CH Report: Summer Fishing Thrives on Langara Island - July 25, 2024

It’s hot, sunny, zero wind, fish biting—where am I? If you guessed Langara Island and the Clubhouse, you are on point. Yes, mid-July is our unofficial start to summer, and we are now in a dry period with limited winds and flat water. Of course, you always have a chance of a thundershower; after all, we are in a coastal rainforest.

Since my last report, the coho fishing has been superb, with many fish in the 8 to 10 lb range. The largest, at 13 lbs, was reeled in by Alex’s crew on boat 14. Offshore, either up on the highway or straight out from the pass on the contours, is highly productive. They are hitting from the surface to 50 feet consistently, and as deep as you dare. Some guides are dragging spoons, but the old standby bait is on fire.

On the chinook front, we have some tyees to show off and many 20 to 24 lb chinook. The larger fish for our guides seem to be coming from the Pleasure Dome, while the east side of Langara is producing all sizes of chinook up to 23 lbs. Again, cutplug and shallow out west is the ticket—40 feet seems to work. On the east side, fishing deep with downriggers is the key for larger chinook. Boat 4 is grabbing high teens and low twenties as deep as 170 feet fairly often. Other guides, such as Tucker, report 150 feet deep off Thrumb was working. Liam and the offshore fishers are doing well on the west Langara Highway fishing deep as usual.

Just a theory here, but the water is warm, with surface temps in the high 50s. I’m finding chinook deep offshore, possibly seeking cooler water. There is lots of bait off Langara Rocks south on the highway.

There is a friendly humpback whale hanging around in the pass, Henslung Cove, and working Lucy Island daily. Just a reminder: pay attention when running and always give the whales lots of space.

I did not receive many pics these last two weeks, but here are a few of the nicer fish to hit my boat and Paul’s in boat 8. Below is a nice tyee out west, pic taken by Paul.

Next up, we have Alexander S. with his tyee angled and released out in the Bowl on our current trip, July 21. This is his first, and certainly not his last. We saw several nice fish that day. Other guides did well early in the shift closer to Cape Knox. This fish was hooked on the pec fin, giving us a good battle, and once landed into the large revival fish tank we keep on board, the release was flawless. The fish bolted off to continue on its journey, closing in on their home rivers, where in a few short months the spawning process begins.

Ready for release, a strong chinook soon headed off on its way.

Below is another very nice low-thirties fish we found again in the Bowl. This is a happy Mike Woods, a guest of ours for 12 years! This is Mike's largest fish to date, and a fish we hit tight to the rocks. Think screaming oyster catchers and you know the spot. Yes, we are grabbing the odd large chinook in tight at that spot. Be careful rounding into the cove— that reef in there will grab your cannonball, lol. No need to drag deeper than 40 feet on your inside rod.

Halibut fishing is strong now, either on the troll or out west. With the calm seas, lots of guides are doing well out there. The average over is 24 to 34 lbs, the underside coming in at 12 to 14 or so. You can take one halibut a day, with the underside allowing you to take two home for your trip, whereas the over 85 cm halibut up to 126 cm means you are allowed one halibut for your trip. This was a nice troll-caught halibut and chinook we angled today, July 23. Lots of troll-caught halibut hit our boat today!

Another nice picture taken by Mike Woods below, of his tyee picked up to show off on the west side. Look at that scenery.

So finally, after a long day on the water today, sweltering in the sun, haha, it’s time to get some rest. The fish are here, the weather is here, and the guides are here to help you experience this fantastic fishery and all that it provides. No matter your angling level, you will catch fish, see a north coast paradise, and experience all kinds of marine life with guides more than happy to make it all happen.

See you all soon,

Mike Tonnesen, Head Guide, and of course, Lucy