barn-door Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Queen Charlotte Lodge

Yay! A shift in the winds to northwesterly this week is bringing some welcome sunshine and the promise of great fishing for the next couple weeks. We’ve been able to get offshore regularly to check out our favourite halibut holes and are happy to report that all is well in that department! But while we’re out there we’re seeing significant amounts of bait –big herring and mature sandlance –that persistent NW winds tend to drive south into Virago Sound and our inshore fishing grounds. The Chinook fishing has not yet ramped up to “normal”but it is improving steadily. Guests and guides are putting some time in at all the favourite haunts now and we’re seeing some nice fish come to the boat. Another Tyee yesterday, a 31-pounder for veteran QCL guest Matt A was a nice addition to the chorus of Tyee bell ringers on the dock. Matt was joined by his son Trevor who was thrilled to haul up a chunky halibut that taped out to 60 pounds before being released.

A bit of novel news from this week is the success of two boats who chose to avoid some gnarly weather on Tuesday and fish inside the harbour. One boat, guided by Sam Johnstone, was jigging for halibut and connected with a good fish alongside the deep channel leading north out to sea. After a 20 minute tussle they discovered a big hali alongside the boat that they taped out to 100 pounds! Congratulations to Mike N on a big catch in a little spot! Meanwhile, guide Kylie Tokairin was trolling along the same drop with guests–her own Dad and his friend, when they also hooked up with a big halibut, but on a salmon rod! They got pulled around for over an hour but finally managed to coral the giant at the boat, taping it out to 62 inches length, scoring 121 pounds! Way to go Brad!

The 16^thAnnual Kingfisher Derby kicked off today with $120,000 in the pot! This annual Catch & Release derby attracts a strong following who compete every year for the largest released Chinook salmon. With new bait and new fish moving into the sound it’s bound to get very interesting! Stay tuned!

As we roll into the middle days of June we’re seeing more familiar faces and enjoying some of the many special events that have developed here over the years. Fishing has always been all about tradition and we see a lot of them celebrated up here! Friends from Calgary, here this weekend, always toast the conclusion of another successful fishing trip with a round of fine grappa on the final evening, pouring carefully from a spectacular 3-litre bottle that sits in a place of pride in the lodge. They left this morning with some great memories, assorted boxes of fish and renewed friendships. It’s an honour to play some small part in it.

Over the weekend the fishing showed signs of “progress”with the first signs of other salmon species arriving. We saw a few big bright silver chum come to the dock; pound for pound possibly the toughest salmon out there. There were also some small coho and pinks in the mix, that we haven’t seen to date. Chinook fishing often requires patience and attention to detail and we’re certainly seeing that these days. Active periods are often closely attached to the tides and successful anglers are those who manage to be on their favourite point just when the tide is right.

That was the case for Josh K on Sunday morning as he was fishing with Red Baron and a couple of buddies just south of Klashwun Point. They hooked up with the fish we all dream about at that spot and Josh handled it masterfully. The stunning chrome bright Tyee tipped the scale at just over 37 pounds –what a beauty! Nice fish guys! While we haven’t seen a lot of larger salmon yet, the bulk of Chinook in the area are those feisty feeder springs in the 10-20 pound class. We’re getting them more widely throughout the grounds now with Parker Point, Bird 2 and Eagle Rock providing some excitement around the slack tides.

We know that halibut are commonly found closer to shore in these early days of the season and savvy anglers are picking them up while trolling along the kelp for salmon. The MV Driftwood has been anchored at the Mazzaredo Islands much of the time as we have boats spread out evenly to the east and the west. They often drop a line off the side and it’s quite common for a guest aboard to catch their limit of halibut right there in less than 50 feet of water.

Sometimes they get more than they bargained for. There was excitement galore after supper on Saturday night when the tip of the rod outside the Chef’s galley door jerked down hard. A mad scramble ensued as the crew were busy pressure washing the tenders and guest Jim S was charged to deal with the fish. Problem was, once Jim grabbed the rod, the fish made a run toward the stern of the Driftwood, right under the swim grid and the crew working around it! The only way to follow the fish was to pass the rod under ropes and around boats until he could get to the aft deck, where he and first mate Ryan Winger jumped into a tender and proceeded with the battle! As the water depth was only 40 feet this fish was unable to sound and made long powerful runs out away from the boat instead. When Jim finally managed to get it close, it was obviously way too big to keep. Ryan and Chef Ricky managed to get a length measurement –a whopping 74 inches –before they released the giant, which scored out to 215 pounds! What an amazing catch in such an exceptional circumstance! Way to go Jim and the DW crew! That’s a fish story for the record books, even by Driftwood standards!

