Thursday 27 October 2016

more sea lions and chums in Q Cove




This year has had an extraordinary return of Chum salmon, the biggest in decades.  Just looking out on the water in Q Cove , I've seen occasional jumpers and finners, late in the run and after almost all of the commercial fishing is finished. The seiners had a massive haul last week, and still there are lots of fish. 

 A sealion or two has been cruising inside the Cove , and catching  chums regularly. This isn't a spot you'd expect to look for chums. The sealion thrashes his catch on the surface and the seagulls come in for loose scraps. 

 Note that there is a seal ( in the third photo ) keeping an eye out for a bite. The sealion seems to be able to catch these salmon , while the seal cannot.  That is the way it looks. 

For more information on the numbers relating to the chum run, see Jeremy Maynard's blog /. http://www.theardentangler.com/index.php/blog/.  Jeremy gives the deeper background information about salmon resource management and sport fishing, and is always worth reading. 







Monday 24 October 2016

night time humpbacks


 Humpback whales have become a common sight . This seems to be the new normal and quite an addition to the seascape . This photo is in the evening with the Tyee Pool part of the Spit in the background. Standing on the dock in Q Cove in the dark of night, the world is a much quieter place and the tremendous blows of these huge animals are clear and resonant. 


Friday 21 October 2016

sealion and gulls


 A sealion tears up a chum salmon, as seagulls compete for scraps from his dinner. Photo from the dock in Q Cove. 




Thursday 20 October 2016

So many seiners !


Steve hoped to get some more chums for smoking. It was a lovely calm day and the second of a two day opening for the seiners. There was a tight congregation of these big boys in front of Kanish Bay. It was interesting to watch them work and more interesting to see how they moved around searching for schools to set around as the currents changed.




 This boat is close to full up, riding down to the scuppers. That is a massive amount of salmon on board.


Six lovely chums worthy of their trade name " Silver Brights " .



Chum trollers


 Shamra and I took advantage of the beautiful weather on her day off to go out and catch a few chums for pickling.  Two commercial trollers were working the same area.  



 



Saturday 1 October 2016

chums for chums


Chums for chums, and a bonus coho. Calven, Rich, Rob and Mike. Good times.
These fellows got together and drove up island a few hours to get to Campbell River and we left the dock at 8:30 am.  The fish were biting off and on , as chums do, and when it as on, it was really on. Two cohos also grabbed on, one of which was a hatchery marked coho that they could keep. In the afternoon they were back in the car heading home. A good fun day.