Posted by admin on August 22, 2009 under Fishing Reports | 
Working in tight at Cape Edenshaw
Another trip with Escott Lodge, I spent these days guiding Gord, Peter and Steven. These guys were part of a group whose members are all involved in the Oil and Gas industry. Chinook fishing was pretty slow; in part because of the big tides which tend to make it hard to work our tried and true spots efficiently and in part because of a temporary absence of a major run. On the bright side, the Hidden Island area was alive with bait (needlefish) and Coho. The area also produced one nice Tyee. There were a few other Chinook caught on the east side of Virago Sound, and action was slightly better on the west side of the Sound. These little lulls tend to happen a couple of times each year and usually last just a couple of days. Even as I write this summary a couple of days after the fact, the Chinook fishing is improving.
Waiting for the next bite at Hidden Island
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98 lb Halibut
I spent these days subcontracting to Escott Lodge. Dan Escott was hosting a group of 11 construction tradesmen. Of this group, I had the pleasure of guiding George Locke and Jason MacDonald as well as the Amazing Raphael. I call him that because in his time on my boat, he landed a 98 lb. Halibut, a 40 Chinook and a 16 lb Coho, as well as many other fish. Raphael had only been salmon fishing once before – and landed a 47 pounder! Some guys have all the luck…
40 lb Chinook
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When Guy Pulvermacher originally contacted me, he made it clear that halibut was 1st priority and salmon second. I emailed him back explaining that Masset is known for its abundance of halibut rather than the average size of fish (not so with salmon!). He responded that he understood but that he would still like to get into some halibut, regardless of size. When he and his friends Kerri and Janice arrived this morning, we headed out to the sand flats near Tow Hill in order to find a nice hali. We spent the morning drifting while jigging large pieces of salmon off the bottom. The 1st few fish we caught varied from 10 to 20 lbs. Just before we were ready to leave, Guy’s rod torqued over and we all knew he was into a nice fish. After the battle, he had a nice 55 lb halibut in the boat. Mission accomplished! We spent the rest of the day battling coho and came back to the dock loaded up.
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Fished with Larry Smith and his niece Leath. Today was the slowest day I had with members of the Smith group all season, but we still came back to the dock with a few nice Coho and a halibut.
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Erin and I take a break to go fishing
Today I fished with Larry and Don, and Larry’s dad. They are staying at Gerry’s Fishing Charters. They brought their own boat, but due to mechanical problems they wound up having to charter two days of fishing. The boys fished the first day with Gerry who put them into some great Coho salmon and halibut action. On their second day, they fished with me and let me know that Springs were the quarry of choice today. We wound up with 3 nice Chinook and a 45 lb halibut to boot.
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For the past two days I have been guiding Riley, Ashton and Regan from Alberta. These 3 are staying at Gerry’s Fishing Charters as part of the Larry Smith group. Larry was part of the Jim Moffat group that I guided in June and has come up with 15 of his family and friends to stay for a couple of weeks to fish and enjoy the Charlottes. During the fishing charters, we landed plenty of salmon including a couple of nice Chinooks. The guys (and girl) also landed their quota of halibut including a beautiful 43 lb slab.
The Grady White and Commercial Boats docked for the night
Fantastic View from the Cabin at 7 Mile
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I fished with Ken, a guest at Escott Lodge today. We were still into the big weather thanks to a continued Northwester, but we managed to land 3 Chinook before we decided to call it a day and enjoy the beautiful weather back in town.
Golfing after guiding in a Northwester
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Today I fished with Adam Sproule and his dad. Adam is a friend of mine who I have known as a steelheader for several years. This was the first time I had fished with him on the ocean. And what a day! There weren’t many boats out due to the 2-3 meter seas that a building Northwest wind was serving up. We bucked our way up to Wiah point and then turned and trolled back toward Masset with the wind. We landed one nice Chinook in the 20 lb range right off the bat and then proceeded to get into the Coho.
Big Weather Spring
We landed lots more Coho, but the Chinook were hard to hook and harder to land in the big waves. After the tide changed midday, we were driven further and further back toward town with each attempt to run north. We were the last boat out there at the end of the day. Yet another day I’m glad I have the Grady White boat I have. It just proves itself in big water time and time again.
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Coho action continued today. I was fishing a half day with two guests from Escott Lodge. Scads of Coho were in most of our salmon fishing spots. Slow fishing for Chinook, we landed just one small Chinook.
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Edenshaw Spring
Edenshaw Tyee
Fishing with 2 French Canadian guests from Escott Lodge today. We spent the day at Cape Edenshaw where we landed one 30 lb Tyee after an epic struggle. Turns out the fish was hooked by the tail! One of the guys forgot his licence at the lodge, so we had to head back to the dock briefly and then back out into the action. We went back out the cape where we landed another nice spring and several coho before the day was through.
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I fished with Dave Giesbrecht and his family today. On the boat were Dave, his wife, their son and Dave’s Aunt-In-Law. With 4 on board and only one day to fish, we were on the action program. We ended up with 14 salmon and 4 halibut in the tub by the end of the day, with plenty more fish played.
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Today I worked with Escott Lodge again. Basically, we had great action with the Coho and had to work harder for the Chinook (pretty par for the course right now), though we did land a nice one just shy of Tyee status.
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Had a great day today with Russ Stewart from Prince George and his two boys Curtis and Loren. Russ is an avid fisherman (lake, river and ocean) and has fished many places. After a somewhat lukewarm trip to rivers inlet a couple of years ago he decided to give fishing out of Masset a try. Minutes after putting our lines in the water, Curtis got the ball rolling by landing a nice coho salmon. From there, the action was almost non-stop.
Russ and the Boys
The Stewart boys landed a couple of dozen salmon during the course of the day including a couple of Chinooks landed by Curtis and Loren. We then headed for the halibut grounds where the boys quickly got their fish. Russ wanted to try for a bigger hali, so we baited his hook with a whole salmon head. After getting smacked around by smaller fish for about 10 minutes, his bait got smashed by something else and his rod torqued right over. After the battle, Russ had a nice 30 lb halibut in the boat.
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Today I worked with Gerry’s Fishing Charters guiding Father/Son/Uncle team Brian, Brad and John. Brian and John originally hailed from Nova Scotia, but Brian Now lives in BC, where he and Brad run a corporate communications company. We started off the day fishing “Ops” and had a pretty good chunk of non-stop fishing action, picking up lots of Coho and a nice Chinook. In the afternoon we targeted halibut, heading offshore into deep waters. No big ones around today, but we were treated to a great whale show, with Humpbacks porpoising and tailing near the boat. We were anxious to get back to Salmon fishing so we settled for some “Chicken” halibut in the 15 lb class and headed back for salmon at Cape Edenshaw. There, we finished the day by picking up one more small Spring and several more Coho.
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Guided for Gerry’s Fishing Charters today. My guests were Mike Storm and his traveling companion, Geraldine. The water was really rough with the wind blowing in from the Northwest, so we decided to make it a half day. In that time we still managed to land a couple of nice Springs and a few coho.