Ahhh…it’s so great to get back on the water again! That was definitely the consensus this weekend as we kicked off our first trip of the season. The weather was very typical Haida Gwaii –a constant cycling of sunshine, showers and layers of clouds moving through all day and night! Normal is good.

The early season fishing has been similar to last year with teen-sized feeder Springs dominating the catch. The action wasn’t hot, but most anglers bumped into a few over the course of the trip. The best concentration of Chinook action has been on the eastern side of our fishing grounds with most boats working the inshore waters from Inskip Point around past Cape Edenshaw to Slab Rock. Anchovy / flasher combinations or small spoons fished down 30 to 35 feet have been most productive. We’ve seen a number of nice Springs in the low to mid-20’s but we’re awaiting the first Tyee of the season. Sandy O. came close with this beautiful 25 pounder! Any day now!

Moderate southerly winds on Saturday and Sunday saw most boats exploring the offshore waters to pick up some tasty halibut and lingcod. We were finding lots of nice chickens for the fish box and, as usual, some anglers got a little more than they bargained for! Our halibut fishery has emerged in recent years as some of the most exciting fishing out there and, true to that tradition, we recorded 4 fish over 100 pounds on our opening weekend. The size champ of the season so far is Lorri S. (who not only bagged a perfect 22-pound Chinook) but also hauled up a classic “barn door”halibut that taped out to 75 inches –that’s 220 pounds! Fabulous fishing Lorri! Keeping “girl power”in the forefront, Aubrey C. brought a 108-pounder to the boat. A 59-inch halibut for Jesse C. scored out to 105 pounds and John L’s big slab on Sunday was in the same league, coming in right around the 100 pound mark. Jesse’s wife Marla was also in the running on Sunday when she landed a 57-inch halibut for a score of 93 pounds. The nice thing is that all of these very memorable fish (all females) went right back down to carry on with the business of making more halibut! Fish stories to last a lifetime!

Making the most of that great fishery, today we kick off our second annual Jig-a-Pig Derby –dedicated to those who have a thing for jigging! No doubt the Tyee Bell will be ringing a lot this week with tales of mighty battles going on out on the grounds! We’ll keep you posted.

Halibut fishing has become more popular than ever at QCL and with good reason. “Back in the day” most of our guests picked up a couple of random halibut while mooching for salmon and they were happy with that; not going offshore to jig for halibut meant more time for catching salmon! With the introduction of GPS mapping of the fishing grounds many anglers have found their own favourite fishing holes and return to them year after year. Releasing all of those big breeding females over 75-pounds has been a good thing too. As a result, many QCL guests make fishing for halibut and lingcod a priority during their stay.

We know that there are some big fish out there; some really big fish. It’s not unusual for us to see a number of halibut in excess of 100-pounds released every week. And sometimes they are massive – over 6-feet in length. Well last week, working with some largish tides, lodge guest Derek Benson and his father spent some time in a couple of boats with friends, fishing offshore in the hunt for a big halibut. They tried out a few of our favourite waypoints but found their best luck over a hump 215 feet down. There was a fair bit of excitement when they returned to the lodge and shared their many photos and videos of the results!

Derek tells the story pretty well!

