BC trip July 18-25

Presently anxiously awaiting an 8:48 flight out of SFO, bound for Vancouver and eventually Port Hardy BC.

I'll be joining a colleague on his 55’ vessel along with a few of his diving buddies. He left Seattle back in May and explored the inside passage all the way to Glacier Bay. I get to spend a week on board and should have opportunities to fish between Quatsino sound and Victoria, basically the whole west side of the island.

I don’t dive (yet), but when they arent diving, we are going to explore hot springs, remote stretches of coastline, and a few BC communities (Bamfield was mentioned I believe).

I’ve done a lot of gear prep and reading up on regulations, so feeling fairly prepared. The boats captain is not an angler, and I’m unsure how productive the fishing will be and how willing he will be to troll shallow, anchor up and halibut fish, or drift pinnacles. Whatever happens, it will be fun to have an opportunity. I’m bringing 3 rod/reel combos and some roller luggage with 50 lbs of gear inside. Should be all set for Salmon, Squid, rockfish, and Halibut.

He apparently lost the crab and shrimp pots already  .

Anyone here with any past experiences in the area?

I’ll try and keep this thread updated with photos should we find ourselves lucky enough to catch anything.

Good luck!
Take lots of pictures please
Enjoy yourselves!!

Bummer about the shrimp pots. Best shrimp i ever had were from AK, freshly caught.

I don't have a lot of boat fishing experience in the BC area, and the regs stymied me a lot when I would traverse through (land based).
I would think that just fishing jigs over rocks at anchor (tide allowing) should get you some nice rockfish. Maybe black cod as well? I look forward to a report!

sounds like a great trip to see some beautiful inner coastline. Have fun!

Good luck!
Take lots of pictures please
Enjoy yourselves!!

+1

Get the regs.   You can get a license online, but I think you have to have a paper license for halibut.   Been a few years since I towed up.   Get some large circle hooks for halibut.   George’s Bank near Pt. Hardy is supposed to be good for halibut.  I only hooked small ones.  Have him visit Telegraph Cove.   Neat little village.   Look at SportfishingBC.com for some local comments,  good forum.   Not much in Port Hardy anymore.   Rockfish limit was pretty limited.   Was way overfished.   People would come up for a month and get a limit or two each day and can and freeze each day.  Ignored limits.   A crab snare might be a good option to take.   Salmon Point is a really nice marina.

Heading to Brooks peninsula today. Got one nice lingcod at the mouth of Quatsino Sound on a large herring/hoochie combo. Did some salmon trolling on our way out of the sound as there were jumpers and birds everywhere, but no luck in the hour we trolled. We need to get around Brooks sooner rather than later, but I’m looking forward to getting lines back in once we get back into inshore waters. Brooks is supposed to have great Salmon action…

Right on, Evan!  What a great trip - thanks for sharing!   

Nice Lingzilla  . Thanks for the report and pictures SB.

Great rock fishing today while Chris, Austen, and Don got in a dive on a shallow pinnacle North of Spring island and Kyuquat. Landed a dozen rockfish all of great quality as well as  a half dozen lingcod. All released. Steaming towards a few heritage sites up Esperanza Inlet. I think Capt. said we’d get to check out a totem pole as well as an old mission. No Salmon trolling today despite passing through some really good waters. Spring island was a spot I was looking forward to slowing down and dragging some gear, but we needed to get out of some rougher water and on to the next anchorage. I didn’t want to slow us down or prevent everyone from enjoying the heritage sites this afternoon. Hoping to do some serious Salmon trolling when we reach Ucelet and Tofino. Enjoy a few shots of some pretty rockfish for now, hope I can post some chrome in the near future.

It’s a relief that the guys were able to dive today, on the first dive of this portion of the trip, the anchor snagged deep into the face of the pinnacle, the slip clutch locked up as the tide started to rise, and we watched a little horrified as the pulpit was ripped off of the bow of the boat. It took us four hours to haul the 100’ of chain and 150 pound anchor back on deck. Frickin brutal with the drag of the pulpit which had sunk to the anchor and created a shit ton of drag as we tried to hand retrieve everything. It was a physically and emotionally exhausting experience. Austen kept his head on straight and was very calm and collected as we figured out a plan for anchoring that night with the backup, and then making a plan to repair it so the diving wasn’t scrapped for the rest of the trip. He had some Purple Heart wood, epoxy, and beefy bolts on board, enough to make a backwoods fix that has held up so far. I guess it’s not a real adventure without a few O-Sh!t moments…

Daaaang, that sounds like some sweaty stress work! Glad it turned out ok for now!

