bc salmon fishing Archives - Page 4 of 21

While we are known for our access to some of the most sought-after salmon fishing grounds in the world, what QCL offers doesn’t stop there. Our fishing grounds are also home to rich bottom fish populations, offering our guests a multitude of fishing adventures all within one day.

In order to grasp the appeal to our bottom fishing grounds, you need to first know what makes bottom fishing “good”.

When targeting bottom fish – Halibut, Lingcod and Rockfish for example – anglers use topographical charts of the ocean floor to predict where fish are likely to live. These charts illustrate plateaus, troughs, and pinnacles (underwater mountains); which are what we refer to as structures. These structures are prime living locations for a variety of the bottom fish we target at QCL.

Our Fishing Grounds sit on the edge of an underwater shelf. At the edge of the shelf, depths drop rapidly from roughly 350ft to depths that plummet well below 700ft. This creates a concentration of bottom fish that venture onto the shelf for easier access to food sources and in turn, allow us the opportunity to fish these large numbers of fish. Additionally, this shelf allows for plentiful fishing without needing to travel extended distances or out into the open ocean; often the case when searching for good structure. Our grounds offer the ability to catch bottom fish from as close as the shoreline to a few miles offshore. Due to this, we often see Halibut and Lingcod being a bycatch when targeting salmon in shallow waters close to shore.

The structure of our fishing grounds also creates the unique ability to specifically target different bottom fish. For example, Lingcod are often found living amongst large rock formations and pinnacles, but Halibut are known to frequent large sand plateaus where they can easily camouflage themselves. Both locations offer ample opportunity to cross paths with both species but on our grounds, there are areas which support both types of bottom structure which results in precise targeting of each species.

An added benefit of our fishing grounds is that we have seen a steady increase in food sources such as herring and squid. They congregate around the underwater landmarks that Halibut, Lingcod and others are often found. Where there’s food, there’s always something around to eat it!

Behind each angler is a knowledge and passion for the sport they are partaking in, and we hope that with this knowledge your passion is ignited for your upcoming trip to QCL.

If the 2023 fishing season will be remembered for any one particular thing, it’s very likely to be the shear abundance of fish! From the early masses of needlefish we’ve encountered inshore since May and the dense schools of herring now over the pinnacles and halibut grounds, it’s no wonder there are so many salmon around! Throughout the first half of the season we’ve been awash in feeding Chinook and Coho. These early fish have been smaller than the migratory version we’re more accustomed to, but they’ve more than made up for it with their aggressive nature and persistent hunger for whatever we put in front of them! Translation… our guests haven’t been sitting down much!

Now that we’ve passed the mid-point of the season, we’re seeing more of what we expect in July, with strong numbers of beautiful, chunky, 20-something Chinooks and those summer Coho are getting up into the 10 pound-plus class. The Tyee Bell is tolling every evening at the Bell Ringer in celebration of memorable catches… for larger salmon, halibut and lingcod.

Another observation is the interest that our guests are showing in all things ocean and fishery related. Whether it’s speculation on why so many “feeders” are inshore this summer, to questions about kelp beds and sea urchins, or the difference between resident and transient orcas… there’s a new level of awareness in the air. And it’s a good thing… we all have a role to play in protecting the health of the oceans and marine life and it starts with being interested. There’s much to learn and to understand and it’s exciting to share all of this with our guests who come to enjoy the QCL Experience every summer!

Duane Foerter

And just like that, we’ve had another trip of first class fishing.

While salmon fishing the past week has continued to be consistent, we’ve seen success throughout our fishing grounds. Fish have been found at Green Point, all the way east to Cape Edenshaw. Weather has been the primary factor when choosing a spot, which we will see continue into the next week. Although fishing has been quite good throughout the day, the mornings have been noticeably more productive. If you’re not afraid of an early start, some incredible Chinook action has been found just as the sun has been rising. Enjoy the sunrise and the reason we are all here – tight lines!

