2017 Haida Gwaii Reports
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Let's get this thread going...
I just booked an early trip to Langara (late May - early June) with my 11 year old son for his first real fishing trip. Don't see many early reports on the Haida Gwaii pages from past years, curious if others have had much success this early. I've been up there ~10 times before but never this early!
I just booked an early trip to Langara (late May - early June) with my 11 year old son for his first real fishing trip. Don't see many early reports on the Haida Gwaii pages from past years, curious if others have had much success this early. I've been up there ~10 times before but never this early!
hippaisland
Well-Known Member
Fishing was real strong early in season last year on the west side of the Gwaii. Tapered off later in the summer though.
Hi Barry. I fished Langara same timeframe in 2015. We spent about 30% of our time hunting lunkers without success. Still caught at least 10 fish a day per person from 15-25. My favorite spot for salmon was Lacy Island. There is a Hali hole about 2.5NM west of Lacy Island. The guide that took us there is Brent. SE corner of Swanton Bank in Parry passage has lings & Hali in about 40ft of water.
Thx Eric. That sounds encouraging. I'm pretty familiar with all the popular salmon and Ling spots and will be self guided as usual so I'll work those spots and hope for the best. If i can put my son on 5-10 fish a day that would be a great trip. He gets tired of the 0-2 fish days down here in Puget Sound / Gulf. Need to grow and encourage his addiction.
ILHG
Crew Member
My good buddy just returned from fishing Masset. The weather was rough the first couple days which made it tough.
Salmon fishing was not great. Biggest was maybe 15lbs & they had to work for them. The halibut fishing was hot. The caught what he says was at least 200lber in about 70' of water on the second day. Lots of turkey sized & they were loving Herring.
I head up in 2 weeks & hope the springs are much thicker by then
Thanks
ILHG
Salmon fishing was not great. Biggest was maybe 15lbs & they had to work for them. The halibut fishing was hot. The caught what he says was at least 200lber in about 70' of water on the second day. Lots of turkey sized & they were loving Herring.
I head up in 2 weeks & hope the springs are much thicker by then
Thanks
ILHG
ILHG
Crew Member
Just got back from Langara. Fished self-guided with my son out of the North Island Lodge. What an amazing trip, this was my 12th trip up there since 2002 and it still never gets old.
Fishing started out really good. We went 11 for 13 on springs within the first four hours of the trip -- had three double headers. Nothing over 18#. We released all but one -- a 15# bleeder -- thinking the fish were in and we needed to pace ourselves over the next 4 days. That was a bad decision, as fishing slowed over the remainder of the trip and we only touched 5-7 more after that. Didn't matter though, as we switched over to target ground fish and boated a 55# (125cm) hali on salmon gear while bouncing bottom for lings. Most fish were caught while trolling choked herring, however we did catch 3 on gear -- 2 of which were on a lemon lime AP Herring spoon (the big one). Finished the trip with a double header to cap it all off and ended up bringing home ~100 lbs of meat. The other boats did about the same. My son reeled in all the springs except when we had the four doubles, so he got a lot of practice for the coming summer down here in the Puget Sound and Gulf Islands. The biggest fish at the lodge was 28#, with a few 20-25# fish also caught. If you go up there I recommend not being too selective right now, most fish are in the 12-16# range and haven't fattened up quite yet. There was a decent school of fish on that first day, you just got to be there when the next one arrives. The switch can flip on at any time.
BTW -- I want to thank Andrew Paine (AP Tackleworks) for the above-and-beyond level of customer service last week. I ordered some of his spoons in April but they never arrived in time for the trip so I shot him an email to track the package. He sent them via air cargo to the Vancouver airport south terminal and I picked them up on my way north. That was more than I expected.
Fishing started out really good. We went 11 for 13 on springs within the first four hours of the trip -- had three double headers. Nothing over 18#. We released all but one -- a 15# bleeder -- thinking the fish were in and we needed to pace ourselves over the next 4 days. That was a bad decision, as fishing slowed over the remainder of the trip and we only touched 5-7 more after that.
