Near the end of the Port Alberni Inlet, Port Alberni provides easy access to all the hot fishing spots along the inlet to Barkley Sound. The Alberni Inlet provides nearly 15 miles of calm water for trolling from the city of Port Alberni to Haggard’s Cove. This opens up the gateway to Barkley Sound. The Port Alberni Inlet sees over one million salmon swim through its waters each year. These waters have Vancouver Island’s largest salmon return. These salmon leave the inlet and then enter the Stamp and Somas Rivers.

Barkley Sound is part of the migration route of over one million annually returning salmon. Barkley Sound is well known for it’s large numbers of Coho and Chinook that return annually. New schools of fish come into this area daily, which guarantees that the area does not get over fished. These salmon feed heavily on bait fish before entering the Port Alberni Inlet heading towards the Stamp and Somas Rivers.

Sockeye Fishing

– The Sockeye fishing season begins in early June in the Port Alberni Inlet and runs till the middle of August. Sockeye Salmon gather in large schools, so it is not uncommon to have two, three, or four fish on your lines at the same time. For one of the best tasting salmon, Sockeye are fabulous on the summer barbecue.

Chinook/King Fishing

– The Chinook or King fishing season starts in June with feeder Chinook coming in from the West Coast of Vancouver Island to feed in Barkley Sound. In early August, the larger 25 to 40 pound Chinook make there way into Barkley Sound, the Port Alberni Inlet, and finally into the Stamp and Somas River system in mid-September. Port Alberni hosts a Labor Day Weekend Salmon fishing derby. Large Chinook are in abundance in the Port Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound at this time.

Coho/Silver Fishing

– Large schools of Coho Salmon arrive in Barkley Sound during the last week to two weeks of August, and continue to enter Barkley Sound and the Alberni Inlet daily. There are large returns of over 100,000 Coho Salmon into the Port Alberni Inlet and Stamp and Somas River systems through October.