Fishing trip to Haida Gwaii

[freonguy]

I was fortunate enough to have lived on the Charlottes from ' 92 to '98; I had my own business, as well as a volunteer firefighter, so my time consisted of working, firefighter duties and fishing / hunting ( in that order )!!

I have also been fortunate enough to be able to go back for a visit every year since, with fishing as the priority ( if possible ) and visiting.

Went back recently, ( Sept. 4th to 13th inclusive ) and was able to get out for three trips to Skidegate Point with my buddy Brad ( a 25 year resident that can catch fish in a bathtub ).

Day 1 - Went out on the 5th - started out in Tana Bay, cut plugging on the bottom in 150 feet or so, trying to pick up a smiley and / or a butt - one dog shark released before the wind picked up. Motored to Buck Channel - big springs deep in years past, especially late in the season. First tack with my rod @ 85 feet, army truck strip and flasher, Brad at 50 feet - looked and my rod was limp out of the release clip - grabbed it reeled up the slack - no head shaking and felt like I was snagged on the bottom, a couple of short runs and slack - get the flasher up and the 50 # leader is cut clean - WTF ??

To shorten up the story - lost more gear to salmon sharks which followed the flashers to the surface - never got a good look at the bodies, but had large dorsal and tail fins - about 5 - 6 feet long.

Back around the corner to the north side of Chattl - couple of bites, but no salmon - saw a couple other Coho caught - about 8 boats out.

Next day, went out again to Skidegate Point - unbeknownst to us the Paul Bentley cut plug derby was on ( to pay tribute to a young fellow that passed a few years ago ) $100.00 entry fee per head, a $2,000.00 Haida pendant for the biggest Chinook - no Chinook caught, 8.5 lb. Coho won it !! A few halibut and ling were caught as bycatch, all we mustered up was a baby Chinook and a 7 lb. Coho. About 25 fishers in the Derby, plus a few others.

Brad had to work, so we got out a final time on the 12th.; took out our 88 year old friend from Port Clements in rough weather. Caught 5 Coho and a humpie - largest was about 9 lbs. One other boat out - too rough to jig.

Apparently there have been few Chinook since the middle of August, and Commercial Trollers have been ' sharked out ' ; driven off the West Coast by the large numbers of Salmon Sharks. We did get about 15 Dungeness total from 3 pulls at Burnt Island - about a third were 8 inches plus.

Worst 3 days of fishing I have ever had up there; my buddy Brad said it was the worst year overall he had had in his 25 years up there. I hope
' we ' can figure out what is really going on out there and get our stocks back.

Had a great time visiting, picking Chantarelles/Boletes, hiking, the Kaay Centre ( Museum in Skidegate ) and visiting my many friends - I even went out on a fire call on Labour Day and did some traffic control for a car in the ditch.

The Pallant was chockerbox full of Coho as was the Tlell; years ago I swore to leave fish alone once they got to the river.

Haida Gwaii is truly a magical place - if you get a chance, do your homework and go - it is a jewel. By the way, the deer are tiny but rival veal for their mild flavour - take that one in as well!!

Freonguy

[Salty]

Sounds like a great trip even if a little frustrating, thanks for posting.

Salmon sharks, there's a new one on me :?had to google that. Looks like they don't come any further south than about the Charlottes, certainly never heard tell of them down here. (Sounds like they're much like a Great White but a lot smaller at 3-4 ft)..

[Shooter]

Salmon Shark? Is that a Blue shark? When I used to commercial fish we used to get the odd Blue shark following the gear munching salmon off. When you had seals following the boat you would just not get fish and see the seals eating them. When we had sharks following the gear we always just got heads on the gear. They were smart enough not to take the hooks.

[Salty]

Salmon Shark? Is that a Blue shark? .

That was my first thought too Shooter, but do a google search brought this up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_shark

[freonguy]

We never saw the bodies of the sharks, just the dorsal and tail fins - the locals are calling them Salmon Sharks, and after looking at Wikipedia, looks about right.

A couple of the guys I spoke with were commercial trollers, and they tend to be spot on when it comes to terminology ( for the most part !! ). I spoke to an old aquaintance who runs the fish processor in Masset, and he said the trollers were ' driven off the west coast ' from the sharks - losing too much gear and scaring the salmon away.

Yeah, it was still a great trip, since I have been going up there often since we moved, my buddy always prefaces our pre-trip discussions on the phone with ' weather permitting ' etc., to which I reply, ' the trip and visit is what I want, fish are a bonus ' .

Took my 4.5 year old grand daughter to Mohawk Creek spawning channel here on the Sunshine Coast last night - about 30 - 40 humpies doing their thing - THAT is what it is all about.

Freonguy