Lodge News Archives - Page 4 of 8 - Queen Charlotte Lodge

Canada Day at the Lodge is always one of those benchmarks of the summer that we all look forward to. It’s roughly a third of the way into the season and the staff usually have it pretty well dialed, confidently delivering the level of service that our guests enjoy. The crew has mixed nicely, forming a tiny community here in this remote harbour on the far western reaches of the country. The national holiday reminds us to take a moment and realize just where we are in such a big picture; this immense landscape that easily overwhelms us yet binds us in so many ways. We benefit from a popularity that draws people here from all over the country to experience the unique character of this place.

The guests with us this week were all Canadians, arriving here from Okotoks and Nanoose Bay, South Porcupine and Saskatoon, Kimberly and Espanola. They all caught lots of salmon and shared some crazy good stories of their fishing adventures. Together on Wednesday night, between supper and the annual fireworks show that they put together themselves, we all stood up and belted out an enthusiastic rendition of our national anthem, another tradition started years ago in a moment of spontaneous patriotism. These are the moments that stick in the memory and draw us back to a shared experience that helps to define what we all love about this place!

So you wanna talk about big fish? How about really BIG fish?

We’ve always been pretty well renowned as “the place to go” for big salmon and that’s still the case. But in recent years we’ve been exploring our halibut fishing opportunities and have steadily discovered that our halibut fishery is pretty impressive too!

Historically most QCL guests caught their limit of halibut incidentally while they were mooching for salmon. Many didn’t want to be bothered going out to deeper water to jig for bottom fish, as long as they had a couple in the box to take home for the family!

But as our guide team has grown we’ve brought expert anglers on board that have a love for these big flatties and they’re keen to go out and find them! The waters of Virago Sound are relatively shallow and we do most of our halibut fishing in less than 200 feet of water – tons of fish and not much work to get them. But these halibut hunters have dotted our charts with several undersea features that harbour the storied “barn-door” sized fish. We’ve set them up with the heavy tackle required to handle fish over 100 pounds and they regularly go out there and find them! Now QCL guests are hooking into giant halibut every week!

Last year between June 4^th and August 26^th we awarded 36 anglers the QCL Gold Halibut pin for fish over 100 pounds. Our 13-year-old record of 183 lb. was broken 6 times! This week the bar was raised once again. The 2014 record of 255 pounds was broken by lodge angler Dave Bossons, fishing with QCL staff Rob Clough and Ryan Ashton. Fishing a Gibbs Mudraker at 280 feet, they hooked up almost as soon as it reached bottom. But that started a tug of war shared by all 3 guys that lasted an hour and forty minutes before they saw the giant fish on the surface!

Of course everybody wants to catch a big fish… Dave wanted to catch a big fish too. The question is what do you do once you’ve caught it? That was exactly the dilemma facing them. Can you describe how big this fish really is? How can we measure it? How best to release it? All large halibut are breeding females and any over 133 cm. length must be released. These guys are all very experienced anglers but the shear size of this fish blew them away! After several minutes of carefully maneuvering the halibut around the surface they were able to take a measurement with the long handle of the salmon net before removing the hook.

The length from nose to tail was 80 inches (203 cm.) and it was 48 inches across the widest point. According to the chart published by the International Pacific Halibut Commission that fish was 277 pounds! Incredible catch fellas! And of course the nice thing is, it’s still swimming around out there! Congratulations to Dave, Rob and Ryan on an awesome fish! And remember, it’s only the middle of June!

While the weekend Kingfisher Derby was drawing to a close, anglers on the QCL fishing grounds yesterday could be forgiven for being more than a little distracted! It truly had to be one of the most stellar days most of us have ever spent on the water.

The conditions were about perfect with just the slightest westerly ripple on the water and bright, broken sunny skies. We’re absolutely flooded with feed right now, lots of needlefish near shore and tons of large herring boiling up throughout the grounds. Where there’s bait, there’s life and the water is full of it right now. Humpback whales were having a hay day, scattered throughout the area feeding intently. One group of 6 were cruising back and forth all day, just off Parker Point and Bird 2. They’d go tails up and dive below a school of herring, some creating a net of rising bubbles around the feed. Then, suddenly, the whole pod would erupt from the water with their mouths wide open to engulf tons of seriously panicked herring. A totally awesome sight in the truest sense of the word.

Then, after lunch, the Orcas came through. We haven’t seen much of them recently but knew that they’d be around soon with so many salmon present. They didn’t linger but there were several colourful reports of salmon stolen from the hooks of lodge guests. At that stage most of us were releasing everything anyway so there were no hard feelings! (As exciting as the experience is, this is something that anglers are asked to avoid. Orca are very intelligent and will teach their young to associate fishing boats with an easy salmon meal.)

