Sunday was like no other day I’d see this summer. It was derby day! Not only was it derby day, but the final day of the prestigious Kingfisher Salmon Classic.

The weekend had been moderately slow due to a couple of pods of orcas cruising throughout the fishing grounds. This made for an extremely interesting derby, leaving no Grand Prize out of reach. On Sunday we decided Bird Rock ll was going to be the home of the hog we were hunting.

In my boat there seemed to be no additional pressure from the derby. The boys were enjoying cold beer and talk radio all morning. Our only issue was that the last ten consecutive Chinook releases were between 10-15 lb., which was a pretty good problem to have! Unfortunately, that size of fish was not going to move us up in the rankings anytime soon.

After meticulously carving up a couple of cut plugs, I weaved my way through the fleet of red and white boats. Hugging the wall of B2 I had a feeling there would be a nice fish sitting deep in the east bay. As the ebb tide helped me swing my gear into the strike zone I saw our first derby-worthy take. This fish was off the clip and heading straight for the kelp! We were fortunate enough to cut him off just in time, and after a solid 10-minute fight he was in the bag. Not soon enough either, as I pulled the net away from the waterline, a massive bull sea lion attempted to steal our fish. Not this time though, which felt good considering he obliterated a couple of our salmon earlier that morning!

After a quick hand off to the derby marshall, we decided this fish was going to be entered in the “kill” category. A 22.3 had been leading the weekend. A few chewed nails and empty beer cans later, we got the verdict… our 22.6 was the new leader! We managed to hold on to the title throughout the evening tide. Back to the Bell Ringer boys, we got him!

Thanks for reading, tight lines and silver smiles!

Ryan “Horseshoe” Winger

Friends and relatives of the QCL family, welcome to another installment of the Guide Report, my first of the 2016 season. Another highly anticipated year is well underway and returning guides and guests alike are back into the mix and routine of spending day after day fishing the world class waters of Dixon Entrance. As well, guests and guides who are new to Queen Charlotte Lodge are experiencing the magic of the lodge and fishing grounds that keep many of us returning year after year.

Tuesday morning featured a practically cloudless sky with the sun shining off of the Grady White fleet of fifteen. Leaving the dock in One-Fourteen with my guests after most of the fleet had already left for the early morning bite, I made a call to Fishmaster for a report as I rounded the dolphin. Cape Naden and Parker Point were the two points that seemed to have the most activity to start the day off. Wanting to wet the lines sooner rather than later I dropped in just west of Naden so I could set my gear and let the start of the day’s northwest wind drift me past the point. The Fishmaster report of fish activity was still holding true as I saw many bent rods across the collection of boats working the area. Minutes after dropping in, the first bite of the day came. My guest Lorne set the hook and is instantly into a Chinook. Seconds later I look behind me and Lorne’s son Martin is setting the hook on the other rod. Right on boys…tough to beat a double header to start the day. A solid 20 lb Chinook was kept while the 10 pounder was released to hopefully grow into that 50-plus pounder we all hope to catch. The furious activity kept going for the next hour or two but started to taper off as the tide started to ebb hard. Action never did quite pick up again the rest of the day like it did in the morning. But every fish that was netted throughout the day kept the positivity up until the next “smiley” was hooked.

Each day a couple more 30 pound-plus slabs hit the scales which always adds some extra excitement at the Bell Ringer… giving guests and guides some extra encouragement to fish the grounds hard the next day. Also a decent amount of Coho salmon were caught by the fleet today… the nice treat of a bonus Coho to take home is always welcomed.

We hope to see you all up here sometime soon!

Remember… keep your rods bent, line tight, and hang on for the ride!

‘Till next time…

Jeff “Smurf”

What a beautiful day to wake up to today! I could hear the eagles outside so I grabbed my camera and went to see what they were up to this morning. After getting some great shots I sat on the beach and thought about today’s trip. We had such a productive first day, with both my guests getting their halibut and chinook for the day, as well as black and yelloweye rockfish, and releasing around 12 salmon. I decided that we would start off at “the peanut”, one of our guides favourite hali holes to pick up our last 2 halibut, then to the Driftwood for lunch. Then we’ll spend the rest of our day looking for a nice big salmon or two.

We arrived at “the peanut”, got the rods in the water and sent the bait to the bottom.  It was like we dropped it right on the head of one halibut, because as soon as it hit bottom and did a couple jigs we had our first fish on!  While one guest was bringing that one up we also got one on the other line. Double header!  We lost one but proceeded to get a beauty in the boat.  Not long after that, we got our second one and headed off to meet the other family members on the Driftwood.  The barbecue was smoking away onboard and wow did it smell good. After lunch we headed off to Shag Rock to try to find a big spring that could maybe win their family derby.  The water was calm, lots of bait, birds everywhere.  Setting up real nice. The music was going in the boat, we were all having some great laughs when the first salmon of the day hit. After a great fight we got the 17 pounder on board.  After that the bite tapered off a bit; we had a few mystery bites for a while so we headed down to Cape Naden. After a bit of trolling around the rod finally shot off the rigger. This was a big fish! Line was ripping off the reel.  I cleared the second rod and got on the wheel, we had to chase this fish down as it took so much line!  I noticed the Fishmaster off in the distance and called him on the radio to come over and get some photos of this great battle.  After a spectacular 15-minute fight the bright chrome beauty was in the net.  25 pounds!  Such an amazing fight.  After the pictures were taken, we decided to end the day on that note as it couldn’t have got better!  My guests were elated and so was I.  As it turned out this fish actually won the family the derby.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day. We also saw killer whales and humpbacks passing through the area.  And the best part is we get to do it all over again tomorrow. I love my job!!

Until next time, tight lines.

Randy”the Hitman” Zinck