A new group of guests arrived this afternoon. We had guests arriving from Vancouver, Oregon and California. The fog in the morning delayed the party out of Vancouver, but they made it here in time to get out for a few hours of fishing.  

   Some nice fish were caught, too, with the largest being a 22lb. chinook, which Sandra Ingram landed with Cpn. Sam “Crazyman” Carlberg. David and Mary Peachin arrived late, but headed out with Jim”Wolfman’ Duddridge, and they were fast into a hot bite on big Fraser River pinks. David Peachin told Captain “Milt” Millar on the deck: “That was the best salmon bite I have ever been in!”. Jim ran some “Peruvian” flies, and followed the schools of the large pinks through Blackfish Sound, where it was non-stop action the whole time. The sun was shining and the fish were biting. We can’t ask for much more than that!

Our first time guests, Ken Sr. and Ken Jr. with friend Dan.

Ray Morgan caught a nice 14lb. chinook on Cpn. Teichert's boat.

Sandy got a real beauty when she hooked this 22lber right out of the shoot, on Cpn. Sammy's boat!

   One of our good customers arrived today, with a bunch of their top salepeople, who won their way to Sund’s Lodge. Needless to say, they are pretty excited to be here! A beautiful afternoon started off the trip, and the salmon were biting early and often.

   Lots of pinks were landed and many lost. Also a few sockeye were out there, and many wild coho were released. There is a real shortage of hatchery coho this year, it seems. The real story, though, is the chinook bite that came on late in the day! Cpn. Spenny’s crew had a couple of great chances at chinook, but fortune wasn’t on their side this afternoon, and the fish won the battles today. Same goes for Cpn. Millar’s team, who had a couple of nice chinook on that found ways to elude them. Sammy’s crew was more fortunate, when they dropped down a little deeper off of the Wall, and started hitting the chinook there. Dennis was the luckiest bagging 2 teeners, and Mike also landing a teener. The  guys on Taylor “T-Bone” Logan’s  boat had an epic last hour, fishing at White Beach Pass, where suddenly, an awesome chinook bite came on. Manav, Sunny, and Dhiraj, were the lucky ones, when they first hooked and landed a 17lb chinook, then turned around and did another pass. That’s when Manav hooked a great big one, which he landed with some difficulty, as it was lunging around the boat like the big ones do. It weighed in at 32lbs! But they weren’t done there, as they turned and Taylor dropped 2 rigs down for another pass by the kelp patch, where they slammed a double header of chinook, 22lbs. and 15lbs. Not a bad first afternoon of fishing! Things are looking great for tomorrow,

Blake's team had fun catching a bunch of fish, including a bunch of wild coho!

Burger's guys.

Spenny's guys!

Looks like Tiny's crew had fun.

Millartime's team was a lot of fun today.

Millar and G. Pass!

Sam's crew was on fire this afternoon, with Dennis leading off with twin teeners.

T-Bone and his team were commercial fishing for them this afternoon! Manav will be selling his 2 chinook when he gets home!

Manav gets his first tyee!

Good times on the deck!

Chef Simon serves up one of his signature appies.

Manav Gulati joins the tyee club, today!

The last morning started out foggy, with a strong wind blowing off of the backside where 3 of the boats started this morning.  A slow start quickly tapered up when the guys on Cpn. Millar’s boat hooked into a doubleheader of chinook! Unfortunately, the bigger fish, in the high twenties, spit the hooks 6 feet from the boat. Then Sammy’s boat hooked into a couple good ones, which both fell off the hook, too. Next it was Spenny’s boats turn, and they had a high twenties salmon right to the net, when it found a way to elude them as well. Finally, though, Paul Mekis, who’s been hot all trip, landed a nice 24lber on Spenny’s boat. They wewre able to land one more, a 12lber that Gary Moore caught, before having several more get away. A tough run for the guys at PNP this morning. Meanwhile, Cpn. Mikey “Ruddiman” Hageman took his crew up to Lady Ellen point, where John Komes hooked and landed a beautiful 28lb. nooker, almost right off the start! Another good fish was taken on their boat, a 20lber by Andrew, before it was time to head back for breaky. A great way to end a fun trip with these guys.

