Kingfisher Report for June 29th

June 30, 2015 by Duane Foerter0
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Splendid weather this weekend treated QCL anglers to a perfect storm of fishing opportunities! Light variable winds and partly sunny skies combined with moderate tides to open every possibility on our fishing grounds. Prevailing westerly’s continue to push the bait into the many little bays and pockets along our shoreline. And we’re talking LOTS of bait! Ten days ago we were absolutely plugged with herring. Now the needlefish (what we’re most accustomed to) are the main feed drawing in the salmon and the whales. There seems to be a humpback in just about every bay, cruising and feeding right off the kelp and the rocks. Then every once in a while, one or two want to celebrate and they’ll move off just beyond the boats. They put on a show that loads up every smartphone on the water! We never get tired of these gentle giants and are constantly in awe of their presence.

Talking about awesome… the Chinook salmon fishery this summer continues to amaze. While those teen-sized feeder Springs have kept us busy for weeks now, we’re definitely seeing some changes in the mix and the larger fish are appearing more regularly. We peaked at the Bell Ringer last night with seven big beauties recorded over 30 pounds! Top Chinook for the weekend was a stunning 40 pounder landed at Klashwun Point by David H with his guide Tegan Baxter. That big fella took a herring at 8 pulls off the back rod! Darrel M released another stunning fish that taped out to 39 pounds – well done Darrel! It was a tough day on the water for Laurel M, fishing with partner Trevor and their guide Nick Mercer. Laurel boated a handsome 32 pounder at Bird 2 in the morning and finished the afternoon releasing 2 more Tyees, scoring 30 and 34 pounds! That’s a fishing day to remember! Well done!

Splendid 40 pound Chinook!

Our halibut fishery continues to impress all of us – new and returning guests alike! There were lots of perfect keepers in the 20-40 pound class and several in the 50’s and 60’s. Breaking the 100 pound mark this weekend, Megan W teamed up with Robin B to reel up a very memorable fish that taped out to 102 lb.. Congratulations! If course it’s a good thing they were able to find some nice keeper-sized fish to enjoy back home while they tell their stories!

Perhaps the story of the weekend was the absolutely giant halibut that was hauled up by Chris L with guide Mark Kasumovich. This fish had taken a commercial halibut bait and broken off, dragging the heavy ganglion cord with it. They managed to cut off all the line but couldn’t maneuver the fish well enough to remove the large circle hook. That may have been because this halibut measured out to 74 inches long – that translates to 215 pounds! Quite a feat guys and well done! That big female will produce about 3 million eggs when she spawns next winter!


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