CH Report: Quality Bites & Ideal Weather - July 7, 2022

Hello again from LANGARA ISLAND, here we go, an update on fishing currently and a review of the last week or so.

I am happy to report the bites are increasing, some quality happening, and the weather has been ideal for what we love to do.

The chinook fishery is a little different this year for sure. The chinooks have tended to be plentiful, but smaller in size over the first four weeks of the season. What I am observing is a large quantity of fish 13 to 17lbs, and the 18 to 24lbers are slightly harder to come by. Don’t get me wrong, we are seeing lots of low twenties hit the dock, but the average chinook size tends to be mid teens.

We are fishing all areas of the island, east and west. There are no crowds anywhere from what I see which is making things so enjoyable out on the grounds.

Now for some details….Below is a picture of guide BRENT and his guests top fish of the trip, a near tyee at 29lbs, taken at Guinea Point this am. Brent reported few bites but some quality for sure.

Note the sun! We have had a stretch of fog for sure in here, but it’s expected to disperse tomorrow, good news.

Next up, we have Rick W. and a tyee release, coming in at 35 lbs. We were angling out in the FISH BOWL, otherwise named the pleasure dome. We must have made 20 passes with not a hint of a fish. I was panicking. I was feeling a bit of pressure to say the least. After all these years, yes it does matter immensely when I am not hooking large chinook salmon lol. DJ was grabbing a twenty every other pass it seemed on his lucky brass spoon, dammit. 55lbs on the rigger he yelled over to me. I just could not get on em'.

At 5PM, just about ready to move on and make up an excuse as to why we had to leave, and feeling inside like one of the unluckiest worst guides in the history of the Clubhouse, my stern rod buckled. Fish on, a screamer! I panicked…I always panic. I broke my prized sage rod putting it away. Our tyee was under a neighbors boat. Everything was chaos. I did not want to see this tyee gone due to my incompetence.

Plenty yelling, I had to yell a bit to clear a boat, Lucy barking away, and after quite a few runs the 35lb tyee was now in the bag, and quickly in the release tub. Very nice, Adrenalin spiking, blood pressure a steady 170/90. Rick did it. Below is the photo of a lovely released tyee.

Note the calm seas and blue skies. Awesome conclusion to the trip. We also managed to troll up a very nice 44lb halibut, DC M. was the lucky angler.

Fishing in general is great, although the size is not here yet, the emphasis is on the word YET. They will show up, I am very confident of that. I am talking about the 25 to 45lbers, and hopefully the odd monster breaking the magical 50lb barrier.

Below is BRENT J. and ROB C. with a great fish out at the fish bowl.

The coho fishery is taking place on the east side of Langara, 6 to 9lbs the norm now, and plenty of them at the moment. 8 to 60 pulls lol, if you are not running a downrigger. 30 to 80 feet on the rigger is lots of fun, no clumsy weight on your mainline. Much like a fly rod experience.

Below is a photo of our team of guides that are ready and able to assist you in this quest, to provide the best quality service possible, no matter if you're new to the sport or a seasoned guest. All of these guides are eager to give you the best experience possible, they are doing what they love to do.

Not to be left out, high praise and a shout out to chef BLAINE , who personally fueled us up with fresh hot pizza on changeover morning. So appreciated BLAINE!

Okay its midnight here, its time to put dogs and myself to bed. We are all looking forward to getting you out in the boats experiencing this beautiful place, on the wild north coast of British Columbia. This is the place if you want lifelong memories of wildlife, fantastic fishing, hospitality, and awesome boats - you will enjoy, I promise.

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Goodnight from The Clubhouse,

Mike Tonnesen,

Head Guide.