John Komes nailed this 28lber at Lady Ellen with the Hag.

John and Andrew

Paul Mekis gets another great chinook with guide, Spencer Horning.

Cpn. Spenny and his crew with a few nice fish!

Millar's crew, with a trophy pink, and a real nice (smaller) chinook.

The last morning of the NWP trip was beautiful and calm, with a slight overcast. Perfect conditions for salmon fishing, yet the catching was slower than normal this morning, with only one 25lb. chinook and a pink landed amongst the boats. It wasn’t necessarily a very slow bite, but the fish were hitting soft, or just falling off the hooks a lot. It was a bit frustrating because there were quite a few nice fish hooked, but they just kept getting loose.  The weather was nice, though, and the company was good, so things could have been a lot worse. Thanks so much for coming you guys, it has been a pleasure serving you all!

Rich Mielke had a real wild, hard fight from this tough looking 25lber!

   After a bit of a slower trip, the fish rolled in to the area in more numbers this morning. The bite was on at the Slide, and at Black Bluff. Also, Lady Ellen was holding fish, and they were biting there too. Big Jim Duddridge took his crew, Bud and Rick, to Black Bluff for a short session, where they limited out on chinook, and were into 6 chinook total, between 17 and 25lbs. Awesome! Jim has left us now for almost a month, to prepare for his daughter’s wedding, and we will miss him a lot around here. Mike Hageman will be filling in some for him, and he also had a great morning at the Slide with his family, before starting this afternoon with the new group coming in. They had a double header, and boated both, a 25 and a 27, right in front of Cpn. Millar, while he was taking his first pass through. They hooked quite a few more, chinooks, and landed 2 more. Gary Dennis caught a 21lb. nook with Cpn. Spenny, when they moved over to Point No Point, from Mitchell Bay. The bite remained steady throughout the morning, and several more chinooks were taken by the guests.

Bob and Karen landed a couple of nice teeners.

Rick with his biggest, a 23lber!

Bud nails a 25er!

What a bunch of hogs......and some nice fish, too!!

Bud showing his religious side, here.

A mixed bag of weather was had today, with fog, rain, mist, even a bit of sun, enough to have the Burger Boat as an option, which was nice. The fishing was spotty today, with some boats getting into some great action, but others who were in different areas, not hitting as much. The hotspots today were the Battleground and Beautiful Bay for salmon, and the Ranch for halibut.

The 4 pack of Gary and Cecelia Dennis, and their friends, Sharon and Charlie Mills, had a great day of salmon fishing, catching 5 chinook up to 24 lbs. Pete Mathews, the youngest of six brothers, had the biggest chinook in the family, again. He weighed in a 19lb. chinook to take top honours. There may just be something to his theory afterall! Bud Carter and Rick Stephenson had a great day on the halibut grounds, getting into quite a bit of action at the Ranch with Cpn. Spencer “Speedy” Horning. Karen and Bob fished with Cpn. Jim Duddridge, and Karen had quite a fight with a beauty 22 lb. chinook, to top off their day of several salmon. Fun times were had by all, making for a very good day.

Young Pete with his chinook of 19lbs. The biggest of the Mathews crew, again! Wow, there may be something to his claims, afterall.

The Mathews boys with a big pile of fish!

Bud and Rick, with guide Spenny, and some dandy butts.

Karen Meyers with a 22lb. chinook. Nice one Karen!

Gary Dennis reluctantly takes the bigfish chair tonight with this 24lber.

The Dennis' and the Mills' with their 5 nice chinook. Way to get 'em!

Heading down to the docks in the morning today, the guests were greeted by flat calm waters and overcast skies, and the air seemed warmer than it had been in a while. Dolphins greeted some, and even a Grey Whale was spotted nearby.

