Welcome to the Kingfisher Report. This is where you'll find the latest news on what's happening up at the lodge in Naden Harbour. |
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July 5th Report Posted By QCL - Sat Jul 5th, 2008 - Filed under: General  We're back to the prevalent southerly weather patterns again this week with swings from the SE chop to the SW glass over much of the fishing grounds. Mixed skies are bringing changeable weather throughout the day, shifting from cloud to shower to fog to sunshine almost constantly. It almost seems the fishing is matching that with few real "bite" periods at any one point. Chinooks are being picked up in all the usual places, Parker Point, Bird Rock 1 and Green Point being the busiest. The fish taken in the past couple of days have been mainly in the 20-25 pound class but there have been a number of exceptions, notably a 45 pound trophy landed on the west side of Bird 2 by Bob Leffler and Lynda Jaheny. The Pinks remain pretty thick throughout most of the grounds but we're definitely starting to see more and larger Coho moving into the area with several 9-10 pounders taken this week. We should see those numbers climb rapidly as the Coho migration swings into full stride. Forecasted weather for the upcoming week is for these southerlies to swing to westerly through Wednesday, with mainly cloudy skies and temperatures remaining around 14 degrees. The tides peaked out prior to the weekend so we're moderating again, providing longer periods of slack water for hopefully productive fishing! - Comments (0) |
July 2nd Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jul 2nd, 2008 - Filed under: General  Calm seas and blue skies are a magical combination up here and we're definitely feeling it this week and QCL guests have been using the whole grounds in search of the Chinook salmon. While there's plenty of action out there with tons of Pinks and increasing numbers of Coho, guests are having to invest some time to get their Chinooks. We're seeing the best Chinook fishing action around the slack tides these days and with extreme swings going on those times are fairly critical. Bird Rock 1, Parker Pt. and Green Pt. have been reliable lately, producing a few Tyees each day. There's still a large mix of size out there, and they're being taken mainly on cut plugs fished a little deeper, between 45 and 65 feet or 25-40 pulls. Halibut fishing remains steady and anglers have no problems ensuring they've got a couple to take home. Humpback whales are always out offshore feeding on the masses of needlefish and the eagles have been putting on some spectacular feeding shows over this glass calm water. Our weather will change again for the weekend with the light southerlies swinging to the southeast and coming up a bit to put a bit of chop on the water. The tides are peaking right now so they will begin to slacken over the weekend as well. - Comments (0) |
June 28th Report Posted By QCL - Sun Jun 29th, 2008 - Filed under: General  Late June has always been a traditional big fish time here at QCL and it must be that time again as several heavy fish have been landed in the past few days. Joe Leko's 51 pounder on Thursday topped a collection of several 40 plus Springs last trip. Starting things off with a bang this weekend was Dan Hunter who chose to release a beautiful big Tyee which taped out to 48 pounds by QCL guide Kevin Coulter. Excellent work guys and thanks for letting that big one go! The Pink salmon presence is persistent, especially south of Klashwun Point. Halibut fishing has been excellent with nice sized fish taken all over the grounds. Lingcod has become a popular catch as well with many anglers discovering a bounty of this delicious fish. We enjoyed some spectacular weather today with a good dose of sunshine adding to the appeal of the flat calm seas. The forecast suggests we may have a few more days of this weather up ahead. - Comments (0) |
June 25th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jun 25th, 2008 - Filed under: General  QCL anglers are enjoying a definite upturn in the Chinook fishing this week marked by a good showing at the weigh scale each evening. Although we're still inundated with Pink salmon throughout much of the fishing grounds, there have been a good number of the big beautiful Chinooks everybody's looking for. Amongst the Tyee catch this week have been 5 fish over 40 pounds with long time QCL guest Doug Noort's 47 pounder topping the class. Many of the big springs are coming right out of the kelp beds along Klashwun, Green, and Parker Points. Halibut fishing has been excellent with lots of anglers picking up their limit incidentally while salmon fishing close to shore. A word to those anglers coming up over the next couple of trips, bring your 6-weights and plan to have a blast casting among schools of feisty Pinks off Bird 2 and the Mazzaredo Islands. We've passed through the extreme tide period this week so the waters will simmer down noticeably over the coming week. Weather has been one version of southerly after another, alternating from southeast gales to southwest calm, usually cloudy, damp and cool. At this point it looks like we may see a shift to some northwest and maybe even some sun over the weekend which would be a welcome change! - Comments (0) |
June 21st Report Posted By QCL - Sat Jun 21st, 2008 - Filed under: General  Fishing has come on nicely this weekend with the arrival of more and bigger Chinooks throughout the grounds. Anglers are still struggling to get through all the Pinks to hook a Chinook but we are definitely seeing increased success, especially for those using downriggers to fish the 60 foot plus depths where the Chinooks are hanging. QCL angler Rick Rowbotham celebrated today after landing his 41 pound Chinook at Cape Naden this morning as did Jennifer West, aboard the MV Driftwood, after boating a terrific 42 pounder at Bird 1. Friday saw the arrival of our first 50 plus pounder on the dock when Brian Aikins, fishing with QCL guide Brian Brommer, weighed in a big 52 pound Spring. Lodge guest Takis Theofanus will be testing lots of Halibut recipes after bringing a 76 pounder back to the scale with guide Kraig Coulter. Good fishing all! The weather is very changeable these days with strong southeasterlies predicted for tomorrow and Monday. Tides are strong with changes of 13-15 feet happening right now. - Comments (0) |
