North Island Lodge Report: August 9, 2010

Continued westerly winds have most of the boats fishing the leeward side of Langara with focus on Coho, Andrews and Guinia Point. We sure appreciate having the island to hide behind when we these strong North West winds kick up. Although fishing overall was a little slower last week, we saw a good number of Tyee’s hit the dock. A total of 6 to be exact, with several Chinook in the 20’s rounding out anglers dance cards. One thing I have noticed lately is the number of boats fishing close to home. For those willing to wait a little longer between bites, Guinia Pt, Bruin Bay and “The Reef” have produced some spectacular catches and all within 5 min from our dock.

The Borton group joined us last week catching a total of 5 Tyee’s ,with Guillermo Martinez taking largest fish for the group at 37lbs. Joining the Borton’s on this trip was long time, and always entertaining General Emerson still out fishing the North Pacific at the age of 87. Paul Johnson from his crew added a beauty 40.5lb release to the board from Cohoe Pt with guide Kauri Thornton.

Over the weekend, the mornings were somewhat productive but afternoons were tough. I fished a couple of shifts myself with only a handful of bites. The key was making them count. Fishing with Gary and Matt Geissinger we chose fish the Boulder Bay and Guinia Pt area. On Sunday, after a rather slow start, the back rod set at 16 pulls buckled sending Matt scrabbling to get to the rod. “Ok now”, I told Matt, who at 12 yrs old drove the hooks home with a hookset that would make any guide smile. A solid rod bend confirmed connection with a decent Chinook as it set off on a crazy first run. He now just had to hold the rod long enough to get some control as we struggled to stay on top of the fish. After a solid battle with several long runs and we managed to steer the 39lber to the net. Here she is…Great job Matt!

A total of 6 Tyee’s on the trip with several in the high twenties. Jaques Laurent and Wayne Forge of the Glentel group both had dual Tyee pins to showoff. Although not a ton of action, there was good mix of coho and some incredible Chinook being caught last week. I saw photos of a Clubhouse 68lb release just off our doorstep proving Langara Island provides some incredible angling around almost every corner. I’m sure Screamer will post more on this spectalular release.

Good night from North Island.

Todd McIntyre