Didn't matter though, as we switched over to target ground fish and boated a 55# (125cm) hali on salmon gear while bouncing bottom for lings. Most fish were caught while trolling choked herring, however we did catch 3 on gear -- 2 of which were on a lemon lime AP Herring spoon (the big one). Finished the trip with a double header to cap it all off and ended up bringing home ~100 lbs of meat. The other boats did about the same. My son reeled in all the springs except when we had the four doubles, so he got a lot of practice for the coming summer down here in the Puget Sound and Gulf Islands. The biggest fish at the lodge was 28#, with a few 20-25# fish also caught. If you go up there I recommend not being too selective right now, most fish are in the 12-16# range and haven't fattened up quite yet. There was a decent school of fish on that first day, you just got to be there when the next one arrives. The switch can flip on at any time.BTW -- I want to thank Andrew Paine (AP Tackleworks) for the above-and-beyond level of customer service last week. I ordered some of his spoons in April but they never arrived in time for the trip so I shot him an email to track the package. He sent them via air cargo to the Vancouver airport south terminal and I picked them up on my way north. That was more than I expected.
ILHG
Crew Member
BarryA, great report & great advice. A few seasons ago same thing happened to me. Released a bunch a springs day 1 and then only caught one over the last 2 days. I am going not make the same mistake again. How was bottom fishing? The last couple years early June had great/epic bottom fishing.
Where you using down riggers? Was there much bait around?
Lastly how is the Kelp? The last couple years at QCL has had majior Kelp die off. I have heard it's starting to come back.
I head out to QCL on Friday & will report back Monday evening
Where you using down riggers? Was there much bait around?
Lastly how is the Kelp? The last couple years at QCL has had majior Kelp die off. I have heard it's starting to come back.
I head out to QCL on Friday & will report back Monday evening
Yes, we were using downriggers the whole time. I'm putting together a video with all the salmon strikes captured, it should be fun to watch. Stay tuned for that.
Bottom fishing was not a problem, and was something I expected being the first trip of the year for NIL. The flats outside Gunia/Cohoe were loaded with chickens, as well as out by Lacy. Lings were more toward Lacy and were all caught bouncing bottom with a mooching setup.
Egeria Bay (south side of Cohoe) was where most bait was found, but the screen was pretty empty everywhere else. I did see some up by Langara Rocks but didn't get any bites there. Most of the fish we got on day 1 were marking on the screen near the bottom so we got them trolling deeper (75-140ft). The rest of the fish were at 25-75 depths. We generally stayed away from the crowds and fished outside them wherever there was a rip and did just fine (relatively speaking). Follow the slicks!
Saw several humpbacks working the east side in tight, and heard reports of orcas near seath/pillar but didn't see them myself.
There was plenty of kelp around, lots of rafts swirling around along the east side for sure. Didn't notice any shortage of it, for sure.
anorthernhunter
Active Member
Barry PM sent
ILHG
Crew Member
http://www.queencharlottelodge.com/blog/
This is typically the stuff that would make me run out and buy a "army truck" hoochie for my trip this Friday.
I'm not doing it this time... I'm not doing it this time......
This is typically the stuff that would make me run out and buy a "army truck" hoochie for my trip this Friday.
I'm not doing it this time... I'm not doing it this time......
anorthernhunter
Active Member
Haha ... now that's funny. I "found" myself at Wholesale Sports ... then Canadian Tire today anddddd bought one before I read this.
Man ... I have as much gear as my wife has shoes.
Man ... I have as much gear as my wife has shoes.
adanac
Well-Known Member
Take any report from a QCL management member that mentions anything other than bait as the hot ticket with a grain of salt. For such a huge operation they are stupidly stingy with bait and will do almost anything to get people to fish spoons or hoochies. Should be looking to pick up a squid jig so you can mooch some of those baby's live.
