Sund's Lodge

    They were calling for rain today, and we definitely got some! There was a light wind this morning as well, but it was actually quite warm, which was a pleasant surprise. The wind subsided early, though, with only light variable breezes throughout the day.

   The fishing started out pretty well for 2 of the boats fishing off of Lady Ellen, first thing this morning. Big Jim’s and Tiny Dancer’s crew’s did well right away, hooking and landing a couple of really nice chinook per boat. The action tapered off, though, and it wasn’t until mid morning when Nick’s crew got on the board again, putting a double header of dandy chinook in the box! Ken Jr.’s turned out to be the biggie of the day, topping the scale at 28lbs. That double inspired a couple of the other boats to hook up too, but except for 2 smaller chinook and a real nice halibut, the rest of the morning was dead.

   Lunch took place in the lodge due to the downpour, so the team regrouped there, and headed out for the afternoon bite. The crew on Millar’s boat probably didn’t expect the bite that they did get, as on the first pass in the kelp patch at Mitchell Bay, they hooked into the first fish of what would be many during their 3 hour session! The rain may have pushed some fish to move into the area, because there were a pile of chinook and pinks in the bay, as Bob, Jaden, and Ian took turns hooking into them! They limited out on chinook, as their boat landed 6, and got some nice pinks and a big wild coho, along the way. Awesome guys!

Walt limited on these nice chinooks, and had a really fun day.

The Ken's, Jr. and Sr. with their friend Dan, had a great morning with Cpn. Nick, which was eccentuated by a double header of big chinook off of The Lady.

Ken with the big 'en of the day, a 28lber!

These guys got their limit of nice nooks, with Heavy D.

Jack and Pete nailed these beauts with Cpn. Jim Duddridge early, at Lady Ellen Point.

King Ken is sworn in with all of his loyal subjects looking on!

Bob Matheson, Jaden and Ian got into "the best chinook bite of the year" this afternoon. What a mess of fish guys!!

Jaden had the biggest chinook on board with this 23er!

Bob Matheson caught his first halibut ever this morning. He was trolling with Cpn. Millartime at Cluxewe when they nailed this 47lber!

 

   The sales crew headed out this morning, looking to fill out their limits of salmon, and hopefully catch a few more halibut as well. Gary Bond and James Reynolds had had a couple of chances at good chinook, but both had been unlucky, being unable to bring any to the net. The short story is that they got their chinooks, and the entire group caught their limit of salmon, thanks to a good bite this morning. Top honours for the morning went to Brent McMillan, who nailed a 28lber on a plug. The fish hit the plug, was gone, and got back on, as it somehow managed to snag itself in the belly on the way by! After an epic battle of 25 minutes, the salmon succumbed to Brent’s pressure, and came to Sammy’s net. The staff of Sund’s really enjoyed this group, but everyone really missed Wally! 

Brent had a great morning, catching the largest chinbook, and one of the only 2 halibut for the morning!

Steve caught this 27lb. slab with Cpn. Bloody Nose Blake, at Lady Ellen Pt. , on Blake's last day of the year, here at Sund's!

Thomas got a nice chinook!

Greg Pass can throw this nice 15lb. chinook in his special K bag!

James and Gary finally boated a couple of nice chinook!

Millar grows out a mustache for good luck on the last morning!

   Day 2 of our sales group started out…..hungover! But the teams rallied, and everyone was down quite early, ready to fish. Unfortunately, things were slow early, but there were some fish caught before lunch.

     A few nice chinook, pinks, and a couple of sockeye were boated, before the Burger Boat crew of Terrell, Sheena, and Daniel arrived, to serve up some hot food and poetry. After lunch, most boats hit the halibut grounds, where things were slow again, but those who stuck it out were rewarded with some good flatties. Spenny’s boat worked C’N'B hard for a few hours, and caught nothing until late, when the bite came on suddenly. They were rewarded with 3 quick halibut, weighing in at 46, 34, and 24, for their limit! Nice work guys. The other boats had a few smaller halibut spread between them, but didn’t get into the bite like Spenny’s crew did.

   Meanwhile, Cpn.  Millar wanted to take his crew for salmon on the current slack, before hitting the butts. and they headed to the Beach, where they found some nice chinook feeding in the area. He was joined by Cpn. Aleksich, and Cpn. Logan, later, and some steady action was had by all of them. Millar’s crew wanted halibut, though, and each time it seemed to slow down, they would prepare to leave, and another fish would hit, and keep them there, and they never got a chance to go butt slammin’ before it was time to head back to the lodge.

   When the crews got back to the dock, the fish were weighed in, and Jason Broderick had the biggest salmon of the day,at 25lbs, until the last boat in, with David Bouwman and Paul Wang, showed up. David had hooked up, literally in the last minute, on a good chinook, and when he weighed in, his chinook took the prize by a few ounzes! 

The "flasher", worked for Millar's crew today.

Bondo and the boys nailed 'em todaY!

Sam's Crew

Lunch time on Blake's boat.

Spenny's guys really slammed the butts, but that wasn't all. A beautiful 24 lb. chinook was landed by Paul H.

T-Bone's crew got some nice ones, including the biggest chinook in the last minute!

G. Pass is excited for burgers!

David steals the glory in the last minute, with this dandy 26lber.

Jason's 25lb chinook.

G.P. with his nice chinook.

Catherine limits on chinook with Cpn. Blake.

46lb. halibut caught by Thomas T!

34lber caught by Steve!

Our burger servers, extraordinaire!

Deck time!

The B.S.T. (Bond's Speech Tally) was up to 7 from 3 the first night. By the time this blog is done, we can probably add a couple more to the list!

