Sund's Lodge

We have had a terrific season, with calm water, good fish runs, and great business in a tough economy.Everyone at the lodge would like to thank all of our guests that spent their time, and hard earned bucks, to come and hang out with us. “Without you guys, we would all be wandering the streets of Port McNeill, panhandling, and singing songs in front of the Liquor Store!” quote taken from Scott Sund. As for me, “the Blogger”, that is probably what I will end up doing over the winter, as this is all I know. Without my blogging glasses on, I am practically blind, as years spent glued to a computer screen, have taken their toll! If anyone knows of any seasonal blogging jobs, please contact us.

Have a great year everyone!

Scott "Top Dog" Sund

   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.

   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!

   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!

   Tom and Reid Myers, from Shelton, WA, joined 11 others, who came from all over Canada this afternoon, for 4 days of fishing and fun, here on beautiful Malcolm Island. The weather was gorgeous when they arrived, and everyone was delighted to be here. Delicious food was served while the new arrivals were orientated, and licensed, and soon they were all headed out onto the fishing grounds for a few hours. 

   Two boats went out for a “flounder pounder” and Cpn. Crazyman Carlberg put Winnie and Molly into a couple of halibut. Winnie, who is the smallest individual on the trip, caught the largest fish of the day, a dandy 18 pound halibut. Guest size to fish weight ratio is kind of like a golf score; lower is better, and hers was very low today! Colin Kinahan was the king today, though, catching the largest salmon, an 8lb. sockeye with Big Jim.

The ladies get some nice flatfish with Cpn. Samwise!

The Myers guys got some nice "small-scaled" salmon.

Jim "The Warden" Duddridge took buddies, Randy and Colin, to one of his good holes, where Colin picked up his nice sockeye!

What a beautiful afternoon we had!