Day 34, Tuesday July 26, Ormidale Harbour

Ben caught 2 Coho today and Uti caught 4. Looks like the salmon are finally moving in.
One of the Coho had a big chunk taken out of its side, looked like a seal or something had taken a bite out of it!
We noticed a bunch of candle fish in the bay last night, Jerre said the salmon feed on these to fatten up before they move inland to spawn. So if the candle fish are here the salmon won't be far behind.
Uti came over to give Ben lessons on how to fillet fish tonight.
That gal knows how to do everything!

Day 35, Wednesday July 27, Shearwater

OMG. Today was the most awesome day ever! The fish were hitting like crazy! Wet were so busy bringing I fish I never even got any pictures!
I swear they were hitting the pole every time we put it in the water!
It was crazy!
We ended up with 4 Salmon on the boat and I don't know how many we had up to the boat our almost in the net and lost. It was crazy and exciting!
After we got our four, we are only allowed two apiece port day. We headed to Bella Bella for fuel, water, laundry and groceries. Then to Shearwater to anchor for the night.
We'll meet up with Jerre again in the morning.
I sure hope we have as much luck tomorrow!

Day 33, Monday July 25, Ormidale Harbour

Today the skies cleared a little and the sun actually came out for a bit. We didn't have any luck fishing again today but the view was better.
We have been seeing a few cruise ships going by, it's kinda cool watching then cruise up the Strait.
Lots of fishing charters out as well. Hope the fish start moving in soon!

Day 32, Sunday July 24, Ormidale Harbour

Well, today was kinda a let down after yesterday.... We fished and fished and fished.... Uti was reeling them in right and left and we didn't even get a bite! Grrrrrr
It was a long day.
And to top it off... The boys skunked the girls in Cribbage.
AND...It rained all day.
AND...Today was my 21 year anniversary.
Could this day be any worse???

Day 31, Saturday, July 23, Ormidale Harbour

Today was an AWESOME fishing day! I caught my first King Salmon!
Now I'm the fish slayer!
We got to sleep in this morning as the slack tide is around 9:30 so wet headed out about 9 to start our run up Idol Point.
As soon as the downrigger went in the water the fish started biting. Ben caught the first fish, a nice big King, then about 15 minutes later we got another hit and I took this one. OMG it was fun!
We only got the two in the boat but it was a most awesome day.
Ormidale Harbour is just a small little bay, we were able to tie up with Jerre and Uti, I've missed them.

Day 30, Friday, July 22, Shearwater

Spent about 5 hours trolling up and down the coast today with no luck. A few bites but no fish on the deck. We are going to spend one more night in Shearwater then we are going to head out to Idol Point and stay a few days in Ormidale Harbour. Jerre and Uti had some luck there last year. It's still early in the season.
I gotta say it's a lot more exciting when the salmon are biting.
The weather has been overcast and cold. I'm missing the sun shine!

Day 29, Thursday, July 21, Shearwater

Went out at slack tide around 7:30 chasing the elusive Coho Salmon. Once we reach Uti's "honey hole" we shut down to one engine and idle around 1.5 to 2 kts up and down the shore line. Ben gets his downrigger set up and I steer the boat while he sits in the back and watches his pole. And then we wait.... And wait.... And wait.....
FINALLY, he yells, "put 'er in neutral, Fish on"
OMG! I'm so excited! FINALLY! I throw it in neutral and run back to grab the net. The dogs are barking, I'm yelling, the fish is flopping, how exciting!
We got it in the boat and it was a big beautiful Coho Salmon. 28"
Ben wacked it and Sadie the little wiener dog was so excited she could barely control herself. She wanted to kiss that fish all over!
What a great day.

Day 28, Wednesday, July 20, Shearwater

Slept in this morning then fished our way up to Bella Bella and into Shearwater where we finally have cell service again. Arrived around 2pm, went into shore to do some laundry and pick up some milk and eggs. Wow things are expensive here! Milk is almost $10 a gallon and eggs are $5 a dozen.
Ben ordered in a part for the electric down rigger, it will be in the first part of next week. We have reached our destination for the next few weeks of fishing. We will now fish the surround waters in this area until Uti gets her fish for the winter.
The little town of Shearwater has a laundry, grocery store and of course a bar. We are going to go in and explore a little tomorrow.
Lots of boats anchored here, we even saw a US coast guard ship, must be coming from Alaska.

