Has anyone ever fished the mouth of the Englishman River this time of year ? I went there the other day and no one was there and didnt see any fish on the sonar either. I made one pass in about 130 ' of water and then went back to Gerald. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions for fishing here ( depth, tactics, etc.)

Without the large hatcheries there is not the numbers that the qualicums have to support a fishery like over there. Also the rivers runs are in rough shape so best left alone IMHO.

I was kind of thinking that but wasnt sure what to think of it - thanks for the heads up on that.

I took a walk along the Top Bridge area of the Englishmen last November... Didn't see a single salmon carcass and spotted only one salmon swimming (I think it was a chum). It's a shame they don't have a hatchery on that river, we could use a few more salmon in the strait.

There is a pretty good run earlier on - I havent been there yet this year to look in the water along the estuary but I have seen a lot of salmon of various species (chum, coho and pinks) all in the water below the bridge in Sept. There was a guy fishing in their last year when I stopped and he had 3 or 4 fish and was all proud of it. I asked if he noticed that no one esle was fishing there and he said yes - I said that because its closed to fishing and then he thought it was time to leave. It s nice river and a hatchery would be great in there. The esutary is a gem as well.

the volunteers who run the Englishman River hatchery and maintain the spawning channel might be a little offended by the last couple posts...

I was thinking there was a hatchery up there I have seen it on a bicycle ride one day but didnt know if it was active. I am glad to know now that it is active and good on them for their work. No offense intended - just getting educated on these things. It might be a good idea for them to post the river downstream to keep anglers out of there too.

I meant they dont have the resources of a large hatch like the Qualicums, nitnat, stamp ect. There efforts are rewarded with small runs but none the less much appreciated! Heck craig bay has a tiny tiny creek(ditch) with a hatch. Pretty cool to see.

Ive been fishing in the area for over 35 years and have very rarely seen anyone jig or troll out front of the Englishman and for many years in the past becauce of its poor rating ( second worst river for any fish in BC) was closed outfront as well as in the river it self. Because of recent work by stream keepers and other groups it has made a very good recovery and it should be somewhere you could jig or troll and have good success. Case in point is little craig creek to the south off madrona point . For many years I and others would go down to cast off the point and it was not unusuall to get 2-3 fish a night over a 2-3 week period. This river had a return of less than a feww hundred some years and fish were still caught.
Try going down to the orange bridge in Parksville and I'd be suprised if you didnt see several hundred fish every night right under the bridge. Ive seen thousands heading up over the last few years.

fishing there this past weekend caught some nice silver coho. also caugh a nice clipped hatchery as well. the guy i was with said they don't clip them in the englishmen can anyone tell me if that is true? the river had alot of fish in it, saw people pulling in a couple of nice spring as well. the people at the hatchery are doing a great job!!!