Just got back last night from a great trip. I dont have time to do my usual report as today is my first day back at the office since the shut down. I will be swamped for days to come & wanted to get this info out so other know the latest update.
This trip I went with a few buddys & went with a guide. His name is Travis & now fishes with PRRV adventures. I can honestly say he was one of the top guides I have been with. This guy works his but off..
Air Canada had canceled my flight to Rupert, so I had to fly into Terrace & then rent a car. This was fine by me as I had my own ride & had BC plates. I was worried about some of the stories I had heard. Turns out BC plates were not needed & the "working folks" werte happy to have folks back in town. I can say that NO ONE in the town is practicing any type of social distancing... Honestly it was like i took a time machine back to 2019... Anyways, back to fishing...
Day 1#: Left the dock at 5am & weather was rain with small winds. Headed to a place called beaver rock & trolled for Salmon. Ended up picking up 3 springs between 12-18lbs. Also 4 coho, that had a few small fish in the mix. Im talking 3lbs at best. I was told they were avg for that time of year until the Northern's show up. I kept only 1 spring that was 18lbs & declined the small cohos. I didn't want to bonk a salmon that small. After about 4hrs we took a 20 min run & dropped anchor for Halibut. The wind started to pick up & we pulled up a few unders. We also picked up a nice octopus. First time for me & thought it was neat. The main motor was giving some grief so we called it an early day & headed back home. The ride back was not to bad as we were in a 30' kingfisher. The guide asked if this was the roughest **** I have been in & i replied with a quick "hell no". Anyone who has fished Masset or Hippa island knows what im talking about.
Day#2: Left the dock at 5am. No wind and scattered clouds. We headed up to a different Halibut hole & anchored up to fish the last couple hrs of the Ebb. Dropped 4 rods & enjoyed some tunes & BC cherries while we waited for the fish to show up. After about 30 min we started to get fish. The first 2 hrs the guys caught about 5 fish around 100 cm & sent them all back. I never had even a nibble, but I was not to worried about it, as I was just happy to be there. My buddy had the rod bend over & he hooked into a monster. We measured it in the water & it was about 150cm. It was so nice to see such a powerful fish swim away. After that the tide started to swing to a flood & rip a bit harder. I changed out my Bait to a 2' hunk of Octpus & dropped it down. After 15min I had a hit & boated a Beautiful 26lb Lingcod. Over the next 30 min the guys bonked a 120 & 118 cm halibut. I had enough Hali & asked if we could go target some lings. We went over to a couple rock piles & did some jigging. I love jigging!..... We had a great time & caught a bunch of lings between 8-12 lbs. I also caught my first Cabezon. It was a 8lbs & was as round as it was long. I was amazed how hard it fought. With the day getting close to an end we headed over to the Red Can & trolled for the last hour. We ended up boating 3 nice northern Coho between 8-10 lbs. I kept one & was very happy to see them.
Day 3: We needed to finish up on Halibut & headed back to the same spot we were the night before. Seas were flat calm & the sun was shining. As we set up on anchor a Native long line boat came & started to pick up their set that was 1/2 mile away from us. They must have cleaned house because it was slow..... they never had a second bouy out & we had no clue it was a long line that had been set.... We ended up getting our Halibut & I happily settled on a 105 cm fish. As my buddy was trying to get his halibut I got a small bite on my rod. It was small & looked like another sea perch one of the guys had just caught. I smiled & just left the perch on my rig & watched the rod tip lightly bounce every so often...
30 min later the rod bent over & I had a nice fish on. Once i got it up to surface i seen I had another big lingcod on. It had tried to eat the perch & got stuck to my stinger hook. Buddy on the boat was nagging to keep it & we brought it for a boat ride. It weighed out at 29lbs. Once we were loaded up on our Halibut it was time to go jig up some lingcod. We went and started to work some small pinnacles & ledges. I was armed with a 40cm "Westin Big Bob" jig. I am a very aggressive jigger & use a high gear reel & light rod when i jig. I drop it & then quickly dart it back up 50-70' Then drop again. There is a bit more involved than that , but its a work out to say the least. Most my big fish chase it up at least 50' before they hit. Over the course of 2 hrs we caught a 44#, 42#, 38#, 36# & multiple mid 20's Lingcod. I had one on that was the biggest Lingcod I have ever seen... Honestly, you think you know what a 60#+ Ling would look like, but honestly, you cant imagine it until you see it beside the boat.... I was trying to be careful with her as I had no intention of killing her. She only had the stinger hook in her top lip. It was a long way to reach down in the water to try to grab her & let the hook out. When she decided she wanted to leave she took a run back down & ripped the hook right out of her mouth. I was left with a soaked face & shirt & a memory that will never leave me. Never got to measure her or weigh her, but she was amazing. I was actulaly nervous about putting my hands near her mouth.. What a freaking day..... We finished the day off trolling salmon & picked up another small spring and a bunch of 8-10 lb coho.
Day 4: We left the dock at 5am with flat seas & sunny skies. The guide wanted to take us to Dundas Island. Once we arrived the tide was on the last hour or so of the Ebb. We dropped gear & quickly pick up 3X 14lb springs & a couple coho. We started to move around to the very north end & got into some big bait. We were in a great coho bite, but the springs were gone. I was trolling a cut plug through a bait ball. I had a hit & it took it off the clip, however I missed the fish. When I was bring in my rig i noticed i snagged a big herring in the side & the fight was on (Lol!). As soon as I had the herring 6' from the boat a big coho came racing in & tried eating it. This was a big herring & I was caught off gard. I quickly let line out & the coho came back for a second go. Of course the herring came off the barbless hook & was eaten with out hooking the coho. With no wind we were getting hammered with Blackflies (nats). I mean eaten alive. At the time I didnt even know how bad it was, however that evening I looked like i had chicken pox.. After things slowed down the guide wanted to head back to wear we started off & fish the wall during the flood. We ended up hooking into a fish & when I passed the rod over to to the next guy who was up,,,,,, the wrong person took it. By the time anyone realized it he was into the fish & we could see it was big. Ended up being a 34 lb spring. Everyone on the boat was happy & beers were cracked with no hard feelings. We ended up picking up a couple more springs (one at 20lbs) & headed for home to pull crab traps. We could not take anymore Nats!!!!! I ended up with 5 Tanner crabs which made my day!
Day#5: We left the dock at 5am with flat seas & sunny skies. We still had 2 springs to catch & spent 1/2 a day trolling. We Caught a pile of nice northern coho & even got our springs. I decide not to take my second spring as it was only 10lbs & I was catching coho the same size. By this time we were cracking beers & wanted to go try to catch a couple more of the Cabozon. We went jigging & did just that. Caught lots of lings with one in the 20's & then told the guide lets call it a trip. We had a great time & we were happy to call it a day. (Actually I would have kept fishing)..
In summary a great trip. Hard fishing for springs but lots of nice Coho around. The total experience is one of those that is only memories of joy.
