Cpn. Millartime had the morning off, recently, and instead of catching up on some precious sleep, he went fishing. He had rigged up his custom made 13’6″ spey rod to fish off of the downrigger, and headed just a couple of minutes from the lodge, where he hooked into a real beauty!
33lb. chinook, hooked and landed by Geoff Millar, at Coho Point, on his spey rod!
The guys from Ontario had the right idea this morning. Get out there early, as often, the big ones bite at dawn. They couldn’t have been more right today, as their skippers, Scott”Top Dog” Sund, and Sam “Tastic” Carlberg, were the first boats off the dock. Some of the other boats were still running to the fishing grounds, when both of their boats hooked into what would be the 2 biggest chinook of the day! Blair Haley, who had been a tad snakebit the day before, was the first guy down to the docks in the morning. He, and his good buddy Shawn Evans, jumped on with Sam, and they headed to, where else, Point No Point for the early bite. Sammy’s Herrovy hammered off, and the fight was on. A great fight that ended in the net, just as Cpn. Millartime pulled in beside them to drop gear. She weighed in at the dock, right on 34lbs!
Meanwhile, the second part of team Ontario, who were second off the dock, hooked up, and Egon Beiler hauled in a beautiful 27lber, on Scott’ Sund’s “Jim Dandy” hootchie, with a special concoction of fish pheremones and various scent patterns, that Scott applies to his JD’s.
There was also an early bite off of Black Bluff and Bere Point this morning, and quite a few real nice chinook were taken at both places. The Cuttlefish was hot again on Blake’s boat, where John and Bill Book hammered a bunch of chinook, landing 5, and also boating 2 nice sockeye to go with.
“Little Nicky” Teichert was fishing with guests, Jeff and Hanna, off of Bere Point, when a pod of orca whales showed up at the point and rubbed their bellies on the gravel beach! Nick estimated that they were swimming in about 3′ of water, as most of their bodies where out of the water. The whales then continued on, and met up with us at Black Bluff, Lizard Pt., and PNP, where Cpn. Samsquanch took full advantage, hittting the frantic bite that often precedes the whales, and put the boys on a double header of chinook!
The crew setting up the beach lunch also got a show from the pod while they were setting up at Lizard. They did a great job, and many of the guests were wowed by the elaborate picnic they prepared for them. The fishing off of the beach at lunch was also great, with a Dolly Varden, Pink Salmon, or Staghorn Sculpin on the line on nearly every cast.
After lunch, the clouds dissipated, bringing warm sunny weather, again. Quite a few more salmon were caught, and also, several nice halibut. Cpn. Millar had the Book sons, Jeff and Jake on board, and while they were trolling in the afternoon, Jake (16), took a herring that a recently caught pink had choked up from it’s stomach, and bit the head off of it, before he ate the still beating heart out of the freshly caught pink! What an animal. A fun an entertaining day on the water was truly had by everyone today!
The whales visited the picnic crew today.
Learning the crab cleaning technique.
Shaun "The Hippie" Vanderberg teaches Ken how to rip off the shell.
Vinestein's Blackfish Sound Chowder is always a hit.
Our guests on Lizard Pt.
John and Bill Book slayed 'em today!
John Book enjoys some fresh white chinook, sashimi style, at the cleaning table.
Ken gets another nice chinook.
Jake, Steve, and Jeff.
Tim and Don
Hanna caught this good one at Bere Point.
Blair "Tyee" Haley with his 34lb. slabski!
Team Dental went mental today, catching their fair share of fish!
Day 2 of the NWP trip started out well this morning. The forecast called for wind today, but only a light breeze was blowing, making it real fishable, and that’s good, because the fish were really biting early. Several boats started on the backside, and the guys got into some good chinook and the odd pink and coho, during a great bite first thing. The same went for Flower Island, where pinks, coho, and some nice chinook were hitting, again. The orcas moved into the backside, though, and the bite died off. The boats spread out down below, fishing Flower, Cracroft and the Wall, and the fish continued to bite all day.