Day 27, Tuesday, July 19, Codville Lagoon

Foggy this morning and rainy. Today we headed up the coast to Codville Lagoon to do some more salmon fishing and set a few crab traps. Uti, the fish slayer, hooked a few but nothing in the boat. Ben got the hand crank down rigger working with Uti's help but he didn't have any luck either.
The islands are so beautiful here. It's like being in Idaho, the mountains are so green and lush, except the water is salt instead of fresh. We travel through little inlets and between islands.
We anchored out with Jerre and Uti, took the dogs ashore and enjoyed some fresh fish for dinner.
Passed a bunch of fishing trawlers... Wonder if they are catching anything?
Tomorrow we head for Shearwater.

Day 26, Monday July 18, Namu Harbour

Namu Harbour, Monday, July 18
We spent the day halibut and salmon fishing. The fish slayer Uti caught a couple Coho, Ben only caught a few rock fish and turned them lose. The weather was overcast but no rain. The temps have been in the upper 70's during the day and In the 60's at night.
We did have a gray whale come visit us and hang around for about 3 hours in the harbor. He would just surface and blow, slap his tail and swim around. Very cool.
Tomorrow we will try some more fishing and head up toward Dean Channel and Ocean Falls.
For dinner tonight I borrowed one of Uti's recipes and fixed chicken stuffed with crab and cheese. YUM

Day 25, Sunday, July 17, Namu

Left Fish Egg inlet around 9am to head out salmon fishing and up toward toward Namu. The goal today was to fish the mouth of the Koeye River and then head north to Namu for some Halibut fishing. Then anchor out together for the night.
We had a few bites around the mouth of Fish Egg Inlet and Ben caught a couple nice rock fish. Then it was up a few miles to the next spot, troll up and down the coast... I steer while Ben mann's the poles.
Around 2 pm we reach Namu and start 'jigging' for halibut. After a few minutes we hear Uti from her boat yelling at Jerre to come help, she has a fish. Then we watched them as they tried to bring in this Hugh halibut! Jerre had the net and Uti the pole... finally Uti threw down her pole to help Jerre try to drag in the net. Once the fish was on deck we hear this WACK, WACK, WACK as Uti is beating it to death with her fish wacker. The fish ended up being almost 50lbs and 47".
Uti the fish slayer. After that they wanted to head into the bay and anchor up so they could process the halibut, Ben and I wanted to continue fishing of course!  We wanted to catch one too.
We ended up fishing a few more minutes then following therm into the little inlet for the evening. Sweet some crab traps and watched Uti clean and fillet her halibut.
We'll try again tomorrow!

Day 24, Saturday, July 16, Fish Egg Inlet

This morning we pulled up anchor around 9am and headed out of Little Fry Pan in the Penrose islands and headed out to do some fishing in Fitzhough Channel before heading up to Fish Egg Inlet.
At one time this inlet was home to a big fish cannery and a good size community, all deserted now.
The fishing was once again slow, a few bites, Ben did catch a couple of sea bass and Uti finally caught a good size Coho salmon as well as a couple rock fish. The first time Ben tried to use the downrigger we had borrowed the dang cable broke and he lost both the ball weight and line. SUCK! He then fished with just regular gear.  Around 2 we decided we had wasted enough gas and it was time to head to port for the evening. When we got to Fish Egg Inlet Ben worked on the downrigger and found out that the cable was rotten all the way through. He would unwind about three feet of cable then it would break, start again, unwind three feet or so and snap, it would break again! Discouraging to say the least.
We anchored separate from the Lawson's boat because of wind, I always miss them when they aren't tied up next to us.
The bright spot today was that we
did finally see a whale out in the channel! It surfaced then slapped it's trail on the water and POOF it was gone. It was a blackish as the Orca are called up here. Awesome to see!

