Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Vancouver Island is one of the top vacation destinations in North America!
Vancouver Island is bigger than most people think and according to mass is about three quarters the size of Switzerland. Being about 280 miles long from tip to tip, it can not be seen in the short amount of time that many think. The width of Vancouver Island, however, is only about 30 to 50 miles in most areas. Being very mountainous it is not as easy as some may think to drive from east to west. The center of Vancouver Island is mostly mountains with the highest being almost 9000 feet above sea level.
The west coast of the island is mostly uninhabited, with the exceptions of Ucluelet and Tofino. Victoria lies at the southern tip and Ucluelet and Tofino are about half way up the island on the west side. To drive from Victoria to Ucluelet is about 4.5 to 5 hours. If you are flying up to either Victoria or Vancouver, just know that it is about the same time difference to come from either Vancouver or Victoria to Ucluelet. The benefit of coming from Victoria is that you will have a pretty drive and not have to time the ferry scedule.
Fishing Vancouver Island at the turn of the century is something many will only hear about. I have read stories of people fishing on the east side of Vancouver Island sitting in their row boat and getting tired reeling the fish in.
Although we will probably never see fishing like that again, you can experience fishing out of Ucluelet where you can't let your line down with out getting a fish on right away and this type of fishing can happen all day—not just on the bite time.
West Coast
Many areas on the east side of Vancouver Island such as Campbell River used to be very good but have seen major decline in the last 10 years. Many of the salmon now migrate to the west coast to areas such as Ucluelet and that means great fishing for all who come out there. While the west coast is more rugged, it does offer some fishing that is very rewarding. Not only can you get a tub of fish very quickly, you can also see the Gray, Humpback and Orca whales.
While many would think that the whales would probably scare the fish—the opposite is often true. While Orca whales love salmon, the Gray and Humpback whales don't seem to have any impact on the fishing as they prefer the baitfish instead. Sometimes you will be fishing and all of a sudden see the spray of a whale while it is feeding. This is often a sign of large bait around and can mean the fish are feeding close by.