CH Report: "An Angler's Dream These Last 4 Days" - July 30, 2019

Just off the water on a beauty of a night here at Langara. The waters surrounding the entire island are flat as they could possibly be, an angler's dream these last four days.I just bombed in from the offshore Thrumb area taking advantage of the seas and lack of currents. We stumbled into this pair of humpbacks leisurely cruising along, fantastic.

Humpbacks off Lacy tonight on the way in!The halibut fishing was somewhat exhausting for our boat, as Larry Hebner my lone guest angled three halibut in a row, 135 and 138 cm x 2 in a row. That was enough for us, back to the dock. Pictured below one of the halibut measured and released. Not super easy slipping a fish this size into a net, popping the hook and carefully releasing, MY BACK lol.

Measuring Larry's halibut before releasing. The salmon fishing remains very productive. All points and areas producing, the trick is to avoid the wildlife. Offshore has been very good off Langara Rocks, oodles of chinook and coho at all depths, with plenty coho shallow and deep, chinook on the deeper gear, 100 to 150 feet down. Thank you, Scotty Downriggers.Below is a photo of the typical chinook out off Langara Rocks, here is Patricia Hebner with her catch, well done!

Patricia Hebner with her nice chinook of the day, calm seas off Langara Rocks.We found the Tomic Plugs on fire for the offshore fishing, this was a one rod fishery, you could not keep two baits down this am. One tip here is run up with the tide, set your gear, and troll with the current for a mile, pull the gear and reset. Very productive.Of course there is some inshore chinook as well. Gary Hayden's gang has been pounding Gunia and the Reef, and most of Parry Pass. I joined the gang yesterday for a tide at Gunia and again, Larry Hebner was rewarded with this mid-twenties chinook, fishing tight into shore with a light mooching weight and a cut plug.Larry and his top catch of the day pictured below.

What Larry was looking for, a nice mid-twenties chinook angled off Gunia Point!The fishing has been very good for some time now. One of my favourites, Mark Zivot visited us on the trip commencing the 25th of July and grabbed this beauty we taped out and released a 30 lb tyee. This fish was taken rather deep at 125 feet, and screamed off the downrigger before we noticed, as we were busy with a chinook on the opposite side of the boat. With the release tub, the revival was easy and instant, and no doubt about it this fish bolted off to freedom.

Mark Zivot and his tyee release, out off Langara Docks, look at that smile!Another photo of Mark and friend battling a chinook, Lucy this time doing the guiding.

Mark Zivot and Lucy assisting a friend land a nice chinook!Lots of chatter the released big fish do not survive. With these release totes of sea water the fish have a chance to gain full energy and literally bolt off once returned to the ocean. The alternative is much more certain. These fish over thirty are so important to the gene pool. Up and down our coast and into Alaska, the big chinook or Kings are not running in any numbers. We can all contribute to the runs remaining by releasing these large 4 to 7 year old fish ensuring they reach the spawning beds.

A nice chinook angled by Mark Zivot catching its breath in the release tub. So another July is wrapping up. What a great month of fishing, a lot of guests have told me they have never caught as many fish on a trip here at Langara. The coho have been a great surprise and the chinook, although not tyee in size, have been pouring through Langara in big numbers. Another bonus, incredible weather for a month, which to a fishing guide means NO WINDS and CALM SEAS. August should be fantastic, it usually is, so get up here if you get the chance, we are looking forward to getting out on the chuck and experiencing this special place.Goodnight from The Clubhouse,Mike Tonnesen, Head Guide, Screamer