“We pulled up to our GPS mark at “Hali-wood”, knowing we were in a good spot from the sizable halibut lost there the day before. Dropping back down to the same spot, my Dad hooks up. Thirty minutes later we are cheering over the 254 lb. halibut lying alongside of the boat. I had laid my 7-foot rod down to her and it was 6” short of the tip. After a quick release, I reset on the GPS mark and dropped the same jig back down. The fight started as I was adjusting the Lowrance sounder with one hand and jigging the rod with my other. After 15 minutes of not raising the halibut up an inch, I asked my Dad to get the boat in gear and start circling around her. My plan was to get momentum on the halibut to help angle her up, rather than trying to lift her straight up, with the boat in neutral. An hour later (and 30 corkscrews later!) we gasp in disbelief at the width and length of this fish. Again I laid my 7-foot rod on top of the fish, and there was still nearly a foot of fish extending past the rod! It then took another 30 minutes to unhook it and 3 more times to the surface. I was using my Shimano Teramar rod and Shimano Talica 16 2-speed, a tuna setup but multi-purpose. Measuring out to 94 ½ inches it converted to 474 lb. on the IPHC chart. This was definitely the fish of a lifetime, and I’m happy to say, it was safely released.”

Congratulations to Derek and his crew on a great angling achievement! Two years ago we recorded a fish for Bruce Severson and George Best that measured out to 90 inches in length for a score of 405 pounds and we doubted that we would ever see another fish in that league. This one certainly is and we’ll be happy to add Derek’s 474-pounder to the QCL record book! We’ve seen a lot of great fish up here and we’re always in awe of the quality of our fishery! Every time a new record is set, we’re happy to celebrate it!

Heading into one of the more exciting weekends of the summer, today we kicked off our 15^th Annual Kingfisher Derby and it’s the biggest ever! Sixty-four anglers are vying for $128000 in prize money. This is a catch & release derby where all Chinook salmon entered are officially scored, revived and released by derby weighmasters. The 3-day event concludes on Sunday at 7:00 pm when the prizes will be awarded for the three largest salmon released, plus daily winners and a single $10000 prize for the largest killed fish. Stay tuned for the results!

The past few days have been consistent with last week’s fishery – lots of feisty feeder springs in the 130-foot line offshore and the occasional larger fish showing up in the mix. The big fish this week was a stunning 36-pounder for first timer Trista B – a particularly good omen in this instance as Trista answered her boyfriend Andrew’s proposal with a resounding YES! It’s truly a celebration Tyee! Congratulations!

Our halibut fishery continues to be especially rewarding, whether you’re seeking some perfect “chickens and turkeys” for the table or you love the challenge of finding “Wally” the barn door out there. We’ve got it all in that department… the waters of Virago Sound provide lots of perfect structure for halibut and other groundfish. Several big keepers kept the Bell Ringin’ each evening. Joining the venerable 100-Pounder Club this week were Kevin C who managed to haul up a 110 and a 120-pound halibut! Brad H released a 148, Mike N battled a 122 pounder to the top and David C called up some real grit to raise a monster alongside the boat that taped out to 76 inches in length for a calculated weight of 234 pounds! It’s often amazing to go jigging because you just never know what you might hook up with down there. Well done David and Congratulations to you and your guide Jeevan for such an awesome achievement!

Southerly winds have given QCL guests some glassy calm seas to enjoy this week and they’ve certainly taken advantage of them! Having lodge boats scattered all over the fishing grounds confirms every time that there are just so many great options out there for the adventurous angler! The guides have identified numerous favourite spots in the offshore zone where they’re finding excellent opportunities for halibut, lingcod and yelloweyes. Improved sounder technology has helped us “see” structure down 200+ feet that we never knew was there! Now that we’re releasing all those big breeding halibut over 70 pounds we’re catching more of the prime 25 to 45 pounders that are so perfect for the freezer. It’s especially good when they go home in beautifully vac-packed 1 lb. chunks from our licensed fish processing facility! Our guests enjoy quality packed fish all year long.

But it’s mighty exciting when you drop your jig down 220 feet and quickly hook up to a fish the size of a door! That happened to Alan J and Edison K while fishing yesterday with veteran guide Jackson Jane. Sharing turns on the rod through a 45-minute battle they finally got “eyes-on-the-prize” when a massive halibut came alongside the boat. With some effort they were able to tape the huge female out to 192 cm for an estimated weight of 230 pounds! That’s more than 6-feet long! And the beauty of it is that they swim away with such vigour! Most of them make sure you get a good soaking in the process! Well done lads! (Stay tuned for pics!)