The derby itself was suspense-filled as always. Newcomer Laurie Mackinnon set the bar on Saturday with a nice Tyee that taped out to 35 pounds while fishing with veteran QCL guide “Rainman” Dan at Cape Naden. There were lots and lots of fish caught but few contenders. Some anglers made smart strategic moves entering “close” fish in the killed fish category or aiming for day money.

Fishing was fantastic all weekend with lots of action but feeders of 15-25 pounds dominate the population currently in the area. We did see our first 50 pounder and there were other big non-derby fish but Tyees were tough to find. As the final minutes ticked away there was the usual flurry of calls for a Weighmaster, just in case this was the one, but in the end Laurie’s 35 pounder prevailed and he was crowned champion of our 13^th annual derby. Perennial derby participant Jim Roberts landed a 31 pounder on day 3 to claim second place, bumping Mark Fitzgerald’s 28.5, caught on Day 1 with Red Baron, to third place. The largest killed salmon, at 26 pounds, was boated by Doug Martin with guide Luke Wagner on Day 3 as well. Congratulations to all participants and thank you for helping to make the weekend such a marvelous success!

As our first week draws to a close I have to say it’s been one of the best season starts yet! Our 2015 crew has hit the ground running with 2 full house trips full of super enthusiastic guests. They’ve done an awesome job of providing the full QCL experience and, with the help of some sweet weather and great early-season fishing; those first guests have gone home with big smiles on their faces!

The fishing so far has provided a pretty steady supply of Chinook salmon, most in the 14 to 20 pound range. And of course there is always the possibility of tangling with a Tyee… we’ve seen a few of them this week already! Fishing with guide Ryan Kelly, Al Ross boated the first 30 pounder of the season on Monday. Mary-Anne Hayfield raised the bar significantly on Tuesday with a beautiful 38 pounder (guided by Bryan Bowles) and Murray Seward caught and released a stunning big chromer that taped out to 39.3 pounds! And it’s just the first week!

On the Halibut side, a couple of nice calm days opened up the entire fishing grounds and our keen anglers pounced on the chance to fish offshore. There have been the usual crowd of tasty chickens taken but the stories are told of the fish that make you sweat!
Robert Walker pulled two giants to (guide) Oliver Massey’s boat last week – one taped out to 109 lb. and the other a whopping 150! Charles Patriquin turned back a 90 pounder and Yogi Parker released a 110 lb. barn door out off Bird 2. On Tuesday Chuck Stills measured one out to 106 lb. and yesterday Ken Coulter (fishing with his son, veteran QCL guide Kraig) caught and released a giant that taped to 121 pounds out off Green Point. Nice to see all is well on the halibut grounds! Well done – anglers and guides!

The coming weekend is looking pretty fine with the tides peaking today and starting to settle off over the next few days. Light to moderate variable winds should provide easy access to everybody’s favourite fishing holes! Can’t wait to see what happens!

FishMistress Report – May 28th

Things have been busy at Queen Charlotte Lodge getting ready for the 2015 season and the 25th anniversary year. A group of staff have been up at the lodge since May 8th preparing for opening day while the rest of the staff arrived on May 22nd.

Our group of guides have been out test fishing everyday with great results. Chinook salmon have been caught from each point of our fishing grounds as well as a few early Coho. The first Tyee of the season was caught on Wednesday, May 27th from Browns Pile!

Queen Charlotte Lodge has made a few changes this year, one being a new Fishmaster boat to better assist everyone on the water. Boats have been updated with new consoles, the addition of two new 23ft Grady Whites have been added to the fleet and a more specialized selection of tackle will be available for guests.
We look forward to a great season and seeing new and familiar faces at the lodge.

Chelsea

Bell Ringer Report – May 29th
Hello Fish Finatics!

Jin and his Red Boot Team are back at the Bell Ringer with some tasty new treats and are ready to spice it up with your choice of beverage!
This year we are continuing the “Taste of B-Sea” program where you can purchase all sorts of seafood ranging from West Coast hot smoked to Lox and Indian Candy. See Jessica when you arrive.
I’ve seen plenty of fish come through the Bell Ringer this week. Our last group limited out on their Chinook averaging around 20lbs!

Nothing but sunshine in the harbour this past week! I’m excited to see you all this season down at the Bell Ringer.
“Catch” you at the scale!

Tracey

Only 3 days until Opening for 2015!

The entire QCL summer team has been in sunny Naden Harbour for several days now, settling in, training and getting prepared to welcome our guests for our 25th season!
And what a season it’s going to be! We’re excited to introduce some fantastic new programs in both food & beverage as well as in fishing & marine. Keep on eye on future blog posts to hear all about it!