Anglers have seen success with anchovies producing nice fish, likely due to the abundance of needlefish and sandlance spread throughout the grounds. If you find one of these bait balls, spend some time trolling anchovies and skinny G style spoons over top of it. No need to fish too deep, 27-37 feet has been the sweet spot.

The bell continues to ring as Tyees find their way onto lines and into nets. This weekend we saw a 39-pound Chinook for our young guest, Freddie M! Congratulations Freddie, what a thrill – Thanks for letting that big one go!

When it comes to bottom fishing, the big tides have created less than ideal conditions, but if timed properly at either end of slack, bottom can be found with not too much back trolling required. The flood tide has seemed to be most productive for halibut and lingcod. A herring tipped mud racker is all you’ll need to hook either.

Lead Guide, Jake Comrie

Waking up to the vibrant sunrise in Naden Harbour always ensures the day starts out just right. As you pass through the Narrows, on your way to the fishing grounds, you might see a Humpback feeding or playing in the nearby shallows. An assortment of sea birds fly past the boat as you run towards your desired destination to begin your fishing adventure.

Over the past few days, we’ve seen a northwest wind causing a slight delay in travel time. While your day takes a bit longer to start, we haven’t seen any guests deterred because the fish are here! There has been bait pushed inshore from the sustained wind and the fish have followed suit. Getting your second rod into the water can be difficult before the first rod gets a fish on – A great problem to have! We are seeing a lot of fish in the 10-12 pound range, but don’t let them fool you, they will take you for a ride as smaller fish are fresh and fight much harder than you might expect.

Spend time playing and you’re very likely to get into a larger chinook. In the span of 90 minutes today there were 7 Chinook over 25 pounds caught between Yatze Bay and Parker Point, including a minimum of four Tyees.

Despite having two pods of Orcas joining in on the feeding frenzy, the fishing was incredible. If Coho is your focus, head out slightly offshore and drift east, you should find them midway through the water column. The halibut grounds were choppy, but if you stick it out through the run out there and drop some lines to bounce the bottom, they are more than willing to take your herring, after which you’ve got the task of hauling up a piece of plywood off of the bottom of the ocean!

After a full day out on the water, exhausted from fighting fish all day, relax, and enjoy the ride back to the lodge, waving at the other anglers as you pass them by, toss a wave at the whale near the narrows too as Timmy the humpback is often there. Pull up to the dock and look forward to a mean Margarita in the Bellringer as you wait to weigh your catch of the day!

Another trip of great fishing is in the books!

Guide, Tommy G

We’ve had the whole QCL ‘23 team onsite for the past week and this place is buzzing. They’re in full reunion mode, settling in, catching up and meeting new friends. A solid training week is certainly the key to a successful season up here; there’s much to learn and share, and the enthusiasm is infectious. This will be our 33rd season and what a summer it’s going to be.

Our guide team has been in “guide school” – both in the “classroom” and on the water – 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.

Staff fishing is another critical part of training week. After all, those guides need to have anglers in their boats, right? So, there’s an amazing opportunity for our staff to experience fishing first class before we officially open!

They found lots of fish, mainly scrappy feeder Springs in the 12–18-pound class. Cape Edenshaw is often the most productive location in early season, and it’s been true to form. We’ve enjoyed lots of sunshine with moderate NW winds this week, so the crew has found very productive water on the west side. On Wednesday we started to see some larger Chinooks around.

The first Tyees of the season!

Fishing Cape Naden on the ebb tide Wednesday morning, Driftwood Captain Dan got his fishing buddy onto a very fine Spring salmon, working down 40-feet on the rigger with his signature “Magic Roller” herring setup. After 30-minutes they boated a stunning Tyee that tipped the scale at 37-pounds.

