45) Cherry Point Creek & Beach (near Cowichan River)

[John Pierce]

CHERRY POINT CREEK - ESTUARY - BEACH

GENERAL

• DFO Area 18-7.
• 10 km driving N of Mill Bay.
• Walk down to beach take curve to right and fishing further down. Water is shallow for quite a ways out.

REGULATIONS
20200725 DFO website says ocean-beach open for Pinks and Coho, and Chinook starting 20200801.

FISHING RULE-OF-THUMB

• Late July-August = Pink Salmon stage off beach before heading up nearby to north Koksilah and Cowichan Rivers.
• August-September = Coho stage off beach before heading up nearby to north Koksilah and Cowichan Rivers.

ACCESS

• Park in small 4-5 car parking lot, walk down hill to beach.
• Beach is very shallow, can walk out far.

HISTORY
20200822 Report that beach Coho fishing is good.
20200725 DennisG notes: Coho in Oct, can see surface but didn't strike.
20190920 RonE reports that Pinks at Cherry Point.
20181115: Wing-KeeC says that: At end of October BarryA was fishing for Coho off Cherry Point, the inlet into Cowichan River. You can either fish from the beach, boat or even float on your belly boat. He landed close to 70 Cohos one day. Cherry Point is in the ocean and therefore you can keep 4 bright red Cohos per day.

[John Pierce]

Following info provided by Member MikeC:

Those Coho that you can fish for from the beach at Cherry Point are the run that was created by the Cowichan Fly Fishers. They got a bunch of Coho fry from the Goldstream hatchery and released them in Shawnigan creek a number of years ago. The smolts made it downstream over the falls and into the ocean.

When the adults returned to the mouth of the creek at Mill Bay the club captured them and trucked them up to Shawnigan Creek. After a few years the run was quite large and I think it was the Cowichan Club that was able to get money and build that railway contraption thing to get the adults up the falls and then to truck them up to Shawnigan Creek again. They do this every year. GRR Member BillT reported to GRR on this effort sometime in the last couple of years.