Our guide team has been in a week-long “guide school” – both on the water and in the “classroom” – checking out the fishing grounds. Veterans are sharing the fine points with some new additions to the team, ensuring they are entirely up to speed with the QCL fishing program. They’re finding lots of fish, mainly those brawny feeder Springs in the 15-25 pound class. They’re hitting anything green run behind a flasher at 25-30 feet! Anchovies are also working very well and our famous Tiger Prawn spoon is killer. Cape Naden to Bird 1 have been especially productive these past few days and we’re spending more time checking out B-II to Klashwun Point this week. Moderate northwest winds and big blue skies have been hanging around for over a week now and are predicted to continue through the weekend – it feels like summer! Tides will be moderate for opening weekend, with changes of 7 to 10 feet.

After opening day, look forward to more frequent posts, coming from the Fishmaster, the Bell Ringer, the Guide Team and from Shooter! You’ll really know what’s going on up here this summer! Stay tuned!

The MV Driftwood has just come out of dry dock after a 2-week stay at Allied Shipyards in North Vancouver. Transport Canada requires that all passenger vessels come out of the water every 4 years for inspection. The shipyard removes the rudder and stock, the propeller and tail shaft and all of the through-hull valves for service and inspection. The shaft is checked on a lathe for true, the bearings are serviced and everything is cleaned and lubricated. The hull itself gets a thorough examination by a shipwright to replace traditional oakum caulking between the planks. They service and replace protective gumwood cover boards and apply a special anti-fouling paint to the entire underwater hull to prevent growth of algae and barnacles.

Wooden vessels of this size are an increasingly rare sight on the coast and the Driftwood attracted a fair bit of attention while in dry dock. Thankfully back in 1944 she was well built to Canadian Navy standards at Star Shipyards in New Westminster. The hull is sound and tight and is an impressive sight from below. The hull above the waterline was scraped, filled, sanded and painted – a huge job that’s really only feasible during a haul out.

Photo gallery of the Driftwood in dry dock

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With only 5 weeks until she sets sail for Haida Gwaii and another season at QCL, we’re sprucing up the interior and getting her all set up to host our guests on the fishing grounds. Captain Ryan, Trevor, Sparky and crew are looking forward to welcoming you aboard!

With QCL Season #25 fast approaching there is a buzz in the air around here! Of course we’re always excited once we hang up the new calendar and dive headlong into the preparations for another summer in Naden Harbour! There’s a lot on the go this winter with some very cool projects in the works at the lodge. And we have some exciting developments in the hospitality program being cooked up right here in the office!

The Food Service program is getting a thorough makeover with delicious new menu items coming on stream this summer. Look for new menus in the main lodge dining room as well as at the Bell Ringer and on the Driftwood. Borrowing a page from our Totem House program, guests staying in the Charlotte House will enjoy some very special meals catered in their own dining room this season.

Our Grady White fleet will grow to 15 vessels this year with the addition of 2 more Gulfstream 232’s. The superior comfort of these big boats is winning a lot of fans among QCL guests! On the topic of boats, each year we replace most of the Mercury outboards with brand new units, particularly the 90 and 115 hp models. The new engines, scheduled to arrive next week, are the latest generation in Mercury 4-stroke technology. They are based on 150 and 115 hp models that we’ve been testing at QCL over the past 2 seasons. Hang on to your hats!

Did you receive your 2015 QCL Calendar? Always in demand, this 25^th Anniversary Edition features some flashbacks to earlier days at Queen Charlotte Lodge. If you haven’t received yours, bounce us a note and we’ll send one out to you! Send it to FishQCL@queencharlottelodge.com

As the last helicopter soared out across Naden Harbour on the morning of September 1st we toasted the conclusion of our 24th amazing season! QCL guests enjoyed an excellent summer with decent weather, great fishing and loads of fun! It was our busiest season ever and we had such a great time! Thank you to all who made it up to Haida Gwaii to stay with us this year! We’re looking forward to an even bigger summer next year as we celebrate 25 seasons of sharing awesome fishing adventure and camaraderie with our guests from all over.

We’re so fortunate to have an amazing staff up at the lodge each season. 2014 was no exception and we owe a great big thank you to all of the 110 members of our QCL team for doing such a fantastic job every day! They truly enjoy what they do! Our team in Vancouver, as always, provides a level of support that any organization would be thrilled to have and we couldn’t succeed without it. Thank you!

Fishing this summer was similar to 2013 with huge numbers of Chinooks in the 15-20 pound class providing lots of exciting action day to day. Our Tyee count held steady in 2014 with a slight increase in the number of really big salmon over 40 pounds. The season’s largest Chinook was a handsome chrome giant landed on July 19th by Bruce Severson that taped out to 68 pounds before it was released by his guide Kraig Coulter.

