Sund's Lodge

   The final morning was a real good one, weatherwise, and almost everyone got up early for the final chance at some fish. All of the boats headed west this morning, to fish Ledge and Lady Ellen Pt. A friend of ours had caught a big fish there the day before, and it seems like there is always a big fish or two lurking around that area at this time of the year. Cpn. Spenny had his first line in the water hammered for the second morning in a row, and Scott Smith expertly reeled in a nice thirteener. Several nice coho were biting for the first hour or so, as well, and 2 of them were clipped, allowing us to take ‘em, which was a nice bonus. Tom Compton caught a 7lb. hatchery coho with “Tiny Dancer”, and Bob Fankhauser landed a 9lber with Spencer. A dandy sockeye was caught by Nick O’Connell, and some nice Fraser pinks were still biting. Some smaller local guys were showing up, too, like the 1 1/2 pounder taken on Spencer’s boat, which is the smallest salmon brought into our docks in a long time, probably several years! Nice work.

   The group of guests that came in for the Food and Fishing Trip this year were great. They brought the right “mix” of fun, and genuine interest in the area, the fishing, and the food program, that John, Andrew, Simon, and Terrell, put on for us this year. They brought the right ingredients for a successful trip(I tried Sheena)!

Marshall and the South Dakota groupies!

Nick had a nice surprise when he brought in this fine sockeye.

Bob lands a rare hatchery coho!

Tom is beaming with this nice coho!

Scott's chinook was the only keeper of that species that was brought in.

Skillet sized pink will be a nice snack for someone!

   Something strange was happening as we picked up our new arrivals at noon today. The air was moving from the west, at a faster rate than we have seen all summer up to this point. So much so, that it was causing a disturbance on the surface of the water that made boating or fishing quite unfeasible. It was windy, so we got everyone safely back to the lodge, and did a thorough orientation. We are doing a theme trip this week called Food and Fishing, with special guests, Chef John Sundstrom, and organic farmer, Andrew Stout, joining us to do some special presentations on food. Everyone had a great time around the lodge, bike riding, hiking, and general relaxation. Tomorrow we fish!!!!!!

   The last morning was a slow one, with only a few fish caught. Nice coho were hitting off of the backside, but the bite was short lived, and it went quiet for a couple of hours. A bit of a bite was starting just as they had to head in. Peter caught and released a nice teener chinook, just as it was time to leave. Reid Myers picked up a 17lber with Cpn. Jim just before that, and Randy and Colin hit 2 quick pinks, right at closing time. Spenny’s crew wanted halibut, and it was fairly slow, but they managed to pick up a 15lber, and a couple of quillback rockfish. 

Peter releasaed this nice teener!

Jim had fun with the Myers!

These pinks are on their way to the prairies.

   Day 2 was an awesome day on the water! Fishing started out slow in the morning, but tapered up from there.  The weather was great again, and the wildlife was spectacular.

   Cpn. Shaun took Anne-Marie and Peter up to Bond Sound for a fun flyfishing adventure. They had good action with the pink salmon there, and had a good-sized coho on briefly, before long line releasing it. Anne-Marie picked up a real nice cutthroat, as well, which are hard to pick out amongst the many salmon at this time of year. Sounds like fun! Sam, Spenny,and Jim took their guests to Lady Ellen Pt. in the morning, where action was fairly slow early, but picked up as the morning progressed. Cpn. Madman Millar had his guests fishing in Mitchell Bay, where they had a bit of success, including Don’s 13lb. chinook. The Burger Boat came around, with guest boat captain, “Big Wave” Dave Sund, and they quickly had everyone munching on leftovers from the previous night. Everything tastes better on the water (kind of like camping), so the stale food wasn’t too bad.

   After lunch, everyone went off in different directions, looking for their intended quarry. Jim Duds took the Cureton’s and the Jebson’s for more salmon, taking them into a little nook of his, where they smashed a ton of pinks, and limited out, and were only a few minutes late this time! Cpn. Millartime took his crew, John, Don, and Alexis, to the Beach, where they got into some great action, landing all five species of salmon, a very rare feat! Alexis caught the largest salmon of the day there, but unfortunately, it had to be released, due to being a wild coho. After they caught their salmon, they went for a short jigging session, looking for flatfish. As they were heading to the spot, a pod of Orcas interrupted their trip, passing right through their path! When they finally made it to the first spot, they stopped and dropped gear, before noticing that they were surrounded by Humpback Whales. There were 5 of them, all surrounding the boat in different directions! With no success there, Millar moved to another spot, and instead of finding halibut, they found more whales. This time it was a lone Minke whale, and a small pod of Dall’s Porpoise, that passed by! Sam and Spenny took their crew for butts in the afternoon, too. They headed west, and though the fishing was slow, they managed to pick up a couple of fish. All in all, it was a fun-filled day, and we are looking forward to even better things tomorrow!

Alan caught this chinook with Cpn. Jim at the "Lady".

Alexis caught and released this hawg coho!

Don's 13lber came out of Mitchell Bay, early.

Grand slam! 5 species of salmon for this crew today. Way to go!

Anne-Marie caught this pink, amongst many others, on the fly!

Fishing the shores of Bond Sound.

Ahta River pink

Peter holds his pink outta the Ahta!

Heaven!

What a slaughter fest!

Tom got one of the few chinook today.

Reid has a small butt in his hand.

Randy cuaght the 2 biggest keepers today, a 15lb. nook, and this halibut hung on the hook!

These guys selfishly caught the biggest fish, again!

Randy's turn.

Burgenheim, the master fly fisher returns!

Twins!

The weather forecast for today called for sun and light winds on our Beach Bistro day. Sounded perfect, and it turns out the forecast was pretty dead on, as around noon the marine layer broke, allowing the suns rays to get through to us out on the water. A slight breeze came up, but in general, it was a pretty ideal August day.

Fishing remained active as most boats had steady hits from pinks, with a few coho and chinook mixed in. Lady Ellen seemed to be back on today, and White Beach Pass produced again today. Cpn. “Smokie” Horning took his guests to the north shore of Malcolm, for the first time in at least a week, and he found some decent action there, with pinks and the odd chinook, too. The boats at Lady Ellen Pt. had good action early, which tapered off for a couple of hours, but came back on as they fished up to the high tide. White Beach produced for Cpn. “Mr. Chinook” Logan, again, when he took Rich and Carol Capps there today. They caught a nice 19lber early, and after the picnic, picked up a double header of Nooks weighing in at 19 and 21lbs! What a day, especially when you add several nice pinks, coho, and a big halibut that eluded them, late in  the day.  A couple of the boats headed to some halibut grounds this afternoon, and 5 nice halibut came in, with Sandra Davis catching the largest, right at the last minute, with Cpn. Spenny, which weighed in at 44lbs! The last morning could be when we finally get a tyee on this trip, as the chinook seem to be making their way back into the area in numbers. Wish us luck!

Another teener for Joe.

Sandra bagged the largest halibut of the trip at the last second today!

Tom hammered this chinook at the very end of the morning at Lady Ellen point.

Sam's guys got 'em today!

The twins get similar catches.

Jim poses with the Goemans guys.

Greg and his "tyee" pink!

What a crew!

Taylor pulled out his private stash of dynamite, today!

The Goemans guys were a lot of fun!

Posted in 2011 Season at Sunds, Chinook Salmon Fishing, Inside Passage Beauty | Comments Off