Right around the start of the flood, another boat worked the edge of the busy water at Klashwun Point, down 33-feet with an anchovy, finding another big chrome beauty. They taped this one out to 32-pounds before sending it back to continue its journey to the river. We’re thrilled to see good numbers of Chinook salmon feeding heavily in the area right now! There’s lots of bait around, with whales and birds everywhere… Heaven.

A number of boats have been out to target bottom fish, and they’ve done just fine. As usual, we often find lots of halibut feeding shallow in May; they’ll hit a spoon trolled slow along the kelp and really take you by surprise!

One big surprise for QCL guests this year, (actually, there are 10 of them) will be our new set of Coho Class boats at the dock this season. These deluxe Bridgeview 22-foot units will be available for both self-guided and fully-guided anglers.

Perfectly set up for 2 guests plus guide, these beauties are in a class of their own – Coho Class – and they’re quickly becoming a favourite.

Tides will be light this opening weekend with swings of only about 4 to 7 feet. Perfect conditions for halibut & lingcod fishing offshore! Winds are forecast to be light to moderate westerly on Friday, easing to light southerly on Saturday, and returning to westerly again Sunday afternoon. Sunny periods on Friday will give way to clouds and occasional showers for the balance of the weekend. Temps are cool… a solid 10 degrees on the water every day. We look forward to an awesome start to Season 33 at QCL!

Haida Gwaii – An archipelago located off the northern coast of British Columbia, known for its pristine natural beauty and rich culture. A popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, Haida Gwaii is home to some of the best salmon fishing grounds in the world. QCL offers guests the opportunity to this incredible corner of the world and fish its abundant waters.

One of the most important factors to consider when fishing on the ocean is the vessel in which you are fishing. The ocean is a vast, ever-changing environment and ensuring you are in a boat created for safety and ease of fishing is essential. With over 30 years of experience fishing Haida Gwaii waters, we know what works, and what doesn’t.

With that, we are excited to announce some updates to our on-water program for the quickly approaching 2023 season – A new series of boats! Ten custom-built boats will be introduced to our fleet, arriving shortly, to replace a grouping of boats that we have elected to retire.

Built in Prince Rupert by industry leading professionals who understand the demands of our marine environment, our new 22’ boats are state-of-the-art vessels, fitted with the latest equipment and technology. They feature comfortable seating, ample storage space for gear and tackle, and are equipped with AIS, GPS, and fish-finding technology. The boats are also equipped with brand new engines, enabling guests to reach their desired fishing destinations safely and quickly.

In addition to the practical features of these new boats, they are aesthetically pleasing, with sleek designs. Featuring the classic QCL red, our guests will glide through the waters of Haida Gwaii in style.

Whether you are an experienced angler or a beginner, these boats will provide the perfect platform for exploring the waters and catching some of the best salmon and bottom fish anywhere in the world.

QCL offers access to some of the most sought-after salmon fishing grounds in the world. It’s the northern Haida Gwaii waters that home a rich salmon population due to a combination of the remote wilderness and geography.

After hatching, salmon spend time growing in and around the rivers before venturing out into the open ocean. Once in the ocean, their search for prey such as herring and squid leads them north. After years of growing, they begin their journey south to return to the river they hatched in, for spawning.

Geographically, our fishing grounds are the prime spot for fish making their journey south. Situated along the north coast of Graham Island, salmon on their way to spawn, must pass through these waters. For others trying to gain their last few pounds of weight before beginning their trek, our healthy kelp beds and unique shorelines provide shelter for many of these fish to rest.

As the fishing grounds are the first stop for majority of southbound salmon, this creates multiple advantages for our guests. The first being that we are among the first to encounter these fish, giving us first pick. Fish are fresh and energetic when they arrive, providing some of the best battles an angler can experience with a wild salmon. As they have not traveled far, they are still focused on feeding, creating the perfect fishing scenario! At this point in their migration, salmon have not become accustomed to boats or fishing gear which allows us to fish where they like to hide. Without the threat of spooking them, we can approach shallow depths around kelp beds and rock structures close to shore.

