Friday, 3 July 2015

scales and prints

 

Those mature chinooks migrating in from the north require some real fishing. As I noted in the previous post about Claude's Tyee, they are no longer feeding. Or at least they are being very careful about it. Their priority now is getting home to spawn. The body cavity that has room for an expanding stomach to put food in gradually becomes full of eggs or milt, so eventually there will be no room for food, and the fish will be living off of stored energy in fats and oils. We catch salmon along this continuum from fish that are eating and growing like teenagers, to cautious returning veterans.

One of the interesting features of these maturing fish is that the scales become tight and flatten smoothly to the body. This is in contrast to the rapidly growing fish that have growing scales with rougher and open edges that often come loose when they are netted.  You can see examples of this in my last recent posts, with a photo showing a fish with many scales knocked off.

Someone who cares a great deal about the exact features of the scales is my friend Eiji Umemura who makes prints of fish.  His work is exquisite in quality and detail. Eiji actually inks the fish and transfers that image to fine cloth.  This makes a work of art that is also an exact image of the fish. He paints the eye in by hand and adds some more careful details such as spots. This is a wonderful alternative to taxidermy. You can learn more about Eiji and fish prints at his website . Also , he is an excellent fishing guide who speaks Japanese and English.
 http://www.agfishprints.com/index.html



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Thursday, 2 July 2015

Tyee Bright Fish


Claude was hoping for one of these. When we headed north we knew we were heading away from the very fishy Georgia Strait. This is like a different game at the casino. Instead of the active feeding fish, we were targeting  the incoming mature chinooks. These fish will almost always have empty stomachs and are in their prime and migrating to their home rivers. These are truly bright fish which will soon add some bronze to their silver. 

We didn't expect many chances, but hoped to get a lucky big one. This one made 30 1/2 pounds , so it is a Tyee, a nick-name for a salmon over 30 pounds. It was a strong fight and well-played , Claude. 

 This chinook has a different look than the fish being caught just a short distance to the south. It is most likely from the Fraser River eastern interior plateau, with it's short nose and no spots on it's tail. In the past these " Stubbies" were mistakenly thought to be Columbia River fish which they resemble, and probably share a genetic distant past in the area that divides between those two watersheds. This fish hadn't been feeding, but she couldn't resist a last easy little snack that required no effort to chase down. 

We took a tissue sample , and one from a coho which we released, and expect to find out eventually, from DNA analysis , which rivers they are heading home to.  



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Wednesday, 1 July 2015

special fish





Dale and Blaine are going to be taking these fish far upstream to home in the Canadian Rockies. They enjoyed catching them, of course, but next these fish are will be served at wedding where they will be shared and enjoyed in a special way. Cheers !

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Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Doing it all


David and Laura drove up from Orange Grove, California.  He loves to fish. She wants to take in the sights, especially the shore and the mountains .  They each support the other.  

I picked them up on the dock in front of the Quadra Island Holiday vacation home. We found some great fishing in the morning and then left the bite to catch a new view. We spent the later morning on the edge of Desolation Sound, and then ran into Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island for lunch at the Marina restaurant there. It is such a lovely spot .We chose a scenic loop home and made a pass in which we picked up a second lingcod on the way back. 
On day two we fished a half day and had more great fishing. We took a look at a rocky point to see the colourful red urchins and starfish on the way in. Two parts of a happy couple. 






Gorge Harbour Marina Restaurant

Native pictographs on the entrance to Gorge Harbour

Day 1

Day 2 


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Thursday, 18 June 2015

Ontario roots


Keeping close with your old friend across the country could involve a fishing trip. 




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Thursday, 11 June 2015

Like riding a bike



Larry hadn't been salmon fishing for decades, but playing a fish came back to him like he was never away from it. From the Kootenays, he drove up in the morning from Parksville , where his wife is at a convention.
 This one was 29 pounds.  He also caught one 19, and played two others, all of  which we took DNA samples from.  It was a fine time.


 

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Saturday, 6 June 2015

Aussie style


Pascal and Matt squeezed in an evening fishing into their business trip. The style of fishing was different from what they are used to in Australia, but they got the hang of it. 


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