CH Report: Season Certainly Not Over For Chinook Salmon! ~ August 28, 2015

Good evening from Langara, where we are battened down for a wind event, south west 40 to 60 kms, good times. Will be rocking down on the dock, but should be able to sneak in tight on the east side somewhere. No Halibut fishing tomorrow, almost in tears.Fishing has been good to excellent here at Langara, and our season is certainly not over for Chinook Salmon fishing. Below is a pic of a nice release just a week ago of Rick Pike and myself showing off a 44 lber. We grabbed this fish off the fallen tree of all places, and the Tyee barked out on the weighted rod with almost too much power. We were convinced it was a sea lion, and soon I found the rod in my hands trying to break her off. I was thumbing the spool, rod pinned flat with more tension than you can imagine. Hmm, I just could not pop the line and she was out 200 yards, probably why. The line stretched under a very large kelp paddy off shore, all tangled and wrapped, and perfect timing, our guide boats were trolling over the line. What the heck, I started chopping and hacking and 10 minutes later a fish surface 200 feet out from the kelp, now that was a big back! Once free of kelp, we had a 10 minute battle, a couple shorter runs, and surprise surprise, a 44 lb trophy Chinook was safely in the hippaquarium.

* Rick Pike and I with a 44 lb Tyee caught off the Fallen Tree. We took some time releasing this beauty, as the lions converged on us, lucky we had the tank. We drove to a secure part of the bay, way up into the top of Egeria bay, and carefully released this monster. Well done Rick and Norm, his fishing partner who set the hook. Teamwork on this fish. Nice to keep our streak of all over 30,s released going on boat 4.

* Rick Pike, Norm Daignault, and Mark Thomson with a monster release.

* One more for good measure of Rick Pike and his long Tyee. Heading into last weekend we had some decent Chinook fishing, below a pic of the BIY boys Toby and Rob Mallinder with a nice pair of Chinook off Mac.

* Toby and brother Rob Mallinder with a couple nice Chinooks. We then kicked off the FFK tournament, with a free day fishing on Sunday. I had a couple regulars aboard, Willie Mitchell and Bruce Langereis. We had a great run across from the lodge with the smaller low twenties, below a pic of the now Florida Panther team captain proudly holding up one of those fish on a hot sunny day.

* Willie into one.

* Willie with a nice fish.

* Bruce with a keeper. Getting into the tournament, fishing was excellent for the most part, with plenty low twenty high teen fish being called in. A constant chatter for weigh boats was heard most of day one, with the hotspot taking place between Gunia and Bruin. Early leader and first nice fish was grabbed by Paolo Aquilini measuring out at 23 lbs. Soon the fish was eclipsed by Mons Kapoor, sneaking a 30 lb Tyee out of Bruin with veteran Jordie as his guide. This fish was the day one leader well done!Day two was hectic off the start if you were in the right place, across and near to the lodge. Many fish were called in during the am...surprised as the wind was howling and most of the areas were to rough to fish. I tried valiantly to fish Mac with Paolo, and blew the shift, too rough. Willie and Bruce pounded last years productive spot to no avail. We all blew it at Mac and raced down to Evans bite at Poppoff. Evan had just grabbed a 34, the new leader.The place was crawling with boats by this time, hundreds of feet of Boston Whaler, a sea of white, throw in the mix of wind and kelp and oh boy, good times. I pulled the plug after two passes and crept low profile over to Bruin, and got on a patch of fish with Paolo, and his partner...soon netting a 26lb fish to get on the board.The guests took lunch, at NIL, hosted by Todd McIntyre, and the reports were a good time was had. After lunch Korey snuck over to the reef with Andrew Purdey and latched into second place, with a 32 lb Chinook, way to go Andrew, long time supporter of the charity and always shows up! I heard Andrew snagged the Coho pot as well, gee, on a roll.Overall, great job by Derek Nyrose again acting as the tourney master, and the feedback I got was very positive. The weather was mostly perfect for the trip, the fish were here and the parties lots of fun. Especially the annual dock pops at the conclusion of the event.Below is a few pics of some happy campers around the watering hole.

* Andrew Purdey, Willie Mitchell and Brian Legge enjoying the festivities. Here is another pic of my favorite site on the shores of Grahame island, a nice black bear chowing down on a seal me thinks!

* Black bear. So yes, we are open for business, the fish are here, in fact will be to mid September. Another fantastic August wrapping up and for me a great month of Tyee fishing, something that I do not take for granted, EVER! I am always asked when enough is enough...well the Norwegian heritage is deeply engrained in me. I will always fish hard and work hard to chase these monster Salmon around this island, no better place to do it!Goodnight once again from the bunkhouse, up on top of Langara Island, here in Dixon Entrance.Mike Tonnesen, Head Guide, Screamer