🎣 Fishing Conditions
📍 No location🌊 Current Conditions
📅 7-Day Forecast
📊 Historical Data
Ucluelet fishing & marine conditions
The Ucluelet tide station sits at the entrance to Barkley Sound on the exposed west coast of Vancouver Island. It serves as a reference for the surrounding open coast, where the tidal range is larger than in the sheltered waters east of the island. It sits on the boundary between genuinely oceanic water and the sheltered network of Barkley Sound behind it.
What runs here, and when
Chinook and coho move along the coast in summer and autumn, and halibut are taken on the offshore banks. The Somass sockeye return into Alberni Inlet is the major summer event in the adjoining inside water. Bottom fish are taken on the deeper offshore ground.
Local hazards
Pacific swell reaching the entrance is the main hazard and it is independent of local wind. Swell steepens over the banks near the entrance, and an ebb tide against it worsens conditions substantially. Fog is common through the summer months. There is no shelter once offshore.
Tides, current and sea state
Tidal range on this coast is greater than on the inside, and the combination of tide state and swell determines conditions at the entrance. Plan the entrance for a flood or slack when a significant swell is running. Inside Barkley Sound, conditions moderate quickly and the tide matters more for the shallow passages than for sea state.
Live data on this page
Conditions above are for 48.942°N, 125.546°W. Wind, wave and pressure data come from Open-Meteo and refresh every three hours; tide predictions come from the Canadian Hydrographic Service station 08595. The fishing score combines wind, wave height, barometric trend, moon phase, tide movement and time of day.
Marine forecast & warnings
Ucluelet lies in Environment and Climate Change Canada's West Coast Vancouver Island South marine forecast zone.
⚠ Gale warning in effect for West Coast Vancouver Island South, issued Sunday November 01, 2026 at 04:00 PCT.
ECCC reissues the forecast through the day and can post a warning at any hour, so the Marine Forecast panel above carries the current wind, visibility and multi-day outlook word for word. It describes the open water of the zone, not a particular bay inside it, and is no substitute for the VHF or weatheradio broadcast.
Regulations
Ucluelet lies in DFO Pacific Area 23. Openings, closures and limits change in-season and differ between subareas, so check the DFO Area 23 recreational fishing page before you go. Nothing on this page is a substitute for the current regulations, official charts, or the marine forecast.
As of November 1, 2026, eleven closure areas are in effect in DFO Pacific Area 23, among them Pacific Rim National Park, Coeur d'Alene Creek and Effingham Inlet West. Salmon limits for the area: chinook 2 per day; chum non retention in 23, 4 per day in 123; coho 4 per day in 23-1 to 23-3, 2 per day in 23-4 to 23-11, 2 per day in 123; pink non retention in 23, 4 per day in 123; sockeye 4 per day in 23, non retention in 123.
Read from the DFO Area 23 page, last updated 2026-11-01. See the full Area 23 regulations for every closure and limits table, or the Fishery Notices for changes newer than that date.