Said Guide Geoffrey Millar, “Today was the most action we’ve seen all summer long. Pinks, Chinooks, and lots of catch and release action on large Northern Coho and Southbound sockeye.” Millar’s 4 guests easily caught over 30 fish themselves. The real action of the afternoon was back at White Beach Pass on Mr. Millar’s boat. The Captain, a bit disturbed from a tough afternoon of lost gear and harassment from local punks, was just explaining to his guests that near a certain kelp patch is where some of the largest salmon in the area are normally caught. He had just finished the discussion when BAM, his rod slammed down to the water and was off to the races with a huge Chinook. Said Millar again, “I just knew in my heart of hearts, this was a very large Chinook. The speed of the line leaving the reel was tremendous. It was one of the best fighting fish I have landed in many years.” Luckily guest Greg G was up for the task, being a former Division I wrestler for Ohio State, and Greg grappled that fish all the way to the boat. When the fish was boated and weighed it came out at 43 pounds, the biggest fish of the summer.
Meanwhile on the other boats, more and more fish were caught. Capt. Spenny guided the biggest halibut of the trip and all of the guides, from Sammy “the Blade” Carlburg, Blake “CNF” Aleksich, Nick “Tiny Dancer” Teichert, Mike “I only guide for HOGS” Hageman, Shaun “The Burger” Vandeburg, and of course, Mr. Millar himself. It was an awesome day, with over 50 total salmon on the dock by the end of the day with nearly 20 chinook (and another 50 that had been released on the water) . Special mention goes to Capt. Mike’s boat for a limit of chinooks and Bill G for his big halibut. Way to go everyone! Another fantastic day is in the books at Sund’s Lodge.
Blake's crew did well on the chinook!
Sam's crew caught a lot of fish on Sam's herrovies!
Spenny took the guys to Flower Island where they nailed the salmon, then brought them to one of his halibut spots after lunch!
Bill Gulasey holds his big halibut, weighing in at 27lbs.
Kimsan and Max had a great day with Cpn. Mike in the Stabi-Craft.
Greg Goad's first chinook ever, a 43lb. Hawg!!
On a day that started out very slow for most, the day turned around very dramatically in the last 3 hours!
The morning did have some great successes, though. A few people hooked into some chinook, and several of them were on the large side. Rod Nelson, fishing with guide, Taylor Logan, at Flower Island hooked into a real hog. The guide couldn’t tell if it was off the rigger, as it held deep and head shook heavily, before turning and ripping off on a huge run. They boated it after a great fight, and when they weighed in at the dock, the needle stopped at 37lbs! Holy Shnikies! Another big fish was hooked about an hour later, over in Double Bay. Jim Parker was fishing with Cpn. Hageman when they dropped into Double Bay and hooked a big fish on the first pass through. It hit the Mustard and Relish Rig, and after a slow, deep fight, it came to the net. It weighed in at 31lbs! Two tyees in one morning is always great, but amongst 6 boats, only 4 chinook and a couple of pinks were landed when the burger boat arrived. What happened later on out on the halibut grounds would change everyone’s perspective on the day entirely! Flip to side two for the rest of the story…
Cary hits his favourite spot, the Wall, and hangs another picture of a 20+ lber!
Jim Parker did battle with this 31 lb tyee. Very Nice!!
Rod Nelson and Taylor hold up his badass looking 37lber!
Rod takes the throne for a night!
