Jack and Margie

 Jack and Margie made a second quick trip from California this season. Jack was up earlier with his annual group of friends and family in July.  That bunch has been coming for 30 years. 

There is a bit of spousal rivalry here.  Margie has caught the biggest Tyee over the years. A print of that 36 pounder, guided by Scott, is on the wall in their home.  She caught that from a rowboat in the Tyee Club rules. Jack hooked this beauty, without the downrigger, in shallow water. Zoom.  In an area where I am more often rowing, we use the simple tackle. Again, not a Tyee, but exciting. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

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David and Marie

Dave and Marie , from Utah , out for a morning fish.   They drove up from where they were staying near Courtenay.  There's fresh dinner. 

Note the large size of the herring from this chinook's stomach in relation to the salmon's size.  He must not have felt full, because he bit a big plug that caught him.  

rick@gobrightfish.com

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Big Business at Dent Island

 Again this year, I rejoined a large corporation that has been coming fishing in this corner of the world since the mid-1980s when I first fished with them,. In recent years, they have been staying at Dent Island Lodge . I'm just putting up a few photos .

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

www.gobrightfish.com 

Big Bay

 When I'm guiding for days around Stuart Island, I've been sometimes staying with my friend David at Big Bay.  Here are some pics from one evening after work.  That's Nanook Lodge beyond the seagulls.

Estero Peak can be seen from far and wide, including from Campbell River. 

Twins and their mom helping to mow the lawn. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

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John and Nat

John and Nat come the same time every year , adding salmon fishing after Monterey Car Week.  So, late August it is. But a new venue this time , trying out Sonora Resort .  

 A sea lion was hunting the boats at Hall Point and Fredrick Arm one morning.  This is unusual, although I've heard that it is a problem in some areas up towards Alaska

rick@gobrightfish.com

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Billie Ann joins Anne

Anne and Billie Ann are back !  Anne goes back decades in salmon fishing around here. Billie Ann has been up to join her friend several times in recent years. I remember fishing with Anne's husband's company group way back in the 1980s. Her longtime guide Scott has retired and I'm keeping the flow going. 

 After experiencing several different lodges over time, they are at Sonora for three days and loving it !

Anne had to deal with a foot issue, but she got her stride in the fishing department. Those two produced a lot of laughs ! 

Billie Ann caught her limit of two chinooks one morning, so we went looking for a coho in Bute Inlet, away from other boats.  And what a great coho to catch !  Fishing close behind the boat with a direct line, no downrigger.  So exciting ! 

This photo of a sea lion eating a salmon is taken right from the Sonora dock. 

Here is a mother seal nursing her big baby.  She has just the right camouflage colour for these rocks. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

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catch-up time

I've got a day or so to get caught up on all sorts of things before I go away for a 10 day trip to Sonora Resort and Dent Island.  But the mind wanders. I need to get the Tyee rowboat and tackle ready for when I get back. It is just one of many things on my list. I imagine the slim chance of rowing with Shamra , or her rowing me, to weigh a Tyee at the Clubhouse again this year.   I'll hardly get to fish with her because I'm fishing with others.

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

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Steve and Justin

Father and son, Steve and Justin enjoyed the salmon flow. We had talked about how a lot of salmon are migrating by, not biting much.. We watched a stream of trout-like pinks and robust sockeyes porpoise , or jump, and wave to us as they went by.  We are really just fishing for chinooks, but we'll take a pink or hatchery coho if it grabbed on.  In one of the popular fishing holes we saw a few chinooks caught, but not for us, until we moved. 

 When we moved to a place all alone we had a couple of bites and got this nice one.  This tricky fish waited until we were staring out at passing dolphins and bit while we weren't looking.  But we hooked him anyways. 

Interestingly, this fish had hooks in his mouth from a previous encounter.  The hooks were very new looking, but there was no one fishing within a mile or so from us. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

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www.gobrightfish.com 

Alexandre and Manuella

Alexandre and Manuella are from Brazil , and having a wonderful time exploring western Canada on their own.  They did have a little trouble getting their fishing licenses the day before, so I drove over by car, and picked them up at their hotel in time to be at River Sportsman store when it opened at 7 am. Alexandre's English is pretty fair , and Manuella doesn't try to speak often, but she hears and understands quite well.  I don't speak Spanish at all, and yet everything worked out very well.