   The Father and Son Group from CHK has been a real blast to fish with. Our internet was down for a day, which greatly upset our resident blogger, not being able to do his/her job! I’ve compiled a collage of the last 3 days experience, here.

    Day 2 was a bit rainy, but the guys toughed it out eating hot burgers in a slight sprinkle. Our local Poetry Lady, Sheena, joined the Burger Boat, and recited poems, while she took pictures of the boats. The salmon fishing was decent, with a number of nice chinook, pink, and wild coho. There was good fishing for chicken halibut in the afternoon as well. The largest salmon of the day was caught by Mike Harris, a nice 25 lb. chinook, which he nailed on a spoon at The Slide with “T-Bone Taylor”.

    Day 3 saw very slow salmon fishing, early, but it picked up mid morning with pinks, wild coho, and a few chinook caught before lunch. The Beach Bistro was had in the Tsiuladas Islands, and the sun came out just in time. The Bistro went extremely well, with more poetry, and plenty of crab and wine to go around. After lunch, there was a tremendous salmon bite for about an hour and a half, with a lot of nice chinook and pink salmon caught. Again, the largest of the day came on Taylor’s spoon, and this time it was Brandon, who landed a beautiful 26lber off of Flower Island in the afternoon! Cpn. Sammy The Blade’s crew did well, landing 4 chinook, several pinks, and finishing off the day with 3 quick chicken halibut at the Courageous Spot.

   The last morning was again slow for chinook, early. but 3 chinook, 3 sockeye, and a few pinks were caught. Rudy caught the biggest, a 22lber, 2 minutes from our dock, amidst questioning of their guides’ choice of fishing spot, by his guests, Doug and Rudy. Cpn. Millar then explained to them that they should never question him, again. Those guys also wanted halibut, so later they tried to troll up a couple of halibut at the Pig Ranch, also 2 minutes from the dock, After a couple of passes with nothing, they stopped and jigged the Pig Ranch, in 60-65ft of water. They ended up nailing 2 beauties, a 40lber for Rudy, and a 49lber for Doug! What a way to end the trip!

   It was a real pleasure to have these guys up for 4 days, and we look forward to doing it again next year. Thanks again for making Sund’s Lodge a part of your summer vacation!

Dave Sund, the namesake of Sund's Lodge, walks in for a few days, to host these guys! Great to have you here, Dave!

Cpn. Burger and his crew.

Cpn. Millar's crew dun good!

Blake's guys were on fire on day 2!

Spenny and the guys are ready foir the next bite!

The Poetry Lady makes a special appearance on the Burger Boat.

Cpn. Logan putting his guys into some big 'ens!

Fishing at the Slide.

Heavy D, working a slab, while his guests hold him on the boat.

Blake's crew got into a couple nooks on the afternoon of day 3, after a slow morning. Nice come back guys!

Doug got some, and a chum, on day 3.

Servin' with smiles. These guys are good!

Will cleaned a crab, killed a chinook, and caught and released an octopus today. He was busy!

These guys were a ball to fish with, and they were darn good at catching fish, too!

The Orcas came into the Slide just as the bite was starting and stole all of the fish, oh well.

Beach Bistro

Jim Turner gets his first chinook ever!

Full moon over Mitchell Bay.

The Cardinal of Cod, Chase.

Ray Lees with his 23lber, caught off of Point No Point.

Brandon's 26er, the biggest of the trip!

Looks like fun......

Yummy chowder.

Nick with a 22!

Michael did well, fighting this 21lber.

Mike's 25lber, the largest of day 2.

Dale caught twin chinooks on the last morning!

Nice sockeye, Gary!

Rudy saved up all of his luck until the last morning.

Doug and Cpn. Millar with his 49lb. halibut!

   After some logistics challenges, CHK arrived, and we blasted through the orientation, going straight into Simon’s main lunch menu, and hurriedly did lisencing, and gear up. The guys loaded up on 7 boats, and spread out looking for some good salmon fishing. Sockeye salmon opened a couple of days ago, so we hunted for them, and of course, a few chinook.

Chris Lauhon was assigned to Samwise the Brave’s boat, and they headed off to the Wall, looking for some IRM’s (irregular rod movements), and they didn’t wait long, as on the first pass across the dropoff they nailed a good chinook, which Chris played and landed with skill. It was his first chinook ever, and things were looking great for the afternoon fishery. Things didn’t pan out quite as planned, though, and a few pinks, wild coho, and one small sockeye were all that the guys hooked after that initial catch.  The boys will do well tomorrow, though, the blogger has a feeling!

Chris Lauhon with his first chinook ever, a 21lber.

Isaac's nice sockeye.

"Easter" has arrived!

                                                                                                                                                                      .

   The last morning of our mixed friends trip arrived, and everyone was down to jump on the boats early. The sa;lmon weren’t biting early today, though, but an hour in, the bite came on, and quite a few chinook were caught, as well as pink, coho, and a dandy sockeye by Jeff Ostrove. Jeff was also lucky to bring in the largest chinook, which weighed in at 22lbs. We enjoyed meeting you all, and we are excited to have you here again next summer. Bye for now…..

Blair with a nice chicken halibut.

John and Jeff Book got 'em this morning.

Jeff Ostrove hangs his 22lber on the scale, beating out everyone for the "chair".

Steve, who's been hot all week, gets another nice nook!

Ken catches the chinook, again!

Tiny Dancer, in deep contemplation, preplanning his day!

The legend, Jimmy McDowell, gets busy helping out for the girls on deck!