Splendid weather this weekend treated QCL anglers to a perfect storm of fishing opportunities! Light variable winds and partly sunny skies combined with moderate tides to open every possibility on our fishing grounds. Prevailing westerly’s continue to push the bait into the many little bays and pockets along our shoreline. And we’re talking LOTS of bait! Ten days ago we were absolutely plugged with herring. Now the needlefish (what we’re most accustomed to) are the main feed drawing in the salmon and the whales. There seems to be a humpback in just about every bay, cruising and feeding right off the kelp and the rocks. Then every once in a while, one or two want to celebrate and they’ll move off just beyond the boats. They put on a show that loads up every smartphone on the water! We never get tired of these gentle giants and are constantly in awe of their presence.

Talking about awesome… the Chinook salmon fishery this summer continues to amaze. While those teen-sized feeder Springs have kept us busy for weeks now, we’re definitely seeing some changes in the mix and the larger fish are appearing more regularly. We peaked at the Bell Ringer last night with seven big beauties recorded over 30 pounds! Top Chinook for the weekend was a stunning 40 pounder landed at Klashwun Point by David H with his guide Tegan Baxter. That big fella took a herring at 8 pulls off the back rod! Darrel M released another stunning fish that taped out to 39 pounds – well done Darrel! It was a tough day on the water for Laurel M, fishing with partner Trevor and their guide Nick Mercer. Laurel boated a handsome 32 pounder at Bird 2 in the morning and finished the afternoon releasing 2 more Tyees, scoring 30 and 34 pounds! That’s a fishing day to remember! Well done!

Our halibut fishery continues to impress all of us – new and returning guests alike! There were lots of perfect keepers in the 20-40 pound class and several in the 50’s and 60’s. Breaking the 100 pound mark this weekend, Megan W teamed up with Robin B to reel up a very memorable fish that taped out to 102 lb.. Congratulations! If course it’s a good thing they were able to find some nice keeper-sized fish to enjoy back home while they tell their stories!

Perhaps the story of the weekend was the absolutely giant halibut that was hauled up by Chris L with guide Mark Kasumovich. This fish had taken a commercial halibut bait and broken off, dragging the heavy ganglion cord with it. They managed to cut off all the line but couldn’t maneuver the fish well enough to remove the large circle hook. That may have been because this halibut measured out to 74 inches long – that translates to 215 pounds! Quite a feat guys and well done! That big female will produce about 3 million eggs when she spawns next winter!

As we rolled out on the water this morning it was glass calm, ol’ 104 was slicing through the water with the hum of the twin 150 Yamaha’s behind her. As always when it’s calm out I was torn when passing the dolphin to go east or stick to plan to start fishing at Cape Naden. After a quick internal debate I continued west and as we passed the Maz there were only two boats there and both were already fighting fish. This was going to be a good day.

Coming up on Naden I could see the water quivering with bait, the needle fish were pushed in there and they were thick. I set my gear and we made our first pass and had three quick hits, one on all three rods. Working the bait deep in the west bay by ourselves we got a little show from the Humpback that was feeding in there. After a morning of steady Chinook action we decided it was time to make one last pass before heading to the Hali grounds.

As we got in tight to the kelp I set my gear at 25 and 33 feet. Right as we worked into the honey hole the outside rod fired off, and the reel started screaming and it’s game on. After a few strong runs and lots of dogging the large Chinook shows himself for the first time, the 602 spoon hanging out of his mouth. I’m thinking… “Got one” and as that 33 pound Tyee slides into the bag I’m again grateful to be able to share moments like these with good guys and good friends. I know it’s been a great start to what can only be another fine day that can only be experienced in the Gwaii.

Gettin em!
Rainman
Dan

As you have been reading our blog you may have wondered what some of our fishing terms mean!
I’ve made a short glossary of the most commonly used terms…

1) Pig, hog, cannon, tiger: all of these terms refer to a large fish or a Tyee
2) Chicken, Turkey or barn door: these are the various sizes of Halibut; barn door being the largest
3) Kelp bong: a device made from bull kelp to drink beer (beer bong)
4) Rock dog / rock sausage: another name for seals
5) Black bomber: another name for a black rockfish
6) Long-line release / farmed: terms describing the unintentional loss of a fish. Used in a sentence – “Man, I just farmed a hog and snapped the line!”
7) Sizzler: a word used to describe either the size or the strength of a fish that is running quickly
8) Corked: used to describe the bend in a rod when playing a fish.
9) Bell Ringer: the Bell Ringer is the name of our dock bar and fish weighing area. A Bellringer is a Tyee or a fish over 30 lb. which deserves at least 3 rings on our QCL Tyee bell.

