It is the last day of June in Haida Gwaii. The morning sun is peeking through broken clouds and lighting up the glassy water while eagles call from the shore. The smell of fresh sea air wakes my excitement for another day of chasing trophy salmon in the most beautiful place on earth. After getting a full box of Coho and nice mid-sized Springs offshore on Day One, we are in a good spot to take a gamble and spend a day fishing in tight to shore, looking for a big one. And that’s what we decide to do.

My guests, Matthew and Daibidh and I are alive with anticipation when we drop in at Parker Point an hour before the morning tide; everything is setting up perfectly. After 5 hours without a touch I am starting to second guess whether we picked the right spot but we are determined to stick with the plan and stay optimistic. Then finally, after 6 hours, things start to pick up.  So we work the east bay with a newfound enthusiasm and our luck really starts to change. On our next pass the inside rod goes off and Daibidh is into a good one! After the second tide comes to an end our work seems to have paid off and we are high fiving over two beautiful fish, a 23 and a 25 lb Chinook. But we decide to take one last lap to see if we can’t still find that monster we are really after, and then it all happens. Ten hours after we first set our gear the outside rod buckles and the reel starts to burn.  “That’s the one!” I shout and start clearing the lines as Matthew takes the rod and the fish keeps accelerating towards Alaska.  After the most nerve-racking 30 minutes we are marveling at a magnificent 32 lb Tyee Chinook, a real trophy!  We take a few moments to take in its beauty as it regains its strength and then watch it swim off back into the depths. What a perfect way to end the day. There is no better feeling than to be rewarded for a hard day’s work. The level of excitement on the boat is unreal as we head back to the Bell Ringer, this was the perfect end to another amazing month in heaven!

Tristan “Youngblood”