Outlook for 2022

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Robyn Bertrand

2022/2023 Fishing licenses are now available online. There is a lot of new information included on these licenses which is causing a bit of confusion already! It is important to remember that retention and sometimes size limits are different for different areas on the coast. To best understand the rules, you need to read your license in conjunction with the area specific regulations. We are fishing in BC Tidal Area 3. For the most up to date information visit t h i s p a g e .

Here’s how things stand right now in Area 3:

These are the current regulations posted for 2022. If experience has taught us anything, it is safe to assume that there may be in-season changes to chinook retention, given there is ongoing concern about Skeena River chinook stocks.

As for all other species we don’t anticipate any change to the regulations!

If you’re interested in receiving the most current information on regulation changes, you can sign up for email notifications through the DFO website.

Don’t forget to get your fishing license online before your trip this year!

Keep Reading ….

Hatchery Salmon – A discussion

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Robyn Bertrand

Hatchery Salmon have been a much-debated topic in British Columbia for many years and is quite a hot topic lately with some diminishing wild stocks throughout the west coast of North America. Hatchery salmon have the ability to do many things; they provide more fish to relieve pressure on wild stocks, allow for genetic identification and tracking of certain runs, and in some places provide a harvest opportunity when wild fish stocks are of concern. It has become a hot topic for many reasons especially on the south coast where there is a potential to have directed hatchery only fisheries which will maintain angler opportunity while still protecting wild fish.

The main argument against hatcheries is that these fish are raised under ideal conditions, so they are genetically inferior to a wild fish. The concern is that if a hatchery fish spawns with a wild fish, it may make its offspring genetically inferior and not tough enough to survive or adapt as quickly as a wild fish. It’s a very interesting discussion considering all the pressure these fish endure through commercial fishing, sport fishing harvest, Indigenous food and ceremonial harvest, wildlife predation such as Orcas, seals, and sealions, along with habitat degradation, changing ocean conditions and then throw into the mix global warming it’s no wonder wild salmon are struggling.

What is the answer? Decisions for the future of any species of concern must involve all user groups making management decisions together, a united force whose first priority is conservation. Management decisions that are biased in favor of one particular group will not be beneficial to the survival of this majestic species. It will only exasperate the issue and have us fighting to the very last fish!

If you’re interested in reading more on the subject, here’s a great article to start with, written by Tom Davis: What is a Salmon Hatchery?

There is a lot of work being done to protect the public fishery in Canada. A great group that is fighting to educate the public and to maintain opportunity is the Public Fishery Alliance. To find out more or to get involved, you can check them out here: Public Fishery Alliance.

Keep Reading …

2021 Fishing Report

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Robyn Bertrand

Chinook

Chinook fishing on Dundas island last summer was quite consistent and, dare I say, at times fabulous as large number of springs in the 12-20lb range invaded our waters. Most trips saw good fishing, fantastic weather and exceptional herring fishing, which made for bright smiles on anglers faces.

Having said that, it is clear that the downward trend continues. Despite commercial and recreational cutbacks, no-fishing zones, and protections in place to avoid spawning Skeena Chinook, the returning numbers have not been significantly impacted for the better. Stronger policies may be needed to support the long, long recovery of these majestic fish.

Last season we experienced chinook closures and reductions in retention. Late May and saw limits of 2 fish per day 4 possession, in early June this was reduced to 1 day/ 2 possession and by mid June a 3 week moratorium on harvesting chinook salmon was imposed. Catch limits went back to 1 day/ 2 in possession for the remainder of August, and back to 2 day/4 possession for the remainder of the season.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans data shows that only 1 in 8 chinook caught in the Prince Rupert saltwater recreational fishery is a Skeena chinook, and 1 in 12 fish on Dundas Island is of Skeena origin. These cutbacks will do little, in my opinion, to restore a healthy system. Only an estimated 400-600 fish were saved by these cutbacks. Conservation of these glorious creatures should be of the highest of priority for all of us – recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, and first nations. Conservation of this public resource is a responsibility shared amongst all of us.

On a brighter note, Nass River fish fared much better in 2021. Even though numbers were down from the 30-year average, Chinook stocks are showing a gradual increase. An estimated 25,000 fish returned to the Nass System in 2021. The 30-year average is around 30,000 fish, the last 10-year average of returning spawners was 19,800 fish.

Bottom Fishing

When new anglers come to the lodge I am often asked “When is the best time to go chase some bottom fish?”. The truth is that fishing for bottom dwellers is likely good most of the time – however successfully being able to target them is another matter. To tip the odds in our favor I tell our guests that if you’re seriously looking for some delicious table fare, then plan your outing for when the weather is calm and sea conditions flat. This sounds a lot simpler than it really is! It may mean foregoing salmon fishing for a couple of hours. The north coast is also infamous for its constantly changing weather but if you plan it right there is usually a window of opportunity for favorable conditions during your trip. To make it easier for guests to target halibut the lodge provides anchor locations so unguided guests can tie up their boats within a short distant of the lodge in a care-free protected area.