As the season goes on I’m sure new terms will be used and I will make an update of the fishing dictionary.

Tight lines for now,
Chelsea – Fishmaster

Tuesday was another fishy day for QCL guests and guides. While fishing for “Smilies” (big Chinooks) was still fairly consistent, the anticipation of 35 knot gales coming overnight kept the guide team on edge when scraping the kelp beds today.

Since my last post there have been even more Tyee Chinook landed, including one for my guest Brandon, who successfully landed a fantastic salmon today that tipped the scale at 30.2 pounds! Congratulations to Brandon for a bell ringer on his first day ever of ocean salmon fishing!

The excessive amount of bait at all major points on our grounds has humpbacks putting on a show for everyone to have photo and video moments to remember for life. They seem to have split up this week with one or two whales feeding in each little bay that holds schools of needlefish. Our guests are really enjoying the moment out there.
I hope to see you all up here soon.

Keep your rods bent, nets ready and hang on for the ride!

Jeff ‘Smurf’

Wow! The summer is flying by! As we slip into the final week of June it’s a good time to look at a snapshot of the 2015 fishing season so far.  Anyone who’s been up to the lodge this month, especially in the last 2 weeks, has taken home fishing memories that they’ll be talking about for a long time!  The massive amount of bait in the area has drawn incredible numbers of Chinook salmon and they’re often on a feeding frenzy, producing 50-fish days in many boats.  Add to that the presence of humpback whales feeding all around us – the experience has been quite magical.

This week the fish are more dispersed and the larger Chinooks are moving into the area.  We’re still getting lots of action from the 15-22 pound feeders but 25-35 pounders are appearing in all of the favourite haunts.  Eagle Rock has turned out a number of nice Tyees this week and Cape Naden is producing well on both sides of the tide.  While many anglers have a preference for herring, we’re seeing huge success with “green & glo” spoons and anchovy-teaser combinations.  Preferred depths throughout are generally 35 to 45 feet and we’re in a moderate tide phase right now with fairly long periods of feeding activity.

Starting off our current trip on Monday, some of our new anglers really hit the water running!  Larry H. and Steve M., Texan newcomers to the lodge, arrived at the Bell Ringer with a boatload of beauties.  Guide Kraig C. kept them reeling all day to produce their limit of Chinooks and a couple of super 50-plus pound halibut.  Larry also cracked the Tyee bell with his first ever, a stunning 33 pounder! Welcome to fishing at QCL Haida Gwaii fellas!  The bell’s been getting a workout with several Tyee salmon and halibut over 30.  We were offshore on Monday and Tuesday for bigger halibut and Peter H. hauled up a big slab that scored 109 pounds and yesterday Glen B. released a 100 pounder.  It’s so nice to see anglers enjoying the opportunity to play such heavy fish and then share their stories at the Bell Ringer!

Our long string of northwesterly weather has given way to a period of southeast winds from today into Friday and then swinging back to light to moderate NW Saturday and Sunday.  Anglers are exploring Cape Edenshaw today but should be back on the whole grounds by Thursday morning.

Well, what more needs to be said, it was another unreal day at Queen Charlotte Lodge.   I woke up in the morning to flat water, clear skies and the sun shining off of the pearl white of my Grady 114.  The flat seas made for some ideal conditions for bottom fishing out on the Hali grounds during the slack tides. There wasn’t any lodge record breakers hauled up from the depths today but there was still several good sized slabs to be had. Yesterday my guest Bill C. reeled up the first big Hali of the trip, a perfect five bell ringer fifty pounder.

Back in shore QCL guests are still all smiles from playing Chinook after Chinook with a few coho thrown in the mix. Salmon fishing has slowed down slightly since last trip but there is still many bent rods at all of the major points throughout the day, especially during the tide changes. Day by day there are more and more tyees added to the board as well. Today Bills son Mike landed a beauty 34 pounder at Bird 2 early in the a.m. aboard 109 along with two of his brothers and QCL guide Andrew ‘fuzz show’. Beauty of a fish… well done Mike!

Hope to see you all up here soon.   Keep your rods bent, nets ready and hang on for the ride.

Jeff  ‘Smurf’