Photos and text by Mary L. Peachin
Vol. 12. No. 6
Rigged with a hootchie on one line and an anchovy on the other, both salmon lines, trolled at a depth of 35 feet, snapped simultaneously from their downriggers. We were salmon fishing offshore Kyoquot Sound or “Place of Many Winds,” a First Nations village located on Vancouver’s Island’s rugged northwest coast. When the salmon are migrating through the area, the action can be awesome.
Not for the faint of stomach, five feet seas were chopped by 20 knot winds. Fishing near Spring Island, anglers on a passing boat had hooked into a 20-ish pound Chinook. Their salmon ran across our lines managing to make a mess of our baits and flashers. The sound of our lines zipping was brief. Guide Kevin Sutherland, a native of the Kyuquot Band, managed to save the other boat’s fish then cut our lines rather than even attempt to untangle the hopeless “bird’s nest” mess.
Canada’s Department of Fisheries requires that all wild Coho be released. Hatchery fish, their adipose fins clipped, can be kept. After releasing several native Coho, my husband David hooked into a 22 pound Chinook. It would be the first of many large salmon caught or released that weekend.
Walter’s Cove is Westcoast’s Fishing newest lodge. Located on an island, the 10 room pitched red aluminum rooftop wooden lodge overlooks its boat and fishing docks lined with 18 foot Gamin Blake custom fishing boats. Powered by 90 horsepower Yamaha engines, covered consoles provide shelter during Kyuquot’s inclement weather and shade on sunny days. Adjacent and scattered around the small, scenic cove are homes of former commercial fisherman and those of the Kyoquot band.
Wake up call is at 5:00 in the morning, an hour before sunrise. Sleepy anglers help themselves to a hearty buffet breakfast, grab a snack and thermos of coffee, don boots and rain gear, and then head down the ramp to meet their assigned boat and guide.
As a brilliant sun peeks over the mountains behind Kyuquot, we return to fish along the coastline of Spring Island. Mackerel, which have a taste for our bait, have moved in during the night. We move southward to Thornton Island where juvenile Coho salmon, too small to take the bait, school.
Overhearing a radio report that albacore tuna are being caught offshore, after landing a 19 pound Chinook, we motored 12 miles south to Strawberry Patch, a 50 fathom (300 foot) ridge in the open Pacific. Doug Alloway of Sacramento and Hugh Porter of Surrey BC, on separate boats, had just motored through jumping schools of tuna. It is thought this is the first time that recreational fishermen have caught albacore as far north as Kyuquot. We ran a spoon just below the surface without any luck.
A blue shark slowly weaved its dorsal fins through the calm water. He later ate half of an angler’s hooked salmon. Trolling a hootchie at a depth of 160 feet, David landed two Chinook weighing in at 22 and 26 pounds.
Fishing at Walter’s Cove is more than the good fishing offered in Kyuquot Sound. The smaller size lodge has some great amenities besides its coziness. Chef Eddie Szasz, formerly with the Teahouse in Stanley Park and the Cannery restaurant in Vancouver, cooks some of the best food served in any fishing lodge. Pastry Chef Kristy Tyler bakes delicious bread, cookies, desserts, and cooks breakfast. Count on both of them for a few added pounds.
While it was sunny, we stopped to admire a raft of sea otters near the small entrance to the Cove. Many were lying on their backs eating shellfish and rubbing their faces. There are approximately 300 in the area’s kelp beds.
One Kyuqout’s finest days can quickly turn ugly. As we headed out, the sea became choppy with gusting winds and rain. We tried to fish both Thomas Island and Greenhead without much success. Instead we admired red-beaked tufted puffin and marbled murre fishing from the water, as albatross and cormorants dived for food. Eagles and kingfisher eyed their prey from treetops.
As the rain became heavier and the fishing slowed, we headed for the warmth of the lodge. Fog and rain obscured our final morning. Pounding waves soaked us as we unsuccessfully jigged for halibut. But the time wasn’t waste, the salmon would soon return.
Walter’s Cove is remote in all aspects. As we waited for incoming anglers to get through the inclement weather, we sat by the wood burning fire hoping that maybe the weather would sock us in this magical place. And it did. We were stranded for 24 hours and got to enjoy another day of salmon fishing.