As for last season’s bottom fishing report, simply put, it was great! Calm seas with light winds were prevalent for most of the summer and every year we seem to add a few more spots to our repertoire complementing our tried-and-true locations. We also activated some old haunts that turned out to be extremely productive once again. Last summer we encountered some fabulous fishing for lingcod and halibut with a great mix of all sizes. It’s interesting to note that over the years certain spots will fish differently, produce more (or less) fish on certain tides and hold different species from year to year.

Like all of you – as our halibut stocks start to dwindle in the freezer – we are looking forward to getting back out there!

Herring

In a perfect world Amazon would delve into the untapped Dundas Island market and provide delivery boats that would visit Herring rocks each morning at the crack of dawn. Jiggers would provide us an array of fresh herring, ranging in sizes of 6-12 inches, perfect for whatever quarry we target that day, before sending us a text that our bait has been delivered as we sip hot coffee and baileys, fireside at the lodge. Alas, Jeff Bezos has yet to answer our plea so we must hit the water before sunrise and do the job. There is something about humbling ourselves before the fish gods and setting our jigs over a school of herring that keeps us all well balanced. Either way, as far as I am concerned, every day is a blessing, not only do I get to do what I really love but I get to share it with all of you eager anglers.  

Jigging freshies starts our day, every day. There are no bait ponds or minions for any of us to rely on, just our experience and sometimes dumb luck. At times we are humbled, yes, but more often than not we are rewarded with the best bait on the planet, bar none. Bait that every salmon fisherman on the pacific envies!

From a distance 6-7 guide boats and skiffs going in circles like a flock of seagulls looks a little silly. Crowded together, rod tips touching, coffee spilling with a little colorful banter being tossed around really jump-starts the morning for me.  Usually, it’s obvious when the first herring grabs your string of imitation krill flies, the quiver is unmistakable. From there – everyone has their own technique. My personal favorite is to allow the first fish to cause enough chaos that it attracts others to the flashy looking hooks.  I hold steady, twitching my rod slightly, waiting. From there I decide whether to drop deeper or do a slow retrieve a touch shallower, remembering that slack line is the enemy.  Regardless, patience is the key, full strings are the goal and hitting the salmon fishing grounds early is the reward. Remember there are salmon to catch, big ones with big teeth, ready to slash at your beautiful translucent-finned cut plug no matter how much fun you just had jigging bait. Off we go!

Coho & Fly-Fishing

Lucky for us, the 2021 Coho fishing didn’t seem to be affected by Covid restrictions, travel bans, or social distancing and on our returning Coho stocks were very, very strong. Recreational anglers all over the coast have been signaling the warning sign to the DFO on the declining Coho stocks for several years. Finally, DFO managers heeded the advice of their biologists and significantly curtailed the commercial troll fishery for Coho in 2021. The result was literally hundreds of thousands of extra fish making their way through the gauntlet to their streams of origin. Along the way they pass through Dixon Entrance and a percentage hit the shores of Zayas and Dundas Islands where lodge guests were treated to some of the best Coho fishing in a decade.

On an evening fish with Longhorn, Ashlyn made lodge history, landing 2 coho on the same line. Some of you might have experienced this with a fish on each hook, but Ash’s hungry coho swallow the weight and his buddy piped the herring! Atta girl Ash!

Coho started showing up as early as late June, and in large numbers. By August it was full blown madness at times. Revived were the days of hooking multiple fish a day on the cast fly. The washing machines were back, jack herring were being assaulted at an astronomical rate and smiles could be found on every fisherman at the lodge. The Coho were so thick at times that while targeting Chinook we would have to move locations to avoid these aggressive feeders and keep our bait from being continuously ravaged. This was a good problem to have considering the alternative.

Buck tailing was back with a vengeance too! Good catches and thunderous takes make this an extremely effective and energizing method to target these aggressive Coho. Multiple fish tides were common, and double-digit days were not an exception.

Keep Reading …

And we’re back!

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Hayden Harsch

The 2019 Haa-Nee-Naa Season is underway! The staff were hard at work for the three week pre-season working on a couple of Lodge beautification projects and keeping busy getting the boats and gear dialed-in, but between shifts the boys were able to get dialed-in on the water as-well.

After the long wait, it feels amazing to be back on Dundas for another stellar season, and after training up on feeder chinook all winter in Campbell River, I am excited to see what the waters of Dundas have to offer this summer.

Some good early season weather has allowed for easy early mornings on the water, and great early season herring fishing. It wasn’t long until we had our first few staff salmon showing up on the dock, along with some very nice releases!