After a chicken burger and other treats brought out by Chef Terrell and Daniel, the boats headed off to different halibut spots, trying to take advantage of the small tides. Mike Hageman took his crew of Kurt Blythe, John McMichale, and Jim Parker to the renewed “Atlantis” in search of some good sized butts. Nick Teichert took the rest of their six pack, Don Blythe, and his 2 other sons, Kory and Kraig there too. They were jigging side by side, when each boat hooked into a significant halibut. Kurt Blythe hooked up first, and then his brother was into one soon after. Kory’s fish was a very nice 51lber, that put up a good scrap, a great fish by all standards, but the guys on Mike’s boat soon realised that they were tied into a different animal altogether! After over an hour, and several runs to the bottom, a giant flatfish slowly emerged from under the boat. The halibut was a monster fish, shattering the previous record of 196lbs., taken 3 years ago. When they brought it alongside the boat, measurements were made that placed the weight of the fish, at or above 310lbs! An unbelievable fish, and the fact that Kurt hauled the thing up himself, made it quite a story. Yet, the story doesn’t end there! You would think that after fighting a fish of that size for so long, that Kurt would have retired for the day, but because he really wanted some take home halibut meat, he got back on a rod and continued to fish. It wasn’t 20 minutes later, that he was into another one!! The crazy thing is he brought this one in by himself, too, and it happened to be the larger than any other halibut this season, as well. They harpooned this one, and when it hit the scale, it was officially weighed in at 140lbs! Unbelievable!! This may be a record that is almost as unbeatable as Wayne Gretzky’s record of 92 goals in a single NHL season. Over 450lbs of halibut landed by a single guest of Sund’s Lodge in one fishing session! Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, guide Geoff Millar had made a guarantee to guest Alvin Carr, that he would jump off of the dock if he didn’t catch a halibut or keeper chinook. He had been fishless for 3 days and needed a boost. After a slow morning of catching yellowtail rockfish, they went to a local halibut hole, where a series of unfortunate events led to Alvin losing 2 good fish. Fortunately, they found some chicken halibut in the last hour and Alvin gets to bring home some fish… Cpn. Spenny had the Gilman’s fishing with him , and they stopped on Atlantis for one last drift at the end of the day, when Spenny started counting down from ten, before time to pull in gear. Marty nailed a perfect 50lber in the dying seconds, and now has enough ‘halibut to share with his family! What a great way to end it.
Kory's 51 lb. halibut.
The fish hold on Mike's boat wasn't holding much of this fish.
140lbs.
Marty's last second slab!
Alvin, Steve, and Marcie's fish!
Hooooo-oooooo
Sheena fits in to the Blythe family well!
When the fish master announced that today’s weather might not be the greatest, telling the guests to bring raingear and layers, he was either very wrong, or was just trying to make it a nice surprise for our guests today! Although there was a breeze for a short period early, and a slight sprinkle, the rest of the day turned out to be excellent, weatherwise.
The fishery also started out slow, which surprised some, but further observations indicated that Orca whales had been through early, slowing down the early bite. Things started out slow, but tapered up, and culminated in a great salmon bite, right when Terrell and Daniel pulled in and started barbequeing burgers and dogs. Some people think it was the smell of Terrell’s cooking, because all of the guests quickly formed healthy appetites at the same time, as the smells wafted through the fleet! The big salmon today came on Cpn. Hageman’s boat, caught by Elaine Bentzinger, minutes before lunch, which tipped the scales at 30lbs. dead on! Way to go Elaine.
After lunch the halibut really hit for some of the group, so at the end of the day, there was a fair number of nice flatfish laid out on the dock. For those that didn’t get a halibut, they can be thankful, that there are still 3 days left to try to get their 2 halibut. The biggest halibut of the day was hooked and landed by Marilyn Nelson on Cpn. Tiny Dancer’s boat, to layer over nicely on top of their already quite full fish box!
Gilman's with their haul of nice chinook and halibut!
Marty hauls in a 21lber.
Elaine bags here biggest salmon, a 30 lb. tyee!!
Princess Elaine looks very comfortable here.
Kraig with his 28 lb. halibut, caught on his own coho head.
Good times were had (especially jigging for halibut)!!
Rod with a dandy.
Marilyn's big halibut, 46lbs!!
A great day on Tiny Dancer's boat!
Nice Butts!
It was Marcie's turn on the chinook today, here holding her twin 18's!!
Humpback whales working the feed in front of the lodge.
Diving deep.
What a lovely crab!
Deck time
Life is good!
Chase posing with a delicious apple.
It was a great day out there for the boys from Chesapeake. It started out with more rain and fog, but as the day grew older, it progressively got nicer, and by deck time, it was warm and sunny, making the day that much better than it already was. The morning started slow for most boats, but Sam’s boat, who had the entire slide to Lizard point stretch to themselves, started out on fire, hitting a coho and 2 chinook in the 20′s, and losing another. By the time the other boats arrived, it had slowed off, but a few were still hitting, especially on Big Jim Duddridge’s boat. Some dandy chinook, coho and pinks were caught in the morning and the afternoon turned out to be quite good for the halibut, withy a 51lb. slab being the largest. Frank Osborn pulled that one up from the depths, not far from “The Nut”. With flat water and sunshine, you couldn’t ask for better conditions out there.