 We travelled up the Straits and  soon after arriving we saw Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. 

 We heard a report on the radio from another fishing guide saying there were Orcas coming.  We changed our location but couldn't see any sign so we settled in to fish , and caught a nice chinook in a lucky short time. Exciting !

 Then the whales came. Orcas. Boy did they come.  At the end of the day the experts said there were forty . 

 We watched many Orcas come by, and then left the group of wild life tour boats that were floating in the general area.   We headed into Nodales Channel to get some fishing in before the whales would come and stir the fish around, and of course eat some.  When we were fishing some of the whales came right past us.  Not good for fishing, but what show. 

 We had no more bites there. When we moved up the coast a while later we found the whales had turned around already and were on their way back out. It is hard to get a photo that captures the scene of large numbers of orcas spread out , yet relatively near.  So many it was hard to safely find a course out. 

  We fished again back in the Strait and released a nice one. 

 On the way back , the black bear was on is beach again, rolling rocks. 

What a great day for this couple from Brazil ! 

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

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keep 'em coming

David keeps coming back with a different mixture of his family.  Thom, Rachel and John all got in the action .

 On the trip up the Straits we spied a bear on the shore rolling over rocks to catch the little shore crabs underneath.

And we watched a seine boat doing the test fishery . 

overnight circle route

John and Inge joined Stewart and Tamara for an overnight exploration , all around Quadra, Sonora, Maurelle and Cortes Islands, in a big circle route.  Stewart and John are childhood school friends, and they have kept in touch with each other while each has moved around continents. John and Inge have come from Norway to reconnect, and what better way than a boating and fishing adventure. 

 We started in the north Straits fishing a few spots on the way around.  Look what Tamara boated !

On the way some Pacific White-Sided Dolphins played with us for a little while. 

 Dinner was the fresh pink salmon . Delicious on the barbeque . The cottage is adorable with a great wide view. 

On the return day there was a southeast wind coming up. We fished in a sheltered place for the morning, and then crossed over to the south end of Quadra.  There I was very impressed how well this crew handled some waves. All are boaters and it shows. We had some fast action there or a while, released wild cohos and Inge played a chinook that threw the hooks after a few minutes. A great way to end. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

www.gobrightfish.com

a fishing lad from Paris

 Niel loves fishing, and luckily his father Francois supports him in that. Neil even fishes successfully in and near their home in Paris , France.
 They only kept one fish for the family to eat while they are here.  We took tissue samples of  a couple more that we released.
 The family is staying at one of Eric Peterson's wonderful waterfront guest cottages. They love it there, and the dock in front is a bonus.  Thanks, Eric for this connection.

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

www.gobrightfish.com

more ladies, more fun exploring

Two new guests join in for the ladies explorations of the near back country, from Super Island Camp. 

  Mindy , Ellen, Colesie, Lainee , with Mindy and Colsie being the newbies. 

One never knows what will turn up, or not, in the day. We head out in the morning with a plan to meet the rest of the group for lunch at Dent Island Lodge . 

  

The sky is still a haze from the hundreds of distant forest fires , and the mountains are out of view, but the early sun is lovely in an eerie way. 

We are cruising through Calm Channel when we come upon several humpback whales. 

 Humpbacks spend a lot of time under water , so we find that when we stop to watch , a couple more appear behind us, come nearer , and then pass by.  A bit of good luck for the ladies, again. 

Moving along we explore and fish the mouth of Bute Inlet on the east and then the west sides.  Colesie manages to bring in a lovely salmon which will be the evening dinner , then Lainee adds a yellow-eye rockfish for variety.  We don't target the yellow -eyes,  often called red snapper, because the population is low, but an incidental catch like this is delicious. 

 Thanks for inviting me to join you for the yummie lunch and chat at Dent. The docks are full at this time of peak yachting season.  

 For the trip back , the flood tide was churning at a pretty fast rate and we looked for the eagles and sea lions . The eagles were few and just sitting in the trees, and the sea lions like-wise just glanced at us from their resting spots. 

 Thank you every one, of this special ladies group.  I enjoyed your company. Thanks Liz for the extra pictures. And thank you all for your interest in this blog, and for your patience until I got a chance to catch up here. 

rick@gobrightfish.com

250 830 8680

www.gobrightfish.com