All the guests were early risers today, so at daybreak this morning, after receiving a tip from guide, Spencer’s dad, the boats all headed east to troll for salmon. It was like they were following a stringline, as they went straight to Donegal Head, before angling around the corner to head up the Backside.
The crew on Sam’s boat hooked up early, when the plug got sledge hammered off of the rigger, before John Tsivanolis reeled in a nice 19lb. chinook! All the boats had a measure of success throughout the morning on pinks and coho, and the odd chinook, until just before lunch break, when the bite came on heavy. A staple of our lodge’s success is the Beach Bistro, so we didn’t want to miss it, but the bite came on, and everyone started nailing fish! The Cureton’s and the Jebson’s, fishing on Cpn. Harold G. Millar’s boat, had a quick flurry of chinook, mixed in with the pinks, where Alan and Tim finished out their limits with 19, 20, and 17lbers! John banged another high teener with Sam, and Tom Myers caught a nice chinook with Burgenheim during that flurry.
Finally, things tapered off, and the boats headed for Tsuiladas to have lunch, and the crew did not disappoint, taking the experience to a whole new level this time! The food was excellent, and the atmosphere in the cove is always great. The crew regrouped, and headed off again.
Jim and Shaun took their crews out for salmon, while Spenny did a combo, salmon/halibut. Salmon fishing was slow, but a few wild coho and pink salmon hit throughout the afternoon. Spenny took his guys, Randy and Colin, for halibut later, and they hooked into something very large! Randy had a crazy battle with the fish, which ran several times to the bottom before they finally boated it, It turned out to be a gigantic Big Skate! Somewhat disappointing, but a fun fight, nevertheless. Sammy and Millar had other plans, and they both headed for the mainland side to look for yelloweye, ling, and halibut. Sam hit the tide just right on one of our great ling and snapper spots, and the lines were plumb to the bottom, allowing them to quickly limit on large snapper, with the big one topping our largest in a couple of years, weighing in at 19lbs! They then hit a bump on the chart nearby, where Sam hooked what he thought was bottom and the line snapped! Then, on the next pass, Don hooked into something strange. There was obviously a fish tugging on the line, but it felt unusual. They finally brought up a quillback rockfish, but still tangled on the line was the other line that had broken off previously. Sam decided to tie the broken line onto a cleat to try to salvage his gear, but after pulling and pulling the line would not come undone. That is when they realised they had a LARGE fish on the line, and that is when Sam’s blood pressure went “through the roof”! No sooner had they spliced the line back together, when the fish headed to the bottom. Whatever they had on felt like an I-beam, and they wished they had a crane to haul it to the surface. Don began working it to the surface once again, but suddenly, the line parted and Sam and the guests were left feeling sick. The huge behemoth was gone!
Millartime was nearby with his crew and they weren’t doing well. They left the area and headed to one of Millar’s secret spots. When they dropped the lines onto the pinnacle, Geoff noticed that they were going to miss the hot spot. He was frustrated when he had to ask the crew to pull up their lines, yet again, with no success. That is when 3 lines hammered down simultaneously, and they were into 3 really nice halibut! They managed to boat all three fish, and they were all dandies, weighing in at 42, 42, and 55lbs! What a way to end the day!
Geoff drills the guests with the importance of not getting pinched.
Eating the crab butter gave Tim luck, today!
Mmmmmmmmm!!
Don Couture makes a friend!
Cpn. Burger hammers back a few glasses of wine, while watching Anne-Marie pet a crab.
Good stuff.
This one should be framed!
Anne caught this 15lber with Old Dutch, on the Emelio.
Colin picked up a teener at the Bluff with Spenny.
John with his limit of chinook!
Sam put these guys into a feeding frenzy of Yelloweye Rockfish, including the largest of the season, Don's 19lber!
Tim, Molly, and Winnie had an incredible triple banger with these sheets of plywood to end the day! There was so much blood on deck, they were losing their footing.
Tim brought in the largest halibut of the trip, which complimented his big chinook of the trip! What a stud.
This group filled their stringers today!
Pope Tim blesses the masses!