Early August - shore based vancouver island - where to find a guide and fly shops

[dogtooth]

Greetings,

I've been browsing a bit though this forum and have found lots of good information, but now have a few specific questions of my own, and hoping to get some guidance.

Between doing some fishing out of Ucluelet, I will have 5 weekdays to burn on my own on Vancouver island in early august. I have had an itch for a long time to cast for salmon from the beach. I assume that the East cost beaches focusing on Pinks would be the best bet. I'll have a car, and fly gear, etc. So three questions:

1. Where would be a good place to set up a home base, or should I take the tour approach?

2. I would like to hire a guide for the first day to show me the ropes for this fishery- somebody willing to help me learn the techniques of this fishery is what I need (not casting lessons, or some guy who shows me the fish but rarely says a word). Any recommendations?

3. Flyshops I should visit and support. I saw Nile Creek, but are there others?

Thanks!

[herkileez]

In addition to Nile Creek, there is a good run of beaches from Saratoga, to Willow Point and Rotary Beach right in Campbell River.
These are all w/in a 20 min radius of each other. Also, Eve River estuary is a 1 1/2 hr drive north of CR. Best beach fishing would be the last 2 hrs of a high tide, so you could tour by these areas and watch for jumpers (and/or fishermen). Shops to visit, in addition to Nile Creek Fly Shop(which is the best) are Gone Fishin (Courtenay), Tyee Marine (Courtenay & CR) and River Sportsman (CR). If you want to go the guide route, any one of them can give you some names.
As well, the Campbell River should be packed with pinks that can be fished anytime of the day while awaiting beach peak tides.
Hope this helps.

[11th Warrior]

I'll second everything Herkileez said with a couple of small additions/exceptions.

The addition: The owner of Nile Creek is himself a very knowledgeable guide on this fishery. Give him a call (super nice guy). Stop into the shop if you get a chance. Face to face contact is always better.

The exception is fishing the Campbell during a large pink run. The Quinsam is a tributary of the Campbell and if you don't like fishing shoulder-to-shoulder on the Campbell, give the Quinsam a try. It runs right through the campground which is often my base of operations at this time of year. Most days you'll have it to yourself except on weekends where you might have to share it with a few other guys.

[dogtooth]

Thanks for the replies- a great help! Working on my plan now. Folks on this board are very generous.