Almost forgot to mention. After we anchored in Battle Bay last night using the backup anchor, everyone went out on the kayaks and hit a sandy beach to stretch the legs while I whipped up some chicken and rice. On their walk, they came across a berry patch and a stream dumping into the cove, perfect bear habitat. Sure enough, as they moved away from the area, they noticed a large black bear coming out of the tree line and positioning itself between them and the kayaks. Heart rates elevated for a bit, but it moved on quickly when it saw there was three guys in the group. They got some great pictures and video as they tried to get back to the kayaks and shoo it off.

A few humpbacks in the trek South this afternoon made for a nice show.

Sounds like ur having a great week!
Scotty

Got to go ashore in Nootka today. It’s the point of first contact between Eropeans and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. Pretty cool lighthouse. The highlight was visiting Sandford Williams wood carving studio. His work is world renowned, and pretty incredible to see in person. Seems like he uses few to no power tools and does everything by hand. He had few pieces for sale as he reported spending a lot of time on commissioned totem poles for fishing lodges.

He was working on a beautiful paddle with a salmon pattern when we visited. On the way out, we got invited to join a cougar hunt. It was getting a bit too interested in some of the young campers last night, a shot scared it off, but all of the little ones were waiting on tue dock to get ferried out as a precaution. As we were leaving, one of the year round residents was heading off to find it and finish it off. If only I had the right footwear 

https://hashilthsa.com/news/2019-08-23/guided-spirits-master-carver-finds-inspiration-ancestral-home

Got to go ashore in Nootka today. It’s the point of first contact between Eropeans and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. Pretty cool lighthouse. The highlight was visiting Sandford Williams wood carving studio. His work is world renowned, and pretty incredible to see in person. Seems like he uses few to no power tools and does everything by hand. He had few pieces for sale as he reported spending a lot of time on commissioned totem poles for fishing lodges.

He was working on a beautiful paddle with a salmon pattern when we visited. On the way out, we got invited to join a cougar hunt. It was getting a bit too interested in some of the young campers last night, a shot scared it off, but all of the little ones were waiting on tue dock to get ferried out as a precaution. As we were leaving, one of the year round residents was heading off to find it and finish it off. If only I had the right footwear 

https://hashilthsa.com/news/2019-08-23/guided-spirits-master-carver-finds-inspiration-ancestral-home

This brings back memories.  Probably 15 years ago, we got on ferried over to Yuquot, Nootka with 3 kayaks, camped there and fished from there.  Good times.

-Allen

Got to go ashore in Nootka today. It’s the point of first contact between Eropeans and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. Pretty cool lighthouse. The highlight was visiting Sandford Williams wood carving studio. His work is world renowned, and pretty incredible to see in person. Seems like he uses few to no power tools and does everything by hand. He had few pieces for sale as he reported spending a lot of time on commissioned totem poles for fishing lodges.

He was working on a beautiful paddle with a salmon pattern when we visited. On the way out, we got invited to join a cougar hunt. It was getting a bit too interested in some of the young campers last night, a shot scared it off, but all of the little ones were waiting on tue dock to get ferried out as a precaution. As we were leaving, one of the year round residents was heading off to find it and finish it off. If only I had the right footwear 

https://hashilthsa.com/news/2019-08-23/guided-spirits-master-carver-finds-inspiration-ancestral-home

This brings back memories.  Probably 15 years ago, we got on ferried over to Yuquot, Nootka with 3 kayaks, camped there and fished from there.  Good times.

-Allen

I was fantasizing about doing something like that, was there good fishing in kayak range? I know the Salmon can hang tight to Friendly Cove…was Sandford there when you visited? If so, based on what he told us he would have been in his beach front shop.