June 18th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jun 18th, 2008 - Filed under: General  QCL guests explored the whole fishing grounds this week, sifting through seemingly vast schools of migrating Pink salmon in the quest for the Chinooks. A number of good-sized Springs were found in a mix dominated by teen-sized feeders. Size-leaders this week are Ken Kunz with a 40 pounder and Greg McCoach with a 42. With all the small fish around many anglers are switching to large herring - both wholly-rollers and cut-plugs - in an attempt to target larger salmon. Halibut action is steady throughout and many anglers are getting a couple of Lingcod to take home. The weather has been a bit unusual this week with a low off the west coast Charlottes drawing Easterlies over our area and providing lots of that classic "wait 5 minutes" Charlottes weather. The system is forecast to hold through the weekend so be prepared for a bit of everything. Tides are heading back to bigger changes in the 12-13 foot range so the slack periods are shorter. Over the past few days the slack has definitely been the most productive fishing time, especially approaching the low. - Comments (0) |
June 14th Report Posted By QCL - Sat Jun 14th, 2008 - Filed under: General  This weekend's weather is dominated by moderate west and southwest winds so QCL guests are covering the whole fishing grounds. The most productive areas have been between Cape Naden and Bird 1 and up at Green Point with good numbers of feeder Springs being taken with a mix of Pinks and a few Cohos. Lots of Halibut are still being caught in the mix while fishing salmon gear closer to shore. Cut plugs are working well for the bigger Chinooks, fished at depths between 25 and 40 pulls. The downrigger anglers are doing well with cut plugs as well as anchovies with flashers. The big fish last trip was a 41 pounder boated by Bruce Fraser fishing with guide Ryan Ashton. So far this weekend we've had a number of nice Tyees with the largest today being a 40 for Olav Langelaar and a 42 pounder for Randy Kambeitz. Good fishing guys! The weather forecast for the next few days is calling for the southwesterlies to continue with mainly cloudy skies and a 30% chance of showers daily; temperatures holding around 12 degrees. Grey skies but good fishing water! The tides are moving apart again this week with swings of 10 - 13 feet daily. - Comments (0) |
June 11th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jun 11th, 2008 - Filed under: General  Strong northwesterlies dominated the area early this week and kept QCL boats fishing the waters between Cape Naden and the Mazzaredo Islands. The upside is that this area holds large numbers of salmon in the early season and anglers were able to pick up some decent Springs there, mixed in with lots of teen-sized Chinooks and some Pinks. Tuesday and Wednesday saw open grounds all-round and we had Tyees to 38 pounds taken at Bird 2, Cape Naden and Klashwun Point. Halibut are everywhere and we're still getting some nice ones - 20-40 pounds - in close to shore. The downriggers are doing especially well these days, running anchovies & flashers, hoochies and whole herring at depths to 80 feet. Weighted rods are doing better in close to the kelp with 8 ounces at 20 - 40 pulls. The tides have moderated this week and we're only seeing swings of 6 - 8 feet daily. The weather forecast for the weekend is calling for light winds from the southwest/west with cloudy skies and some rain, temperatures around 11 degrees C. QCL guests are especially enjoying our growing fleet of premium boats this season; 7 new vessels sporting the "new QCL" logo and colours. These premium 22 foot units feature electric downriggers and Sirius satellite radios. - Comments (0) |
June 8th Report Posted By QCL - Sun Jun 8th, 2008 - Filed under: General  This weekend we've seen good numbers of salmon showing up at the weigh scale in a whole range of sizes. Lots of feeder Springs are around in the 15 - 22 lb range spiced up with the odd Tyee in the mix. The highlight of the season to date has to be our first big Chinook release - a hefty buck boated by QCL Totem House angler Jeff Billhorn, fishing with guide Ryan Ashton. The crafty fish avoided the net for over an hour, running Jeff several laps around the boat before coming in. After measurement the trophy catch was returned to the water and the size tallied out to 48.1 pounds! Well done guys and thanks for letting the big one go! Several other Chinooks in the mid-30's came to the dock on Saturday and Sunday nights. Halibut catches are steady and every day we seem to see a couple in the 30 to 45 pound class. Today we were catching the first Cohos, Pinks and Chums of the season - who knows about the timing? The weather forecast for this week looks fairly dry with sunny/cloudy days predicted. We are looking for strong Northwest winds to build through Monday afternoon. The extreme tides have peaked out now and will settle back to moderate changes through the week. - Comments (0) |
June 4th Report Posted By QCL - Wed Jun 4th, 2008 - Filed under: General  QCL guests fished throughout the grounds this week after a blustery southeaster on Monday that kept everyone on the Cape Edenshaw side. But they still managed to catch some nice fish. The big tides this week have been a factor in the fishing with zero tides in the morning and 15-plus highs in the afternoon. Chinooks have been taken on the first drop but fishing has been slow through the flood tide. We're seeing mainly nice Springs 18 - 24 pounds with the odd Tyee 30 - 35 pounds mixed in. The afternoon fishing from high slack all through the ebb has produced the bulk of the salmon catch this week. Chinooks are mainly being caught between 40 & 80 feet on herring plugs and strips. The downrigger guys are doing well with anchovies & flashers. Halibut are caught everywhere but we've seen some nice ones taken right in close - normal for early season fishing. Our guests and staff are really enjoying the awesome new dock facilities with all-new dry-rooms and jackets, high-performance fish freezer and the new weigh-station float. Seven new premium boats have grown that part of our fleet to 18 now and they're always in demand. Guests are treated to hot & cold appys and drinks while they're weighing their fish. They're having so much fun many don't want to leave! The weather forecast for the weekend looks like a mixed bag with northwest winds going to southwest at the early stages. Friday will see a mix of sun & cloud while Saturday & Sunday will likely be cloudy with showers. Tides are peaking right now and will start to moderate this weekend. Click here for the weekend tides at Wiah Point. Click here for the marine weather forecast. - Comments (0) |