Of all the advantages, the best may be that we have access to all salmon genetics. All salmon of one species do not share the same genetics. Many of the Chinook salmon that spawn in northern rivers in BC are genetically bigger than many of the Chinooks that spawn in the southern rivers. Our location has us perfectly positioned to have the best shot at some of the largest Chinook Salmon swimming in the Pacific.

Well, here we are into the final week of the ‘22 season and we’re happy to say that all the wheels are still on the bus! It’s been our biggest and busiest season ever with all the attendant challenges (and, of course, a few surprises too!). We’re still enjoying an outstanding summer and it’s looking to be pretty fine right through the weekend, save for a little southeasterly blow through Friday night.

The salmon catch is getting a little more random with anglers finding five salmon species all over the fishing grounds… top water Coho chasing everything near the surface (but there’s good ones down 30-50 as well) and aggressive Pinks hitting whatever they can get their teeth into in the top 20 feet. We’ve got Chinooks of all sizes – migratory spawners and local feeders – showing up inshore, and offshore while we’re fishing halibut! And just to keep everyone on their toes, we’re finding a few Chum and even a couple of Sockeye on every trip. Carl P released a beautiful 32-pound Tyee with his guide Tommy G last trip while we had several nice fish in the low 30’s come to the Bell Ringer over the past week. With the help of his guide Ryan K, Mike F boated an impressive big buck that tipped the scale at 44-pounds on the weekend. Halibut fishing continues to be solid with most anglers happy to pick up a third teen-sized hali for the freezer.

The humpback whales that have been keeping us company all summer are still feeding constantly in the quiet bays from Wiah Point around to Inskip Pt, and from Hannah Bay all the way around past Green Point. We’ve even had one or two feeding regularly right inside Naden Harbour since June! While their constant presence is something we’re so accustomed to, we never get tired of the pure awesomeness of it!

Amazing August! QCL guests have enjoyed so much epic adventure up here this summer that it’s hard to see how it could get any better. But these past weeks have delivered that “trip of a lifetime” experience for many. The fishing overall has been steady… the big fish are not as plentiful as we’ve come to expect, but the action is consistent, and anglers aren’t spending too much time in their seats! Going home with a nice box of beautiful wild salmon, halibut and lingcod is a precious treat that will be shared and savoured for months to come.

Small tides and light winds in the past week have really opened the door all day to bottom fishing, so our guests are really getting their fill of jiggin’ the deep! It’s yielding outstanding catches of halibut, lingcod and Pacific cod. This coincides nicely with a recent regulation change from DFO allowing sport anglers to retain a third halibut under 90 cm if they don’t have one larger than 90.

While most of our guides are still committing some part of their day to fishing inshore in search of big Chinooks, they’re finding good success on all salmon species while trolling offshore in 200-240 feet of water. That’s typical for late season salmon and the results have been good! We’re finally seeing more Coho in the 10-plus class, mixed in with powerful 16-20 pound Chinooks. Every so often a big, bright Chum hooks up and delivers that outstanding battle that they’re known for! Back at the Bell Ringer the Tyee bell is ringing every night for a wide array of big catches – from 40-50 pound halibut, to 30-pound-plus Lingcod and, of course, Tyee Chinooks over 30-pounds, some retained and some released. There’s always cause for celebration down there!

August weather has been particularly warm and dry, so long days spent out in a boat are pretty sweet… especially with a nice social lunch break at the Driftwood to catch up with friends and compare notes. With only 3 trips remaining in this 2022 season after Friday, we’re thankful that the fishing and the weather continue to cooperate and all of our guests, some of whom have waited since 2019 to get here, are getting the QCL adventure experience that they were hoping for!

The Big One That Got Away

Before most fishing was done by downriggers and trolling, boats would go out and motor mooch for salmon. The fisherman would make a cut-plug herring and thread it on to hooks and a leader. The leader would then be tied to a 4 or 6 ounce weight and then the weight was tied directly on to the main line. This was the BC standard for fishing for Chinooks and Coho.