Getting back to the morning’s fishing for salmon, Jim Duddridge pulled into the flats, where Sam’s boat had been hitting fish. They had barely dropped lines, when they hooked and landeed a nice teener chinook. What happened next, has never happened before, here at Sund’s Lodge. Steve Dixon, was fishing on Cpn. Jim Dud’s boat, when it was his turn on the rods. A big fish hammered the Mountain Dew and Relish rig, that was hot on Jim’s boat today, and started ripping off a ton of line. Meanwhile, Geoff Millar’s boat was trolling nearby, and Geoff noticed them fighting a fish that was obviously taking a lot of line. He steered the boat into shallower water, but did not get the message being told by Jim that the big fish was running towards his boat. Suddenly one of Millar’s rods was hitting, and he did’nt pull his gear because of the bite. He realised that the fish was in their vicinity, and started working with Jim to try to clear their lines out of harms way. They brought up their downriggers, but one of the lines kept jerking, and looked like it had a fish. Millar reached over the side of the boat to try to get Steve’s line off of his rigger, when he noticed that the fish was being pulled from the other side of the boat. He grabbed the net and the leader, and handlined it into the net, and realised what had happened. The chinook, had been hooked up on Steve’s rod for quite a while, when it decided it was still hungry, and wolfed down one of Millar’s rigs. Being pulled from both sides, the fish must have realised the mistake it had made, and finally quit fighting, enabling Geoff to net it without a fight! It turned out to be exactly 30 lbs. The best part was that it was Steve Dixon’s birthday!
Steve "Tyee" Dixon with his birthday gift, a large chinook!
Hail King Steve on his Birthday!
Flatty Frank's 51lber!
Zac, Frank and David D. with some nice slabs!
Jeff and Craig represent their catch, while Rhone hit the hot tubs.
Brian and Al with a lovely assortment of fish.
Nick wore his orange shirt to compliment Darrel's Snapper.
What a classy bunch.
Tiny Dancer looking cute on the beach.
Matt double fisting the Pinot Grigio.
Kevin wanted to take this one home.
Longtime guests and friends of the Lodge, Chesapeake Energy, returned today, amid torrential downpours. They had been weather delayed already, so quickly wrote lisences and ate lunch, before tearing down to the boats for a quick afternoon fishing session.
The rain quit, and it actually became quite pleasant when they headed out on the water . Things were slow, because they missed the good tide due to the weather, but a couple of nice coho were landed by 5:30pm, when the current slack came. At the time guide, Geoff Millar, was joking with Sam Carlberg over the radio, having his guests, Dave Fisher, David Treadwell, and Kevin Ashley,pretend to get a bite in the background, while gabbing over the radio. Cpn. Spenny, who didn’t really hear what was going on, called Millar up, asking if they were into a fish. Millar replied, telling him that no, they were joking, when halfway through the conversation, the rod right in front of Geoff, slammed off in front of him, and began ripping off a pile of line! Dave Fisher had picked that rod earlier, and was into a real screamer. Of course, nobody believed them, but the truth was that they had hooked a tyee of 33lbs. After an exciting fight, Dave boated the hog, and took the Big Chair for the evening meal. What a fun way to get a tyee, and a great way to start the new trip. Wish them luck for tomorrow!
Ryan Yeager spent all of Day3 and Day4 honing his skills as an assistant guide, working his butt off, setting lines and general cleanup onboard. His hard work and positive attitude was rewarded this morning, with a limit of chinook, and the second largest salmon of the season, 36lbs! Setting out with his dad, Larry Hoeg, on Taylor’s boat, they dropped in at the slide and made a tack towards PNP. Taylor’s hot streak was kept alive, 5 minutes into it, when the big one hit! After a long lull onboard, they went on a tear, hauling in 3 more chinook in a very short timeline, a 28, 21, and a 14!
