The fishing is outrageous up here!     I’m not sure what’s going on in the ocean these days but Chinook salmon seem to like it!

For the fourth day in a row QCL anglers are experiencing epic salmon fishing.  The grounds are full of herring and needlefish and thousands of hungry salmon!  The average size is ranging from 13 to 20 pounds, though we are seeing increasing numbers of larger fish every day.

The profusion of salmon extends over our whole fishing area, from Cape Edenshaw all the way around to Green Point.  Several anglers and guides are reporting 40-plus fish days.  There are some early Coho in the area and some boats are going slightly offshore in hopes of picking up a few “bonus” fish by fishing shallow and a little quicker.  They are finding a few Coho but they still can’t get away from the Chinooks!

We had our first big Tyees last week – a few high 30’s and one over 40.  This week’s numbers are similar, with Wayne Erne boating a gorgeous 41 pounder on Tuesday while fishing with guide Alistair Bryce.  Our very own Jin Chong caught & released a beauty at Bird 2 today, right by the Driftwood, that taped out to 38 pounds – way to go Jin!  And Ross Douglas turned loose a nice 30 pounder today while fishing with guide Randy Zinck.

We’ve been able to get out to all the favourite halibut fishing holes and the results are quite impressive!  Several nice keepers between 30 and 60 pounds have had the bell ringing steadily at the Bell Ringer.  Kevin McLeod brought back a 63 pounder that taped out exactly to the max. 133 cm while fishing with guide Kraig Coulter at one of his sweet spots.  In contrast, while the Driftwood was anchored at the Mazzaredo Islands on Monday night, where they are known to jig off the side after dinner, a big halibut picked up the baits of both rods (one on either side of the ship!) and took off running.  It took a few minutes to determine that both anglers were playing the same fish but eventually our Driftwood hostess Tori mightily cranked the monster to the surface where it was measured and eventually harpooned.  Weight on the scale… 62 pounds!  (in 40 feet of water!)  So you just never know where you’ll find your dream fish!

Looking ahead to the weekend we’re expecting a bit of a Nor’westerly blow Thursday noon, but that should dissipate by evening and we’ll enjoy moderate (15-20 knot) NW winds through the weekend.  Rest up, it’s going to be a busy one!