One day in the early 1990’s I had a chance to introduce a husband and wife to the fishing up in Haida Gwaii. We made our way from the dock out of Naden Harbour to fish at the famous Bird 1 hotspot. There had been quite a few very large Chinooks taken over the last few days so I was very excited to see how this brand new fisher couple would make out. The tide was soft and the seas were calm – ideal weather and water for fishing with newcomers to the game. They watched as I cut the herring and rigged it up. They listened carefully as I explained how to let the line out and put the rod in the rod holder. I demonstrated how a mooching single action reel works and I drilled them on what to watch for and do when the inevitable strike comes. After a little bit of Q&A they were ready to go. The wife saw it first. The almost imperceptible first pull by a Chinook on the herring. Almost before she could say anything, the rod took a strong downward bend as the Chinook was beginning to panic and feel the hook. She was like a coiled cobra as she sprung to the rod… a natural. She reeled down to the fish and struck it hard. Line screamed off of the reel and the line angled up as I knew we were going to get a good look at this fish. Sure enough he swirled distant from the boat and I could see his wide gold green back. Eight inches across and all of 50 pounds or more. I was the only one that saw the fish and I was surely not going to further compromise the first few minutes of the fight with a description of how large the fish was. For now, this was information for me to keep to myself.

The fight waged for more than 45 minutes. Long, strong runs were followed by deep sulking. She had, by that point, developed her routine of pumping up the rod slowly, when the fish would give ground, and then franticly winding to pick up line and keep pressure. There was very little chatter as it seemed appropriate to let the wife focus on the giant Tyee salmon. Forty-five minutes stretched into an hour and I could tell the fish was quickly tiring. The pumping became easier, the runs not as strong and purposeful, becoming more panicky and weak.

Then it happened. Right at the top of the pump the rod went slack. Clearly this Chinook had found a way to rip the hook out of its mouth. As always, I encouraged the fisher to wind quickly to see if the fish had simply turned and we needed to catch up with it. I knew it was gone but we had to try. Just as I was about to say that the fish was gone the rod started to twitch and shake and the line came in easily. In an instant I knew what had happened. The big fish was truly gone. As the lady reeled in the empty hooks a small 12 inch Coho juvenile salmon had raced after my red hooks mistaking them for krill shrimp. He was now hooked and coming quickly to the boat. Before I could explain anything, the exhausted lady angler had brought the tiny salmon to the side of the boat. She looked down in disbelief and exclaimed that if a 12-inch fish could fight that hard she did not think she would be able to land a really large salmon!

Brian Clive

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The Fishing Grounds | Bottom Fishing

In order to grasp the appeal to our bottom fishing grounds, you need to first know what makes bottom fishing “good”.

Kingfisher Report | July 20, 2023

Kingfisher Report | July 2, 2023

Kingfisher Report | June 22, 2023

Spend time playing and you’re very likely to get into a larger chinook. In the span of 90 minutes today there were 7 Chinook over 25 pounds caught between Yatze Bay and Parker Point, including a minimum of four Tyees.

The Day We’ve All Been Waiting For….

The first Tyees of the season!

Updates From The Dock

With that, we are excited to announce some updates to our on-water program for the quickly approaching 2023 season – A new series of boats! Ten custom-built boats will be introduced to our fleet, arriving shortly, to replace a grouping of boats that we have elected to retire.

The Fishing Grounds

Kingfisher Report for August 30th, 2022

Kingfisher Report for August 23, 2022

It’s a Guide’s Life – August 16, 2022

QCL Signatures Series | Tom Yum Baked Lingcod

QCL Signatures Series | Seared Scallops with Romesco

Thank You | QCL Crew

A Wrap on 2024

Kingfisher Report | August 31, 2024