Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin
March, 2014, Vol. 18, No. 6
Double, double, eagle! Say what? We aren’t talking golf here. No, this is West Coast Fishing Club sport fishing on British Columbia’s northernmost island, Langara, in Haida Gwaii.
My buddy Tucsonan Lori Mackstaller and I were fishing for Chinook (King or Spring) salmon in a twenty two foot Boston Whaler when we each got a hook up. The chaos, which typically ensues as we followed our fish around the center console in order to keep our lines untangled, ends abruptly. A two ton sea lion grabs my fish leaving its head before grabbing Lori’s fish. Beating the twenty pound plus salmon on the water between gulps, a bald eagle swooped down to fetch my leftover salmon head. This was a real close up taste of the wilderness food chain.
We were so busy, when an announcement was broadcasted, there wasn’t time to reel in the fishing lines for a short motor to view a pod of twenty killer whales or orcas swimming through Parry Passage between Lucy and Graham Island.
Lucky for us, we got to see the pod of orcas after they swam through Parry Passage, where we were fishing. They appeared to be heading north, perhaps the fifty miles to Alaska. The bull, with his super sized dorsal fin, and his mate swam some distance from the rest of the pod. During our four days of fishing, we would also observe several lone humpbacks.
Monkey Puke and Betsy “dummy” flashers were tied to the boat not the line. When I told Brent Maracle that I wanted to hook my own fish, he replied “At West Coast Fishing Club all anglers are required to hook their own fish.” How unique and refreshing not to have a guide hand over a rod with a hooked fish.
Fortune stayed with us. The sun was shining and the sea was calm. We headed to the west side of Langara’s Lacy Island. Not in the lee of the island, the water and wind here can be real stomach churners. And that is more typical of weather conditions in Langara.
At one of our fine cuisine dinners, Lori and I had the opportunity to dine with Fred Schuerenberg from Missouri. A widower, Fred was “bonding” with his new step son over the Father’s Day weekend. He didn’t bother to mention that he had just caught a potential season record breaker 60.5 pound Chinook. When a seal lion chased this one, Fred free-spooled the line while his guide hurriedly attached the line to another rod. Sea lions can’t swim as fast as salmon.
An hour later, Fred measured and photographed the fish for the record book before releasing this granddaddy. When I asked Fred why he didn’t share this amazing story, he humbly told me, “I didn’t want to sound boastful. This may be my first and last tyee.” It wasn’t, he caught another Chinook over that tyee thirty pound requirement.
Guide Brent Maracle used cut plug herring for bait. West Coast uses the finest fishing gear: Islander single action “knuckle-busting” reels and Shimano rods. Knuckle busting? If you don’t get your hands off the reel when the salmon runs, the spinning action of the reel on your fingers is going to cause a world of hurt.
For three and two half days, Lori and I released salmon while fishing Lacy and the calmer lee waters of Cohoe and Andrews Point. We enjoyed the wildlife including pigeon guillemot, numerous bald eagles, and observing beautiful landscapes off Seath Point and Killer Bay that included remote, uninhabited beaches and pinnacles including Langara’s iconic Flower Pot and Pillar rocks. We were transfixed by bull kelp, white-sided dolphin, and numerous jellyfish.
Unfortunately, all hook-ups are not good ones. A foul hooked or bleeding salmon is a dead one. British Columbia’s Department of Fisheries has set some new limits on daily catches and keeping fish which West Coast flash freezes and packages for their guests. Before we hit day three, we had limited out on salmon—the only choice left was halibut fishing.
Let’s be honest. Halibut are some of the best tasting fish, but they aren’t a lot of fun to catch. Then again, some folks may enjoy hauling what feels like a dead weight two hundred feet to the surface. Not me. We were grateful that we caught “chickens”, the smaller and better tasting halibut.
After heading pass Egeria and Dibrell Bays we motored for about six miles. The combination of smelling herring and salmon bellies from two other boats, one anchored, attracted the halibut.
As we returned to Beal Cove, which the Clubhouse overlooks, a humpback exploded out of the water. Following his breech, he raised his tail fin. It was as if he was waving to say “so long.” It may have been the completion of our fishing journey, but not the memories.
If you go: westcoastfishingclub.com