Chinook salmon fishing has turned up the volume nicely this week with some very impressive catches recorded at the Bell Ringer. We’ve added 3 new members to the QCL 50-Pounder Club in the past 3 days! After first-timer Danny B started his QCL experience with a a 50-pound beauty on Monday, long-time QCL angler Ted W landed a 51 on Wednesday morning. Ted likes to release his big fish but unfortunately this one had damaged the gills and guide Jordan Grames had to keep it on board. What a gorgeous salmon guys! Congratulations Ted!

And on Wednesday evening Gabrielle K had better luck with her release of another beautiful Tyee that taped out to just over 50 pounds, watching it swim away with nice strong strokes of its big spotted tail! Awesome!

It’s been a fun weekend trip, as our guests have enjoyed some good snaps of salmon fishing over the last couple of days. With a very calm morning on the water, many folks brought in some nice halibut in addition to their salmon catch.

This morning my three guests and I departed the dock at 7am and our first stop was Cape Naden. I knew we were in for a great morning, as there was a humpback feeding in the east bay. On our first pass the the port side rod buried into the water and five minutes later we boated a beautiful seventeen-pound Chinook. As the morning progressed more boats joined us, with most boats bumping into a few fish. Over the course of the day we played with nearly a dozen salmon in the teen size range, as well as sneaking out to pull up a few halibut between tide changes.

Although some light easterly winds came up in the afternoon, it was yet again another great day in Haida Gwaii! It seems that many of us have found the “stick, stay, make it pay” method of fishing to be working best over the past few days in order to catch the flurries of action at any of our major fishing points. It has been a great start to the season and we are excited to see what the rest of our season has in store.

Tight Lines,

Jackson “Wacko Jacko”

With winds shifting to southeast this week our guests spent more than half their time fishing the Cape Edenshaw side. This proved to be very productive, particularly in the afternoons and evenings and along the kelp beds south to Inskip Point. Tons of needlefish in these waters have attracted both salmon and halibut into less than 50 feet of water to provide some pretty exciting fishing!

While the fishing hasn’t been hot it’s pretty steady for teen-sized Chinooks and lots of chicken halibut. Of course there are always exceptions and several lucky anglers have found fabulous opportunities to tangle with the potential “fish of a lifetime!” Annie R celebrated the first Tyee release of the season with a nice 33 pounder on Thursday, fishing with her husband and guide Mark Kasumovich. Nice work Annie! Karen C boated the largest Chinook of the season so far with a beautiful 42 pounder, taken near the Driftwood anchored just inside Cape Edenshaw. Guide Oliver M coached Karen to ultimate success – it’s always amazing to see those huge chrome Tyees!

Our early season halibut fishery is fantastic and we’re seeing lots of great fish being taken in close to the kelp as these big flatties come into the shallows chasing after needlefish. Monte K started the trophy board off for 2016 when he released the largest halibut of the season so far with guide Torsten N – a feisty giant that taped out to 206 pounds! That’s quite a fish Monte! Lucky for Monte and his wife Olwyn, they managed to find a matched set to keep – 36 and 33 pounders that will look mighty fine vac-packed in 1-pound chunks for their freezer! Other big releases this week… Glen L released an 87 pounder and Wendy and Dave T tag-teamed to let go an impressive 77 pound halibut. Several people caught nice big halibut in the 30’s and 40’s, mainly taken in close to shore while trolling for salmon!

The weekend forecast is calling for light variable winds – a welcome respite from some unusually strong southerlies that tore up Naden Harbour all day today! We’re also experiencing extreme tides over the weekend with changes in the 17-foot range! There’s never a dull moment around here!

As we button up the lodge for the long wet winter months ahead, it’s time to take stock of our 25^th season in Naden Harbour. It was indeed exceptional in many ways. Several weeks of warm dry weather from mid-May thru late June was cause for some concern as much of the province was under water restrictions and fire watch. It was a reminder that even up here in the “misty isles” we can’t take anything for granted. While the staff were thrilled at the beautiful summer conditions, the return to “normal” in July provided welcome relief for the operations department.

June fishing is distinguished by feisty feeder Chinooks but this year the numbers were outstanding! Lots of anglers had their butts kicked by 15-pound Chinooks and loved every minute of it! When you can catch & release 40 or 50 fish like that in a day, you’ve got some stories to tell!

