We’re just nicely into our second trip of the season and are happy to report that everything is coming together quite well.  Our staff are settling into their positions and really enjoying having guests around to look after.  The Chef’s pantry is full and the wine list is looking good!

We are working hard to provide a quality QCL Experience during your stay at the Lodge. At the same time, we are trying our very best to ensure the health and safety of our guests and our staff.  We want you to relax and enjoy all the wonderful things you come here for, but we ask that you remember, this is not 2019.  This is different, and we need to do some things differently.

At the lodge we have adopted, by necessity, a number of measures that you will be very familiar with by now.  Physical distancing, wearing face masks and using hand sanitizer frequently are all part of everyday life here; much like you experience at home.  Everyone will appreciate that you continue to be vigilant in protecting yourself and others against this coronavirus.  That said, we have created spaces for you to safely enjoy dining and partying and fishing and telling stories.  We want you to have fun!  But we need everybody to pull together and take care of one another.

Now let’s talk about fishing…  with less boats on the water there are even more opportunities to find your own favourite spot!   We’ve had a lot of southerly wind systems in the past week and it looks like that will continue for at least another week.  Light to moderate winds swinging between southeast and southwest find us in sheltered water most of the time.  As a result, we’re fishing the full grounds from Green Point all the way over to Cape Edenshaw.  Chinook action inshore has been pretty steady with lots of feeder Springs in the mid-teens mixed with enough of those twenty-somethings to keep you holding out for something bigger.  There are some Tyees in the mix as well; we released a couple of 40-pounders in training week and on opening weekend the biggest Chinook was a beautiful 39-pounder for Gary W.  On Tuesday we saw a pair of 30-pounders come to the scale, one for Cecil D, celebrating his first ever Tyee, and one for Sean B. who’s enjoyed catching several big fish in recent years.  Congratulations Guys!

We’re seeing Cohos (6-8 pounds) and Pinks in solid numbers, mostly offshore, over the Pinnacles in 150-200 feet of water.  The halibut fishing is always reliable and several anglers have been rewarded with some very nice fish!  Last week the bar was set pretty high when Dr. James C. ventured out with veteran QCL guide Derek “Demo” P. and promptly hauled up a giant that they taped out to 76 inches (235 pounds) before releasing it.  Great work! What a way to kick off a fishing season!  On the weekend Bob M was trolling for salmon inshore between Parker Pt and Cape Naden with guide Jordan F. – they brought a perfect 30-pound halibut to the boat – but that was after catching and releasing two much larger halibut that measured 96 and 104 pounds!  You just never know what you’ll catch out there!  Great work guys.  The Tyee bell has rung for several other chunky halibut weighing between 30 and 50 pounds this week as well.

Wildlife has been abundant out there too.  Besides the usual collection of feeding Humpback whales and giant black bears foraging on the beaches, we’ve had several transient Orca cruising inshore – maybe they’re hanging around because we’ve also seen a few more sea lions than normal so far this summer.

Stay tuned – right here – for more updates as the 2020 season rolls on!