Over the past couple of years QCL anglers have really become enthusiastic Halibut fishers. Historically most guests easily picked up a couple of “chickens” to take home, often as bycatch while mooching for salmon. Recently however, guests and guides alike have discovered the thrills and challenges of fishing a little offshore and actually targeting halibut with proper tackle and techniques. Their efforts are paying off. Many guests are going home with halibut in the 20-40 pound class and the number of fish we’ve seen over 60 pounds has soared to more than a hundred!

Of course any halibut more than about 70 pounds is released now so guides have developed effective methods to measure them alongside the boat. As a result our trophy Halibut Club for fish over 100 pounds has grown significantly, especially this year! Thirty-six fish taped out to 100 pounds or better in 2014, with Mike Sutherland’s long-standing lodge record of 183 pounds being broken 5 times! In fact, QCL anglers brought four halibut alongside the boat this summer that each would weigh over 200 pounds! The largest of these, at 78 inches in length for a calculated weight of 255 pounds, was a team effort, landed by Donald Walker and Michael Stockton on August 5th. Their guide, Derek Poitras, took great pains to ensure that he had an accurate measurement. (Derek has some experience at this; he also released the lodge record salmon for his guest Chris Lewis in 2011!) That’s just an amazing catch and it sure gets the imagination going when we know that there are likely even bigger halibut out there!

The rigdown crew has completed their giant task and put the lodge and the docks to bed for the winter. The caretakers have their “to-do” lists and many of the staff have returned to school or other jobs, or not! Of course, lots of them are “gone fishing”, enjoying some well-deserved days on the river! And some of us are making plans for next year! Stay tuned!

QCL anglers are revelling in some of the best weather of the summer and finding that they have fantastic fishing to match! These past few days have been fairly typical for August with very steady Chinook fishing, especially along the traditional shores between Cape Naden and Klashwun Point. While it often tends to be hot and cold, Parker Point seems to be the single most productive spot out there, turning out nice Tyee-class fish every day.

At this stage of the season we generally find that the bulk of salmon are off shore a little, in 120 to 180 feet of water and found at a full range of depths, from 90 feet right up to the surface. This is the case off both the Bird Rocks shore as well as the north shore beyond Klashwun Point. Anchovy/flasher combos are catching loads of salmon but many of the larger fish are falling for herring, fished “wholly roller” style in close to the kelp beds. There always seems to be a few of those big ones hiding in the kelp! Glen Matys chose to release a 40 pounder there last trip, fishing with guide Matt Brown. Well done Glen! Vince Parker picked up a 44 with guide Sam Johnstone, Mitchell Wolfe turned back a 34 and Russ Carter released a 37 pounder with guide Ryan Kelly. First timer at QCL, Bobbie Ence landed a stunning 39 pounder with her guide Dakota Kitchen on Monday. Our special congratulations go out to Holly and Vince Morelli who chose to celebrate their wedding anniversary with us and did so in fine fashion, boating a matched set of Tyees on their first day of fishing! So lodge guests are still getting a decent shot at landing a big salmon, right into the last days of summer!

Coho fishing has been pretty crazy with huge quantities of beautiful chrome fish found throughout the grounds, particularly up topside between Green Point and Klashwun. The sizes are still very mixed but we are seeing some of those awesome 15-18 pound Northerns on the dock every night. It’s worth noting that we’re also seeing well above average numbers of sockeye at the lodge this month, maybe something to do with the huge projections for the Fraser this year!

Our awesome halibut fishing is still the big story of the summer with lodge guests catching / reporting way more larger-sized halibut than we’ve ever had before. A new approach to halibut fishing at the lodge is providing lots of excitement and very happy anglers at the Bell Ringer in the evening! Perhaps most notable are the number of 100 lb. plus fishing being released. Dale Johnson taped out 2 giants last week, a 107 and a 124 with guide Emmo Scharnberg – way to go guys! Larry Schultz turned back a 105 with Lucas Grayson and Murray Olson battled a huge fish to the side of Nick Mercer’s Grady White where they measured it out to score 220 pounds! That’s 4 fish over 200 this summer! Amazing fish! On the keeper side, Breauna Hatecke’s 60 pounder was one of many super fish to come to the Bell Ringer this week! Well done!

Heading into the Labour Day weekend, traditionally the final trip of the season, we expect the weather to switch to moderate southerlies, retaining the nice calm seas we’ve enjoyed but switching to liquid sunshine rather than the nice warm stuff we’ve gotten quite accustomed to lately! Moderate tides with changes in the 8-12 foot range should help keep the action pretty steady throughout the day! Fingers crossed for a big finish to an excellent season!