Meanwhile, Nick Teichert had his crew into some slabs, as well. Quinton and Eric of the Hoeg Party, nailed 25 and 26lb. chinooks, and a nice halibut. Good Morning!
The crew of the Shmied’s and the Sargent’s, fishing with Shaun “Burgenheim” Vanderberg, really “Burgenhammered” them, pulling in 4 nooks, ranging from 14 to 20lbs, during the short session. Wow!
Geoff Millar felt no pressure when leaving the dock with the Medina’s, and they quickly hit into 2 dandies, landing one, a 19lber, but the rest of the morning they were snakebit, and just seemed to be at the wrong place when the bite was happening. Needless to say, that Millar was feeling the pressure near the end. What a fun and entertaining group they were, thanks again for coming!
Ryan with his big tyee. Oh Yeah!!!
Father and son team pays off, bigtime!
Quinton's slab.
Burger's crew slayed!
Longtime guest, Leslie Sargent, caught her first Tyee this morning in the fog off of “the Flats”! Her tyee was just one of many fish hit today along the backside. The fog was thick, and so was the bait during the first hour, when it was almost impossible to follow a good tack. The fog shrouded the shoreline, and the baitfish blocked out the sounder, so there was no way off keeping a straight line. The chinook were biting though, all seven boats had hits, as the action was steady throughout the morning.
Bob MacDougal and Quinton Huseman were fishing on Cpn. Logan’s boat, and had a great morning, picking up their limit of chinook, but releasing one. Bob trolled up a 46 lb halibut in the afternoon to add to his limit of 19 and 27lb. chinooks in the morning. Nice work, after having a slower day yesterday! Team Oklahoma had another good day, hitting some chinook, coho and halibut. The Hoeg Crew had an awesome day with ”Big” Jim today. Even though Jim was particularily hard on guest, Ryan Yeager, going so far as to cuss him out a bit, Ryan is happily joining him again tomorrow. He must like the abuse! The Lancaster team had a great day as well, including a 31lb. Tyee! Steady action on chinook and pink salmon thoughout the morning, and a real nice 31lb. halibut in the afternoon, at C’n'B. Fun day!
Mark's Flattie!
Wayne's halibut taken off of the Anvil.
Scott Anderson shows off his 22lb. chinook.
Don Lancaster is eating well this winter!
Eric got into one.
It was a real productive day for Bob today, not included, is his 19lb. chinook.
Bob and Quinton.
Laura keeps her streak alive, with this nice one.
What a slab! Leslie joins the Tyee Club today. 31lbs. baby!
The morning of Day 2 brought wind and drizzly skies, but that couldn’t stop our guests from toughing it out for a very productive day on the water!
The Bernal Crew out of Colorado were fishing with Shaun “Hamburglar” Vanderberg, when at first light they had a double header of big chinooks off of Black Bluff! The biggest one got away, but they boated a 24lber early. They went on to nail another one in the twenties before they met the burger boat for lunch. “Hamburglar” enjoyed a veggie burger bbq’d by chef Terrell to his liking. Afternoon, they hit C’n'B for halibut, and today it finally produced!! Maddie pulled up a 40lb. flat one from the depths below, before her friend, Katherine Bernal, reeled in one of her own, too. A good day for Team Bernal!
Team Texas had a decent day as well, hitting several chinooks, with Drew’ Koecher’s hitting top honours at 28lbs. Nice fish! They also toughed out the waves and hit the halibut grounds, where they nailed 3 lovely halis.
Team Armanino, who did a cheer on the back deck, the evening prior, got into some excellent action, too. Hitting some big early season coho, and several goodsized chinook in the morning, was outdone by their performance out on the halibut spot, C’n'B! Big Jim Duddridge put them into several great halibut, with the biggest, an awesome 64lber, being hooked at the same time by best brothers, Andy and Matt! Nice work guys.
The Case’s, Cari and Darren, fished with Cpn. Horning, where they didn’t catch the most fish of the day, they only landed the one, a 32lb. TYEE! Way to go Cari.
Drew
Hooooooo-ooooooh! 64lbs!
Holy Shnikies! What a Slab.
The owner works his magic, down on the dock at Sund's Lodge.
