Sund's Lodge

The good news continues to come in:  the fish are here!  And like we blogged about a while ago, this is definitely great news compared to the slow runs of the past 2 summers.  We’ve caught all 5 species of salmon so far and the coho and chinook fishing has been fantastic.  Check out the group shot- that is a serious load of fish!  Guests enjoyed the Burger Boat today- catching salmon all morning and halibut in the afternoon.  Big salmon of the day honors went to both Cari Larrabure and Joey Esposito (27 pounds each).  Big halibut of the day honors (37 pounds) went to Shauna Maus.  The Maus family and friends are having a ball!

Cari with part 1 of big fish of the day honors

Joey with big fish part 2

Shauna with hali of the day

The Maus Party arrived to sunny skies and more flat seas.  This really has been a beautiful patch of weather we are in.  Fishing wasn’t fantastic but big fish were hit.  Just before our boats began at Cracroft one of our local friends put a salmon in the box near 40 pounds- nice to see some of the big hogs in the system!  Chris from LA got his first BC salmon and the fish of the day honors went to Mick.  Although he is normally coaching USC volleyball, he clearly can handle his own on a fishing rod too!  Way to go Mick!

Mick with fish of the day

Chris' first BC salmon

Malletas take a swim!

Another gorgeous day.  Strong fishing continued for chinook and coho salmon.  Blakes boat, with the Johnstons and Waltners, had quite a day with all guests limiting on Chinook.  Anne had the big fish of the day at 27 pounds and one of the biggest of the trip.  Sam’s boat, in addition to a limit of chinook, also caught over 15 big coho that they caught and released.  The fishing just continues to wow and impress.  At this point these are the strongest runs of fish we have seen in several seasons.  It all makes for happy guests and happy guides!  The Beach Bistro was held at Lizard Point and was a glorious one.  After fishing, Tom, Matt and Tommie Malleta braved teh cold waters with the Polar Bear Plunge…it was a fast trip back to the hot tub after that!

Anne's 27 pounder- the fish of the day

Capt. Blakes boat

Way to go Tommy! Caught this 25 pounder all by yourself!

Another gorgeous day on the Inside Passage!  Flat seas greeted our guests today and the sunshine was glorious.  A beautiful day for the Burger Boat!  Daryl Cronzy from Going Fishing TV show bagged this tyee (31 pounder) on Malcolm Point with Captain Geoff.  Every other boat landed big chinooks, tons of big & bright Cohos, and even some nice halibut in the afternoon.  If fishing stays like this, it is going to be one of our best salmon runs in recent history!  Keep ‘em coming!

Cronzy's Tyee!

A great day for the Mallettas Family!

Anthony and Michael share a father and son moment

Day 1 from a new group from all around North America.  The rain started this morning and hasn’t let off as of this evening.  Fishing tapered off this afternoon with only Bob Johnson scoring a big fish off of Flower Island.  In the morning however, before most of the guests had arrived, the crew from Goin’ Fishing Television had a great fish off of Malcolm Point with numerous chinooks and limits of coho.  Anthony and Michael, from Kelowna BC and friends of the show, had a great fishing session with Captain Nick. 

Bob J with big fish of the day

Anthony and Michael with their morning haul

A fabulous week came to a close on a calm and cloudy Monday morning after one of the most fabulous thunder and lightning showers we have ever experienced (photos to follow when we get them).  Guests fished this morning expecting showers but got only cool fog and glassy seas.  The hot fishing cooled as well, with several boats going without many fish.  Eugene and Gale Bautch each caught a nice chinook and Eugene got himself into the big fish chair for the first time of the trip.  For Eugene, it was an awesome trip.  They booked this trip through Cabelas Adventures over a year ago as a reward for Eugene’s retirement after 30 years as a police officer in Wisconsin.  They had a fabulous trip- as did all of our guests during this special trip.  Now the staff takes the afternoon to get ready for the next batch of guests arriving tomorrow!  No rest for the weary!

Eugene and Gale smiling proudly with their morning catch

Sunday was just a fantastic finish to an amazing fishing weekend.  Once again at the top of the island limits of coho and springs were caught.  The coho fishing in places is so thick it is hard to get lines through the fish.  At the other side of the island, fishing for chinooks was solid with Roland and the Film Crew from Nice Fish TV getting 4 nice chinooks between 18-25 pounds.  Roland was in heaven because 3 of the fish were hooked on a 12 weight fly rod and Roland got to play 3 of 4 fish.  At the Beach Bistro he looked at Scot and said, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!”  The Spiller Family had a great day with Captain Sammy, getting 4 nice chinooks and a nice coho and spent the afternoon whale watching and doing the nature tour through our local waters.  Calm weather, sunny skies, good fishing- we’ll take it!  A fabulous week at Sund’s Lodge comes to a close.

Kallin's 26 pounder was the big one of the day

Roland fights a 25 pounder with a 12 weight fly rod

Team Spiller

Vanessa had big hali of the day honors with this dandy 30 pounder.

Tim Wilsey with his limit of springs

It is late- almost 10:30 pm- and this blogger should be sleeping!  It was an epic day today.  More cohos were caught off Malcolm Island than we have seen in a long time.  In each area our 5 boats were spread out through, massive bait schools brought feeding cohos and chinooks.  Several boats limited on chinook and the film crew from Gary Cooper’s Nice Fish released 3 chinooks all in the high teen- low 20′s range.  Geoff’s boat alone landed 9 chinooks and 15 coho.  Guests then tried their hand at halibut fishing and Vanessa bagged a 30 pound hali.  The seas were calm, the sun was shining, and from dawn until mid afternoon it was a steady call of “Fish On!”

Enjoy the pics!

Eugene from Wisconsin with his first mid 20's Sund's Chinook

Geoff''s boat- 9 springs, 15 coho, 1 hali

Kevin Tidd with big fish of the day honors with a 28 pounder!

The Spillers having a great time!

Guests arrived today from Alberta, British Columbia, Maryland,  Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Mexico.  A very diverse group!  Fishing was a bit slow on the salmon end but the TV crew from Nice Fish TV (http://www.nicefish.tv/) got 4 halibut to start filming a show with.  Big fish of the day honors went to Andrew Wilsey, 14, who got this 19 pound Chinook off the Wall with Captain Jim.

Andrew Wilsey with big fish of the day

Scott Sund and Gary Cooper- want to know why Scott is soaking wet? You'll have to watch the episode when it airs!

It was one of those days you remember later in the summer.  The forecast called for wind and so the plan was to catch some salmon, go out and limit out on halibut and come in and catch some more salmon.  After that?  Perhaps whale watch!  Guess what, in the first few hours we got into some good chinook action with Ella getting a 26 and Scott’s boat getting a 23 and 21 and lots of coho all around.  Then out to the halibut grounds where Paul nailed this 43 pounder and the Johnston Crew limited on halis in less than an hour.  We finished the morning session by running into a pod of Orca whales as we headed to the Beach Bistro.  The wind never came up and more fish were caught in the afternoon and the whale watchers saw Humpback wahles, newborn seals, fed 3 bald eagles, and evevn stopped at Telegraph Cove to visit the Whale Bone Museum and have a coffee!  Does that sound like a great day or what?  Add in blue bird skies and mellow winds and it all just seemed like a treat!

Paul Johnston with the 2nd biggest halibut of the summer

The Lucky Boat with 4 haliubt and 4 big salmon