The Beach Bistro day was slow in general, but sunny, calm weather, soime good sized chinook and halibut, and a darn good sandwich, served in style, made the day!
With four boats heading out in the morning, the guides decided to spread out again this morning. Cpn. Millartime headed up to Lady Ellen Pt. and the Cluxewe River mouth for chinook and halibut with guests, Bud Carter and Rick Stephenson. They were fast into a really nice chinook on the cutplug and Rollie Blade combo, which Bud played skillfully to the net, a 22lber. After that, there was a very long lull, but just as they were leaving to join Cpn. Shaun “Bergenheim” Vanderberg in Mitchell Bay, they were pleasantly surprised with a perfect halibut, on the above said combo. I say “perfect” because the twosome had 3/4 of their limit, and needed one more for the trip, and were hoping for a 25-30 lb. range fish to fill out their limit. Rick got a 26lber which was also his largest ever! They joined Shuan in Mitchell Bay, and first pass in the kelp patch, Rick fought and boated a high teen chinook. After lunch, they did a nice nature tour at Swanson Island, washing their baits in clean, calm waters, and sunny skies!
Cpn. “Ghandi “Vanderberg took his guests, who special requested him from the day before, the Dennis’ and the Mills’, to Mitchell Bay, on a tip from Dave Sund. Fishing was slow, but they ground out a couple of Mitchell Bay slabs and a nice sockeye. Charlie hit a 26lber for the biggest of the day! We paid tribute to Pope Charlie the First at the dinner table.
Not to be forgotten were the Meyers, Karen and Bob. After a slow morning, they managed to land a low 20′s chinook down deep off of Nowhere with Cpn. “Su”Spencer Horning before lunch. They went for some bottomfish in the afternoon, and were rewarded for their efforts with a 26lb. halibut, a giant quillback rockfish, and an even more impressive 17lb. Yelloweye rockfish! Great work.
What can I say about the Mathews “Boys”? Cpn. Jim “The Wolfman” Duddridge was having none of it when, suddenly, the boys cried out that they had spied a mammal running the beaches of Malcolm Island! They claimed to have seen one of the elusive and notorious “Golden Wolves”, which Cpn. Millar had told of the day before. Cpn. Jim has not, and probably never will, live down the incident last year when he spotted a golden retreiver on the beach at Swanson Island and mistook it for a wolf. Soon after he announced it on the radio, a couple came out of the woods, and started throwing sticks to the “wolf”. But Jim knows how to find the fish, and he did just that, putting Dave, and Steve, into 24lb. and 13lb. chinook, respectively. Pete, again, wanted to let people know that he, as the youngest, is not just the best, but the most congenial of the family, letting his older brothers catch the fish today, instead of embarassing them again, by boating the biggest fish. What a hero!
It's not a tyee, but at least he didn't have to jump in the water!
A lodge record for the fattest halibut!
Bud and Rick with their catch.
The crew stands behind Cecilia and Charlie's fine catch.
The Pope receives his blessing!
Karen with her largest of the season Yelloweye Rockfish.
Nice catch!
These guys are good!
Good times!
Holy Shnikies, the camera work is off the charts here! dave's 24lber looks 40!
Simon! Don't jump!!
Sharon gets a lift.
The crowd is in awe of the crab demonstration.
Crab Demo
Pete tries to take this one home!
These guys are "kind of Big Deals" around here.
Rick and Bud welcome you to the Beach Bistro.
