Well, another friends and family trip is complete and Esperanza and
@Port Eliza Fishing did not disappoint. The wind on the other hand was a little bit of an inconvenience! Three solid days of fishing, swapping stories and catching up with good friends over a couple of bevies easily made up for the not so ideal conditions. We never did get a window to head offshore for Hali, but did manage to scratch up a few Hali and Lingcod on the troll. Overall, our group of 26 went home with some good eats and for most of them that come from points east and south, that is always a treat and the added bonus to these adventures. We also had the full moon with completely clear skies overnight and big tides to contend with. In spite of that, as you will see in the photos, our guides worked hard to get us on the Chinooks and a great time was had by all. We added a one day only derby to our program that included the guides participating in the pool money for the day as well as a nice gift pack from Westcoast Fishing Tackle. I will post more about that in the
@WestCFishingTackle thread. Most of our group went home with all or close to all of their Chinook limit. The Coho were scarce but had been there in big numbers the previous week. A few were caught with the largest weighing in at 8 lbs. One of my cousins opened the leader board on day one with a 25 lb Chinook which held up until late on our final day when my brother brought in a 26 for the big fish of the trip! A real highlight of the trip for me was having my 84 year old Uncle and my good buddies Dad, who is 85, along for the festivities. Both of them have been on numerous fishing trips with us over the years and it was very special to have them along again for this one. Robert and his crew at Port Eliza Lodge did a great job of hosting once again and everyone is looking forward to our next trip already!
In terms of areas we fished, we spent most of our time off Tachu Point at high rock and working our way down to low rock. These areas were our most productive, with more limited success coming from pin rocks on one day. My boat made it to Sandstone one morning along with a couple boats from Reel Obsession, but not much was happening there. Day one, which was Monday, was fairly steady over the course of the day. Day two morning was definitely slower, but the afternoon seemed to bring a new push of fish with the flood tide. The last day was back to a more consistent bite and the fish seemed to be much more aggressive. All the Salmon we landed in my group the last day, had empty stomachs as well. We did see the odd fish with squid, but they were mostly feeding on tiny needlefish. Given the bait size, the guides were mostly using the Little Phat-E or Wee Gee size spoons in Green colours mostly. We did pick up a couple on the last day on a 3.5 inch Herring Aid spoon, again with the Green tint. I think, that if the wind hadn't restricted us to which areas we could fish, we would have seen even more production than we had, which was still very good!
Here are a few pics from the trip.
Day one
First day leader.
This was puked up by one of the Chinook we landed. The photo makes it look larger than it really was, maybe 1.5 inches.
The lucky Cheezies!
My buddies 85 year old Dad still getting it done!
Our day's haul with my buddy and his Dad.
Some good eats coming our way.
The biggest fish winner at 26 lbs.
The keeper award made by my 17 year old son who was on his first trip with the guys. Love that he has found a passion for woodwork.
