Ebb & Flow Fishing Report | July 25, 2019

What Exactly Is Normal?

By Deepwater Don

The fishing has slowed slightly since we last spoke, but please friends, don’t jump to any forlorn conclusions.

This just means that the fishing has “normalized,” shall we say. Whether it be fish stocks or stock markets, periods of normalization are simply a time during which things cool off a bit after an abnormal hot streak. After a trend that began as excellent early-season action in June and moved steadily upward from there, the fishing can now be described as “normal” for this time of year, which by Langara Island standards, is still very, very, very good fishing.

A 29lb release for Chris Wissel-Tyson, guided by Andrew Griffiths.

The fish boards saw a handful of tyee numbers and chinook in the high teens to high twenties at both Langara Island and Port Louis. At times the weather had a certain dampening effect but soon enough a nice run of blue skies and gentle breeze would pass by and you would soon forget what was before. Last week on the culinary trip, guests were satiated beyond their wildest gastronomic dreams by the kitchen artistry of Chef David Hawksworth and friends at last week’s culinary adventure at The Clubhouse. Below are a few photos of the times we’d like to relive.

The helicopter beach tour on our culinary trip was a guest favourite landing on Beresford Bay’s white sand beach.

Dining with a view never gets old.

Culinary demo participants with event host, David Hawksworth.

Nightingale’s Phil Scarfone adding the final touches to his famous wood-fired pizzas – a crowd favourite!

As in previous weeks, most of the fish have been from the east side or north end of the island with a mix of chinook and coho. By and large the coho are being taken off-shore while the larger chinooks have been in the usual hog havens along the Graham Island shore, which has been seeing some decent morning bites on the ebb tide, mostly off Seath, Boulder and Gunia Points. That said, there have been several large chinook, and even the odd tyee, taken out on the highway in deep water between the lighthouse and Langara Rocks, a testament I suppose to the abundance of feed that has been seen out there this year.

Jerry Cochrum with a nice 29lb chinook guided by Andrew Griffiths.

One thing that you can always count on, or so it seems, is the steady increase in the size of the coho. North Island Lodge guest Bill Borton picked up a 16 a couple of days ago, the largest of the season for the North Island congregation. I don’t have the names, but I know that Screamer has guided some Clubhouse guests to similar-sized silvers, as have other guides no doubt. We’ve seen coho go as high as 22 pounds towards the end of August, so stay tuned!

Top fish of the week was a 41-pound chinook salmon angled at Marchand Reef by Clubhouse guest, Brian Thomas. Second place goes to Bernie Gauthier with a 34-pound release, closely followed by Craig Fox and David Krause with matching 33-pound releases. Over at North Island Lodge, Steve Shull had a 32, while at The Outpost, Linda Grant also reeled in a 32. Congratulations to all!

Oh, and here is one we somehow neglected to note from a couple weeks back. Christina Masef, who has been coming up to North Island Lodge with her husband Richard for many a year, added one more coveted tyee pin to her substantial collection after catching a 34 out of Bruin Bay. “Christina is no stranger to the tyee pin,” reported North Island lodge manager Todd McIntyre, who also noted that this was her first successful tyee hunt in Bruin Bay. Nice work Christina. Hope you two can do some similar business when you return next month.

Guide D.J. and long-time guest Christina Masef with her first Bruin Bay tyee!

The Outpost’s, Jordan Knight also had some things he wanted to mention this week. “The fishing remains hot at The Outpost. The size average is the best we have seen all season with days of 20+ all across the board. Last week, Arrus Farmer reeled up a 215 hali, the biggest so far this season, followed closely by Zack Kahan’s 185-pounds. Doreen Wambeke landed a 30lb’er in Athlo bay on day two of her 50th wedding anniversary trip.” Overall, we’ve been assured that things continue to roll in Port Louis!

Arrus Farmer’s 215lb halibut! Top hali for The Outpost this season.

Guide Hanes and Baldwin Farmer with a nice take-home chinook.

A beautiful morning in Port Louis.

And lest anyone thinks romance is dead, North Island Lodge guide Morgan Johnstonhas a story to tell. Seems that in the midst of guiding guests Beau Flom and Katherine Kiernan, Beau brought up the subject of rings and promises to Katherine, all the while on bended knee in Morgan’s boat! Yup, popped the question he did, and even though it wasn’t a conventional proposal of marriage, I think it was a very clever one. Congratulations to both of you from all of us at The West Coast Fishing Club.

A spectacular engagement for Beau Flom and Katherine Kiernan. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Katherine Kiernan also thrilled about her chinook!

Not a bad catch!

Until next week friends, stay safe and well. And rest assured that everybody round the lodges of The Club is having the time of their lives. After all, it’s summertime in Haida Gwaii and, aside from seaborn marriage proposals, everything is…normal!

Tight Lines!

Deepwater Don