Brothers

The Laird brothers , Jack and Scott, got together, again, for a great fishing trip. Jack took time from the Napa Valley family wine business.  Scott, also involved in the wine, is my old guiding buddy, ( a model for me from the early years ),  now retired.
 Fishing is , or can be, so much about family and friends.

We started from Campbell River in the morning and headed for the mouth of Desolation Sound and then up behind islands where we had good busy fishing. We kept four nice ones, and released several undersize ones which are good news for next year, and took DNA samples.  Then before dinner time we carried on to Sonora Resort where the bros got the famous luxury experience. 

Day two, we fished into Bute Inlet. We had hopes for a big one as our friend Larry Anderson of Nanook Lodge had guided a 38 and then another in the 30s on the previous two days. We kept a couple of nice ones and released one.

An interesting sight occurred when the flood got going out of the Arran Rapids. The powerful current plays havoc with the swim bladders of the hake, and so many six inch hake were floating on the surface that all the predators, seagulls and eagles were completely satiated and just sitting around ignoring the rest of the food.  Salmon eat these ,too, and they must be just stuffed as well.

 In the afternoon we headed over into Denham Bay to check if some early migrants were coming in from the North Pacific, but after a couple of hours we decided they weren't there and we headed in to Sonora.  

For the last morning, we fished the Bute again. Released one, and kept one.  Jack had a great fight out of a fish we thought must have been bigger, but was in the teens.

 We were very pleased with our overall success and if there was a secret , it might have been the  bananas. If you don't know, many fishermen all around the world think that having a banana on board is bad luck for fishing. Scott loves bananas , and likes to make a point of eating one, if he can, when a friend is looking. 

Bananas in the day, Laird Family Estate Wine in the evening. That works.