Port Alberni Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
Port Alberni at the head of the Alberni Inlet: Somass sockeye by DFO notice, chinook and coho in the inlet, and the Stamp River above the town.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 11:20 a.m. model
Air / High
4 °C / 11 °C
Wind
S 3 km/h
Sources: modelled tide curve, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Port Alberni is in its winter rhythm: slow, deep and around the brightest hours. Today brings cloud cover, wind S around 3 km/h, rising pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 11 °C. Tides: high 11:20 a.m., low 5:19 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 12:07 AM-2:07 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 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: 12:07 AM-2:07 AM, 12:26 PM-2:26 PM, 8:53 AM-9:53 AM. Warmer 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 Port Alberni today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (08:20), sunset (17:45), 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 12:07 AM-2:07 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 PM; minor 8:53 AM-9:53 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 the nearest sea cell of the model, 49.18, -124.84, 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
LOW5:19 a.m.-0.22 m
HIGH11:20 a.m.1.87 m
LOW6:08 p.m.-1.34 m
Tue
HIGH12:43 a.m.1.32 m
LOW5:56 a.m.0.03 m
HIGH11:52 a.m.1.91 m
LOW6:42 p.m.-1.19 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp4 °C
High / Low11 °C / 4 °C
WindS 3 km/h, gusts 3 km/h
Pressure101.69 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 99%
Sunrise / Sunset08:20 / 17:45
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~10 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Port Alberni
Today is the pick of the week on Port Alberni, 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
- 12:07 AM-2:07 AM and 12:26 PM-2:26 PM
- Minor period
- 8:53 AM-9:53 AM
- Sun
- 08:20 to 17:45
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Rain, 14 km/h
- Rain chance
- 99%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Port Alberni: 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.
Sockeye salmon
Summer, only when DFO opens a fishery
The Fraser and Skeena salmon, prized and tightly managed. Recreational sockeye fisheries open only by DFO notice in years when the run allows; many years they stay closed. Out of season.
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.
When to come: the Port Alberni 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
Sockeye salmon
Pacific halibut
Lingcod
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 Port Alberni 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 13 °C, wind to 26 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 14 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Coho salmon led the card at good. High of 15 °C, wind to 31 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 inlet is tidal water: it needs the DFO tidal waters sport fishing licence, with the salmon conservation stamp to keep salmon, and barbless hooks for salmon.
About this water
Port Alberni is a coastal town in British Columbia, Canada, covered from the British Columbia reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Port Alberni: the full guide
Fishing Port Alberni
Port Alberni sits at the head of the Alberni Inlet, the long arm of salt water that reaches inland from Barkley Sound, where the Somass River, formed by the Stamp and the Sproat, meets the tide. Salmon returning to the Somass system move up the inlet through summer and fall, and the town fishes for them from boats in the inlet and from the river banks above the tidal boundary. The report on this page is scored for the city, with a modelled tide curve for the nearest sea cell of the model, a few kilometres down the inlet from the harbour.
Species and seasons
Sockeye bound for the Somass are the headline run. DFO opens the recreational sockeye fishery by notice after a pre-season forecast and reviews it with weekly in-season assessments; in 2026 the Area 23 opening took effect on 1 May. Chinook and coho follow later in the season, and each salmon species has its own status in Area 23, with some set to non-retention for part of the year. Halibut, lingcod and rockfish are fished further down the inlet and out in the sound.
Where to fish it
Boats work the inlet from the harbour down toward the sound, but the water nearest the town has closures of its own. The tidal Somass and part of Alberni Harbour are closed to finfishing every night from 22:00 to 05:00, the pool below the Paper Mill Dam is closed from 1 May to 30 September, and in 2026 DFO also closed Uchucklesit Inlet and part of the Alberni Inlet to all finfish from 30 June to 31 October. Salmon in the tidal Somass may only be fished with a hook that has one point.
Planning a visit
Port Alberni is on Highway 4, the road across Vancouver Island to Ucluelet and Tofino. Above the town, the Stamp River is fresh water under the provincial synopsis: it is closed near Stamp Falls from 15 June to 15 November, under a bait ban all year above Girl Guide Falls, and under a summer bait ban below them. The Somass is closed from the tidal boundary at the Paper Mill Dam to about a kilometre upstream from 25 August to 15 November.
The water through the year
The inlet follows its runs: sockeye early in the summer, chinook and coho through late summer and fall, and winter steelhead in the rivers when the rain raises them. The harbour rules move more than once a year, and for October 2026 DFO listed further stretches of the lower Somass as closed to all finfish, so the date on the notice matters as much as the place.
Reading this report here
The tide panel shows a modelled curve for the head of the inlet, labelled as a model; the official times are published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Wind channelled along a narrow inlet can build quickly in the afternoon, so the forecast wind carries real weight in the score, with pressure and cloud adding the rest.
Licence, access and rules
The inlet is tidal water: it needs the DFO tidal waters sport fishing licence, with the salmon conservation stamp to keep salmon, and barbless hooks for salmon. The Stamp and Somass above the tidal boundary need a BC freshwater licence, the non-tidal salmon surcharge to keep salmon and the steelhead surcharge to fish for steelhead; salmon limits there are also set by DFO notice, such as FN1013 for coho from 19 September 2026. Current notices are on the DFO Fishery Notices site and its 24-hour line, 1-866-431-3474.
Common questions
When is the sockeye run at Port Alberni?
The Somass sockeye come through in early summer. DFO decides the recreational fishery each year by notice; in 2026 the Area 23 opening took effect on 1 May, with later closures in parts of the inlet.
What rivers are near Port Alberni?
The Somass, formed by the Stamp and the Sproat, which meets the salt water at the town; each river has its own entry in the Region 1 synopsis.
Do I need two licences at Port Alberni?
Yes, if you fish both: a DFO tidal licence for the inlet and harbour, and a BC freshwater licence, with surcharges where needed, above the tidal boundary.
Is fishing good at Port Alberni 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
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=3597
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=3527
- notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=3675
- web.archive.org/web/20260618021456/https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp
- www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/sports-recreation-arts-and-culture/outdoor-r
- 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.