Halibut… never have we seen better halibut fishing. There were no shortage of nice chickens for the fish box and for those seeking something heavier to haul up, we were always finding new bumps and ridges out in 220 to 330 feet that provided those larger fish in the 30-60 pound class. As for barn doors, best year ever by far! Fifty-two fish over 100 pounds, 10 of them over 200! The QCL record was broken twice this year with a 277 pounder for Dave Bossons and of course, we won’t forget the massive fish hauled up by Bruce, George and Kraig that taped out to 405!

While the early season Coho fishing was pretty standard we didn’t see the usual abundance of Coho in July & August. Whether that was a migration thing or some other issue, we’ll be anxious to hear from the DFO scientists’ reports this fall.

Chinook fishing, on the other hand, was pretty reliable. Adapting to tides and weather, we were always able to find them. The Tyee count was up noticeably from last year and so was the “big fish” count for those over 40. We saw more new members of the 50 Pounder Club this year, eight of these coming in August! Two fish over 60 were landed this summer and one beautiful giant was released by Trevor Malley on July 30^th that measured to 78 pounds! All in all, an incredible fishing season.

Sending out a huge THANK YOU to our QCL crew who did an outstanding job this year! It was our busiest season ever and this great team not only succeeded in sending our guests home happy… they flourished! What an awesome group of people to spend the summer with, it was truly a pleasure to share every day with you!

And to our guests, we hope you enjoyed it at least as much as we did! This is such an incredible part of the world and we’re blessed to be here. Sharing in your excitement and enthusiasm is why we’re here.

Thank you for choosing Queen Charlotte Lodge. We hope you came away with wonderful memories and amazing stories to share with friends and family as you enjoy those tasty meals of fish that you caught yourself! Of course we’ve already started preparing for next season so we’d like nothing better than to have you come back again! Until then, keep an eye on our website and social media for updates and all the latest news of what’s happening at QCL!

Light to moderate westerly’s through much of the past week have turned out excellent fishing opportunities for QCL guests. We’ve been doing very well at all the favourite spots; Klashwun Pt., Eagle Rock and Bird One have been producing steadily for both Chinook and Coho. Fishing halfway down in 70 feet of water, anchovies, spoons and herring have produced equally. The late stages of the flood tide have been especially good at Bird 2 and Cape Naden. Approaching the first of August one change that we’re noticing is pockets of pink salmon; it is one of those years when we should see lots of them!

The Bell Ringer has certainly been a rockin’ place these days with lots of big fish either coming to the scale or being reported as released! Young Henry P. followed up his 40 pound catch last week by releasing a big beauty on Thursday that taped out to 46 pounds! How many 10 year olds have caught two Tyees over 40? Wow! Great job Henry and Scott! Manitoban angler Roland M. had the good karma going for him (along with a good guide in Jackson Jane!) last week, releasing a 37 lb. Tyee on Tuesday, a 42 pounder on Wednesday and finishing off with a 38 pound release on Thursday! Magnificent fishing Roland! Thanks for taking the lead in our catch & release efforts!

Sunday seemed to bring in a whole new run of Chinooks and QCL anglers really ramped it up in response. We saw several nice Tyees in the thirty’s and lots of perfect 20-somethings to take home! Bruno G boated a 40 pounder, Norm D landed a 42 and Mike H released a stunning fish that taped out to 44 pounds! The moderate tides and flat seas on Sunday created perfect conditions for halibut hunting and our guests soaked it all up! Ten fish over 80 pounds were caught and released on the mid-day slack with lots of awesome keepers in the 30 to 60 pound class coming back to the dock. Biggest fish of the day was monster reeled up by Trevor H. that measured 77 inches for a weight of 244 pounds! Dustin M recorded a big catch on Friday that scored 234 with a length of 76 inches! Other huge catches on Sunday included a 198 for Matt B., a 180 for Aaron J., and a 120 for Aaron R.! A couple of our lady anglers, Sharma C and Darlene S-F, did a great job hauling up an 87 pounder to the top for photos before turning it back as well! It’s amazing to see these huge fish at the boat and to be able to release them so successfully! Well done guys & gals!

Tune in tomorrow for this week’s fishing report!

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Kingfisher Report | August 31, 2024