail?
Yes. Parks Canada’s Pachena Bay orientation centre, at the trail’s northern end, is about 5 km south of Bamfield.
Is fishing good at Bamfield right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Tide curve (modelled)
- Open-Meteo Marine, sea level height including tides
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.