North Island Lodge Report: July 11, 2010

Well, a lot to tell you about today. After a close finish, The Spring Salmon Challenge is now over with George Morine taking top prize with his 48.4lber.

Not a fantastic picture due to the rain on the lens but you can sure get an idea of the size. Congratulations George!

Last week was full of excitement and some very respectable fishing, but the sea lions were getting their share as well. The majority of attacks are taking place up the eastside of the island leaving everyone is a little frustrated and feeling the pressure to get their fish in right away to avoid watching their fish being eaten. We’re hoping their migration will take them elsewhere right now.

Honoring a request from a guest I had guided in the past, I made it out on the water once again last week. I felt a little more in tune this time after a couple of quick staff trips earlier in the season. I was firing out cut plugs in style, tight rolls, holding tacks like I never left the guiding circuit. It’s all about the confidence out there, every successful guide will tell you have to trust your instincts and follow patterns that have proved successful in the past.

After some action at Cohoe Point and one in the box, we watched the bite slow so I decided to head south at work Boulder Bay and “The Landing Net”. A decision that is always easier to make when you have a fish on board already. Our first tack I decided to start deep in Boulder as I waited for the tide to settle. I swooped in by the kelp with the downriggers set at 28 and 32ft trying to avoid the underwater kelp that can foul up the gear. First pass was a little tight finding some kelp, second pass we hit a fish. One in the mid- twenties; I thought, okay, now we can take some serious chances.

We left the crowd behind and long tacked our way to the point with one hour left in the shift. The point was difficult to fish with a fair bit of debris to dodge. If I were a weaker man, I would have picked up the gear and looked for the easy tack, but this spot had been good to me this season. On the second tack we had a screaming hit followed by a surface explosion of a large Tyee. This fish fought incredible trying everything to shake the hooks. Casey was did a great job with what he called his first “real fish”. After efforts to revive this fish myself, and guide Matt Connelley helped to determine that this fish would not survive due to loss of blood, and was retained weighing in at 42.5lbs.

Guest Gregg Peterson and Head Guide DJ coaxed this beauty to the net caught at Bruin Bay….DJ, Bruin Bay….Really? Gregg and Geoff must have done some serious talking, or convincing out there. This beauty was quickly measured and released. Nicely done Gregg! This fish was 45 inches long with a calculated weight of 38lbs.

We were also reinforcing our heli pad this week as we will be running a new SK76 helicopter on occasion. Our first passenger enjoyed the first ride in. More on this later.

Today the Chinook bite has slowed a bit with the high pressure system. Most of the fish came from the Cohoe Point and Andrews, some being caught over 100ft on the downrigger. Sure nice to have that option when you need it.

Have to go see what Walter has on the menu tonight.

Todd McIntyre