Some days are diamonds, some days are stones….
I know it’s late for my normal fish report. Things have been busy for sure. I had to take a few days off to attend a wedding in Revelstoke. My good friends Brendan and Andrea made it official last Saturday. It was a great weekend despite the smoke and blackened skies. As much as I hated leaving here during prime time it was great to get away and do a road trip with my partner Makiko. We had a blast! Thanks again to the generosity of everyone associated with the wedding. We felt so welcomed and part of the family.
Now as for fishing here at Bamfield? I would have to say it’s very solid right now but there are days when we search for fish and struggle some. That happens from time to time. Waves of fish arrive but not always all at once. You’ll have stragglers from the previous wave and the leaders of the next. When that happens fishing can be slow. But, in one tide things can change.
I just finished up with a group of four. DJ, Bryan, Norm and Bill. Great guys and a barrel of laughs. We got out for an hour and a half at Whittlestone on the day of their arrival. We trolled anchovies in glow green and bloody nose teaser heads at 30 and 35 feet. We had one strike and Bill landed a lovely 12 lb spring that was to be our dinner fish.
The next day we left the dock and headed to Little Beale. Once again trolling anchovies at 30 and 35 feet. We fished the early morning bite for 3 hours with nary a sniff. We pulled up gear and headed for Kirby Point. We fished Kirby for another three hours through the tide change. Again…not a hit, not a bite, nothing…
My confidence was waning and I started to search the tackle box for some much needed magic. Experience has taught me though that when the bite goes off it’s likely better to stick with what usually produces rather than grasp at straws. I stuck with rolling bait. Still nothing. Ok, one move and then I was digging in. Over to Swale. I decided to make our stand here and fish it through closing time. Upon arrival we saw the odd fish being boated so this was a good sign. Within a few minutes we had our first hit and Bryan was into a fish. Not a salmon but an unexpected nice ling cod. At 70 cms it was a nice start to the box. The afternoon was still slow but it did pick up. We managed two lovely springs pushing 20 lbs and dropped three others. Encouraging for sure but a long day with only 2 springs. Some days are stones for sure…
Next morning we returned to Swale. We dropped anchovies in glow green and bloody nose teaser heads to 35 and 40 feet at 6:15 am. By 7:00 am we had two beauties in the box. Things quieted down for us over the next few hours. On a hunch I replaced the glow green teaser and anchovies with an Irish Cream Skinny G. Bang! Fish on. We had 5 strikes and four fish to the boat in the next 35 minutes. So nice to see fish hitting on the spoon. So much easier to fish! As the afternoon continued the bite sort of stayed consistent. We finished the day with a double header. We were looking for one more spring to tag the boys out so with the double I took the 2nd one on my tag. I haven’t been able to get out much for myself so I was happy to have a fish for the smoker.
We ended the day with 9 springs and coho. A tremendous day of fishing. Some days indeed are diamonds….
The end of August is approaching and it kind of saddens me. What a privilege it is to be on the water each and everyday here in one of the most stunning places on earth.
I wanted to send a shout out to our Harbourside friend Ron Conway. He’s been bringing his boat up from Washington State for 40 years! Fish on Four was his radio handle and we loved chatting with him while on the water. Ron had has to sell his Sea Sport which was very hard for him to do. But, it turned out to be in our favour as he now comes up and charters us. Ron and our guide Joe spent a number of days together over the summer and they did really well. Great to see Ron back on the water! And thanks so much Ron for the tackle!
I’ll be chartering the Pace Processing group this weekend. Sean brings a large contingent of family and employees out for a tremendous weekend of fishing and fun.
I return to Vancouver for much of next week as I must get ready for school. I’ll finish up the season with the Suter Homes group from Whistler on the Labour Day weekend.
I’ll have one more trip up after that as I bring 44 students from my school up for four days but much more on that later.
Until then…. We have fuel, both diesel and boat gas, tackle, fish ice, drink ice, coffee, snacks, pretty much everything but the fish. That you will have to do.
Hoping to see you here,
Coach…