Day 23, Friday July 15, Penrose islands

Today dawned a little cloudy but no rain. We headed out in the Lawson's boat around 10 am to hunt for the illusive sockeye salmon. This was my first fishing trip In saltwater using downriggers, It was very interesting and very exciting. Although we never did catch a salmon, we did have a few bites, and even caught one that was too small and had to throw it back... Although I wanted to keep it! It looked like a good size Idaho fish to me!  We were back at the boat by one and I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the flybridge soaking up the sun in my lounge chair with a Bloody Mary. ahh, this is the life! Our plans for tomorrow are to fish on our way out toward Fish Egg Inlet.
Basically we are at our destination for the next 3 or 4 weeks until we head for home. Bella Bella, our original destination,  is only a few hours up the channel.
We well spend the next couple weeks crabbing and fishing up and down the channels until our freezers are full of crab and salmon. (and yes, maybe some halibut if we get lucky).
Tomorrow we will try out our own downriggers we borrowed from a friend as we will be fishing from our own boat!
We have been seeing a few cruise ships pass by. They look so big!

Day 22, Thursday July 14 Penrose islands

Woke up this morning to sunshine and blue skies. we are going to spend the day fishing in the channel for salmon. last year Uti caught a bunch of salmon here. the tide will be slack around 2:30 so we are going to head out about 2.
The banks of this little cove are so steep that we are having a Heck of a time finding a place to take the dogs ashore. so Ben butts the dingy up next to the shore and I jump overboard with the rope and secure out to some rocks then wade back and grab the dogs one by one. fortunately, after about the second trip to shore Chloe figured out she could jump to shore and then jump back on the dingy so that helped with the whole operation! There wasn't much land to go potty on... The banks are so steep and covered with brush, but they have figured our that when the opportunity is there.... They take advantage of it!
I wasn't feeling all that hot today so Ben went out with Jerre and Ute in their boat, the fishing sucked and they had a few bites but that was all so about 5pm they came back into the bay.
we had Ben's lingcod that he caught for dinner. WOW was it good! I pan fried it with a coating of Panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. I do think it was the best fish I have ever eaten. so light and tasty. I think it was even better than Idaho trout!
we will try our hand at fishing again tomorrow.

Day 21, Wednesday, July 13, Penrose islands

Penrose islands, Little Frypan Inlet.
We left Port McNeill bright and early heading across the Queen Charlotte Strait towards Cape Caution and the Penrose islands. It was a long day, took us around 10 hours to make the crossing and reach our destination. But the weather and water was perfect. Not a white cap in sight, just the swell of the ocean.
I have never been out in 'open' water before, although I'm not sure Queen Charlotte Strait is considered open water, and we could always see land off to our starboard side, but watching the swells of the water roll endlessly by was almost hypnotic. Jerre's boat ahead of us would bob up on a swell, then disappear down into a trough then bob back up again.
Ben and I took turns starting the boat, about every two hours we would switch off, he would nap while I drove and I would fix lunch or map our course on the charts while he drive.... go figure.
I never got sea sick but as I said it was a pretty calm crossing.
I was driving as we headed around Cape Caution, Uti tells me that is
a milestone, many a mariner has meet his end upon the rocks at Cape Caution. I of course navigated it perfectly!
After the Cape it was a short trip up to the Penrose islands in Rivers Inlet where we anchored in a quiet little cove called Little Frypan.
we plan on spending a few days here fishing as Rivers Inlet and Fitzhough Sound are supposed to be good salmon fishing.

Day 20, Tuesday, July 12 Port McNeill

Rain, rain and more rain. Port McNeill is a beautiful little town on the northern most point of Vancouver Island, laundry, hardware and groceries. We are anchored out in the bay across from the ferry docks and where they dump the logs in the bay. A bit of a dingy ride into shore but it was nice to get the laundry caught up and some fresh fruit and veggies for the galley.
We still have not seen any whales??? Tomorrow we head across Queen Charlotte Strait toward the Broughton Islands so maybe we will see some out there.
Jerre said we have about a ten hour day tomorrow to our next stop and without our auto-nav it will be a long one. With the auto-nav the boat generally stays on course and you just have to watch for obstructions in the water, other boats and such, without it you are constantly steering and adjusting course. I'm learning to drive the boat to give Ben a break from time to time.
The dogs are adjusting to boat life, going ashore twice a day, once in the morning and again before bed. It makes it a challenge loading and off loading the dingy for them just to take them ashore.... But the little devils still refuse to go on the boat!
I'm excited about tomorrow, another step in our adventure and closer to the fishing grounds.