Any of you ever fish the channel out of Stewart BC?

[FishBC.org]

We used to go up twice a year as kids, teens, and early 20's and we'd fish the channel. Some decent slabs in there for sure. I remember as kids we could sit on the marina dock with "hoop" nets and limit out on massive dungies (July was always best for Dungie) within half an hour, and we could also catch the infamous Alaskan King Crab, as well as the ugly Japanese Spider Crab off that dock. Prawns we could also get right off the dock in about 60 feet of water. Nice jumbos. Trolling my lucky number was 25 pulls, 52 feet down, and if all failed you could always hop the border to Hyder Alaska, and get hyderized.. Don't recall there being any Hali though. Anyone else experience the area before? In the fall when the rain hits, and the rivers swell you can see salmon swimming in the ditches up there along the highway sometimes... Also the amount of Grizzlies is phenomenal .

The correct name is the Portland Canal.

 

[notmebud]

never fished the canal but the river fishing was awesome the nass and meziaden you would hook a slab in there it just sat there waiting for you to break a line I was there in 72. didnt matter were you put a line in there was always fish.. thems were tha days..

 

[Gunsmith]

Most fishing is still reasonable, cohos and feeder springs. Halibut tend to be closer to the mouth of the canal.
Crabbing and prawning is best on the US side as they keep the commies out.

 

[FishBC.org]

Yeah the Nass is an excellent fishery too!.
The scenery in the area is absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend a trip up there to anyone who can do it (It is a 4 hour drive from the highway, but the road is paved.. Just make sure your fuel is topped up. Over the many trips up, I have taken note to how much of the glacier has been lost. Wow. All the blue ice is shrinking to nothingness. My brother still goes up once a year, and just got back not long ago, and they did very well for springs. The town of Stewart itself as kids had over 700 people living there, but I suspect now that there's about 150. The last time I was there I saw entire townhome complexes, houses, and apartments boarded up, boats left behind and more.

 

[Dave H]

In March of 1966 HMCS Sussexvale visited Stewart and I was a Radio Operator on her.
I recall about three bars and a bit of a motel or some such with not much else in Hyder as I spent one whole Sunday there.
Rum and coke was .50 cents and I did indeed get Hyderized.
I took the water too.

I recall that I was hungover the whole length of the Portland Canal during our voyage from there to the Charlottes.
Wild country and the brother of an old gal pal of mine once boated a 50 lb Chinook he caught when jigging for cod.
I've got a pic of it somewhere.

Thanks for rekindling some old memories.

Take care.

 

[FishBC.org]

Last time us three brothers went up together, and got hyderized, two came home normal, whilst the third came back with a mohawk .... The mohawk did not come back with me .

I sure miss it there too. You used to be able to buy firecrackers in Hyder, before the border was in place, and even after, until someone got smart, and decided to store all the stockpile in the fire dept station there, and they went off, and burnt down the hyder fire department haha.

The bar with all the money on the walls exists still to my knowledge, one of the three anyways. The SeaAlaska in Stewart is still there, as well.

 

[kingspring]

I was in the money on the bar wall last summer!! Got very hyderized, very cool place,good goat country too!!