Cpn. Spenny’s boat was first off in the morning, and 2 minutes after they dropped the lines in at “Coho Pt.”, the “disciples”, Peter and John, were into a dandy 21lb chinook. That early bite tapered off by the time the other boats came out, though, but an hour and a half later it was on again. The high “slack” bite came on just as 3 of the Spiegel crew set gear, as they “slacked” off and slept in. Luckily for them, they showed up just in time, and banged off 3 nice chinook and a coho almost as soon as they arrived! Meanwhile, back in the bay, the Lucas’ and Pate’s were hitting into some great chinook, landing a 28 and 25 lber, and some other action. The pinks seem to be moving in as well. That same group had 3 pinks today. Peter and John, had  steady action on their boat through out the morning, hitting 2 more nice chinook, and a 10 lb. coho.

The Burger Boat rolled around at about 11:00 and after that the boats all headed out for halis. Some good action for some, produced nice halibut up to 41lbs. That one was caught by Worth Roberts on Burger’s boat at C’n'B. The team of Lucas’ and Pate’s went back to salmon, and had a bunch of action off of the west end of Malcolm Island in calm, sunny weather. What an awesome day weather wise we had today! It was a pleasure, after having some not so ideal stuff over the last couple of weeks.

The Disciples really knocked 'em with Cpn. Spenny!

The Roberts had a good day!

In the words of Gay Lucas, "Today was Something Else!".

Gay gets a 28!

The late birds get 'em!

Brian with a 25!

Big halibut of the day!

Zoomy tries to win at Puquana, but didn't, unfortunately.

Day 3 had one of the most “interesting” starts in lodge history. The power went out in most of the lodge on night 2, leaving both of our water pumps without power, and all of the cabins and the main lodge with no heat or lighting all night. The only buildings with power were Scott’s house and the duplex out back that Jim McDowell stays in yearround, as they run off different transformers. The staff rallied together, and rounded up jugs of water from town and brought cooking supplies and coffeemakers up to the Owner’s House for a nice breakfast had in the living room of the house. It was a great time, and everyone left with a feeling of excitement, like they were camping out! It was great. The boats all headed out as usual, and while the guests were catching fish, BC Hydro came out and got the power back up and running.

The morning also started with another “interesting” surprise, wind! That didn’t stop em, though, as right around High Slack the bite turned on in Mitchell Bay, 5 minutes from the dock! Cpn. Jim Duds and Cpn. Millartime, both took their guests into the “Big Rock”, where Jim had a “hotspot” marked on his GPS. They circled the spot over and over, banging into several nice chinook each! There were a few bites spread out along the “backside” but the  best action was minutes from the lodge. Eventually it slowed off, so most of the boats pulled into Double Bay for the current slack, and to avoid the wind. There were several more nice chinook and coho taken, with Jim Duds hot crew of Darren and Cari Case continuing their magic run, nailing a real flukey 24 lb chinook on a sockeye fly out in the middle of the bay! They were “On” today, and nothing could get in their way.  James, from Team Texas, hit a deep-running chinook with Cpn. Spenny, which proved to be the big one of the day, a 25lb. beauty!

The boats anchored up in the cove in Ksuiliadas Islands, and Chef Simon and the crew whipped up an excellent Bistro, once again. After lunch, there were 2 boats going for bottomfish, and two for salmon. The going was tough for the halibut crews heading offshore. One of the boats turned around and headed back to a spot 2 minutes from our dock, where they hit into quite a thick patch of chicken and chick halibut, that kept the action steady all afternoon! What a nice surprise. Its great to see all these spots starting to produce more halibut, as they seem to be moving in in greater numbers, finally! The salmon crews each picked up another chinook per boat, with a last minute fish caught in Mitchell Bay, on Cpn. Burger’s Boat. All in all, a darn good day, in less than ideal conditions!

Anchored out at "the Cove".

Gathering aroung the "Crab Ampitheatre".

Maddie is thoroughly enjoying herself here!!

Case Closed!!

Matt knocks a couple!

Friday morning saw Bob Sr. finally get a chance on the rod after waiting patiently for his son and daughters to catch fish. He was rewarded with the biggest of their group, a good looking 23lb. chinook! Lorna also got her fish with a nice 11 pounder. Thanks again for coming you guys, we all enjoyed your company, and are thankful for your patience, during some slow fishing.

That's a gooder!