Stories about big fish are creating quite the buzz around the lodge these days with super-sized salmon encounters happening almost every day!  Over the past few days we’ve welcomed 7 new members to the 50 Pounder Club and one to the Kingfisher Club with a 68 pounder.  On top of that there have been 18 big Chinooks over 40 pounds, many of which were released.  Klashwun Point has been the source for many of these catches, particularly early in the flood tide, fishing halfway down in 90 feet of water.  Herring, anchovies and spoons are producing equally well.  Parker Point and Bird 2 have also turned out some nice big salmon, more from out off the face than back inside the bay.

Paul Hautamaa started things off east of Klashwun with a big chrome beauty that taped out to 52 pounds before his guide Matt Brown carefully released it.  The next day saw four fish in the 50 pound class released.  At Parker Point Ted Wilson and his guide Brett Clarke released a big Tyee that scored 49.1 to be matched exactly by another fish for angler Brad Rieland, fishing with guide Nick Mercer at Klashwun Point.  Ralph Ettles and his son Greg turned back a hefty Chinook that scored 51 pounds only minutes earlier.  First thing in the morning Jan Ettles boated a 45 pounder and later that afternoon Thad Zipp released one the same size.  Almost unbelievably, Brad Rieland gave a repeat performance at Klashwun later in the day, catching and releasing a second huge Chinook that also taped out to 49 pounds!  Not to get left behind, Brad’s fishing partner Art Ducherer caught and released a 44 pounder on Thursday!  To cap it all off Driftwood angler Steve Plamondon sent back another big Tyee that measured out to 51 pounds.  Congratulations to all and a huge thank you goes out to all of those anglers and guides who chose to let these amazing big fish go!

While the big Chinooks created lots of excitement, the catch board filled up nicely with loads of Coho, Chinooks and Halibut.  It’s nice to see the average size of both species of salmon increasing steadily as the summer rolls along.