The pre-season fishing was a breath of fresh air as the numbers of opportunities were consistent, and the size of fish was quite a surprise with some migratory fish being caught as early as May eighth and some fish in the low twenties showing up later in the month.

A-little later in the month as our staff numbers increased, and with everyone keen to get on the water those who would brave the early wake-up were rewarded with great fishing. I am optimistic of what the season has yet to bring, and I am hopeful that this stellar May fishing is a sign of things to come for the season.

To meet our 2019 team, check us out here: http://haaneenaa.com/about-us/our-team/

See you guys up here soon, and Tight Lines!

 Cheeks

Here we go!

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Robyn Bertrand

After a busy tow and start-up, the 2017 fishing season is officially underway! Let’s cut to the chase: how’s the fishing? It is the question at the top of all of your minds.

Since opening day on May 19^th, we have experienced some outstanding Chinook fishing – with 12 to 14 fish days during the third week in May, as well as some very tough Chinook fishing. The weather has been a mixed bag: sunny and calm one day, wet and windy the next. The winds have at times made it difficult to spread out and find the fish as much as we would like to, but it is always possible to tuck out of the wind in one of our regular spots and fish despite the weather.

The majority of the chinook we are seeing are on the smaller side, 10-15 pounds on average, with increasingly bigger fish mixed in as well. The leader on the board so far this season remains a 35.5 pound hog landed by first time Haa-Nee-Naa guest, Fred Albert, at the end of May.

Freshie fishing started off slow, but everyday it seems that more and more herring are arriving. It hasn’t been taking long to load up for the day. With increasing numbers of feed fish moving in we are confident that the salmon are close behind.

Lodge guests have also been experiencing very productive bottom fishing. The weather has been keeping us close to home and we’ve been rewarded with consistent halibut in both the under 83cm class and under 133cm class. There have even been a few noteworthy fish released that would have weighed in upwards of 100lbs.

Last year many of you may remember landing a hatchery fish. As you may or may not know, all of these hatchery fish are implanted with coded wire tags, which allow their origins to be tracked. Of the 17 hatchery fish logged at Haa-Nee-Naa last season, we have learned that 2 were Washington fish, 1 was visiting from Alaska, and the remaining 14 were from various hatcheries throughout British Columbia: Tofino, Robertson Creek, Quinsy, Toboggan Creek, and the majority from our local Deep Creek/Skeena Hatchery. It is always interesting to learn the origins of these fish we are intercepting on the way back to their home rivers.

Stay tuned for more updates on fishing, meet our new staff, and check out what we’re working on around the lodge!

Looking back on 2016

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Robyn Bertrand

Another summer at Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge has come and gone! We’d like to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who joined us this year and made it a very memorable fishing season. It is always a pleasure for the staff to see your familiar faces getting off the plane and to create new relationships with first time guests! This is something we all look forward to every trip.

We have had a busy fall: With some well-deserved time off, Clay went on his annual fly-in moose hunt this September. He has been doing this two-week trip for many years now, which provides him with fresh caribou and moose meat throughout the year.

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Another trip many of us look forward to is the annual Bulkley river camping/fishing trip in October. This year chef Paul Williams attended along with Jason, Clay, Tanis and family and friends. Enjoying his time away from the kitchen, Paul managed to catch his first-ever steelhead on the spey rod! A proud Aussie to say the least! This year’s Bulkley trip also marked a milestone birthday for Longhorn, pretty soon he will need a wading staff on the river!

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The team up here has now transitioned back into our winter lives – going to school, playing hockey, being new dads, and of course, working! Clay, Jason and Robyn are back at work, already preparing for the 2017 fishing season, doing all the required maintenance on the building, boats, engines and office work handled by Robyn. Before we get ahead of ourselves though we’d like to take a moment to look back on the last season.

Looking back here are a few highlights that stand out in our minds:

Early June we saw a good push of feisty Chinook salmon. Some guests had amazing salmon fishing hooking into double digits. I remember when the first large wave of fish came in on the 4^th of June. Fishing Kelp Point during a flood tide we had two double headers in 30 minutes. Boy oh boy did that get the blood flowing!

Halibut fishing was once again amazing throughout the whole season with our off shore spots producing numerous of large 100cm+ fish. Guide Clint and his guests, Randy and Dwight, released not just one, but two of the largest halibut the lodge has ever seen! No one will know the exact weights however according to the length chart the fish were estimated to be about 220 lbs and 150 lbs. True giants!

Veteran guide Nugget had an unfortunate hand injury during the 2^nd week of June, which required surgery and put him out of commission for the season. Dan Bertrand stepped up to the plate and did an excellent job guiding. He worked very hard and guided his clients into many Tyee!

Although it was a tough year overall on the Salmon front, it definitely had its memorable moments. Sometimes it’s the fish you really have to work for that you remember the most fondly. I think guest Elizabeth Barnard would agree – Elizabeth landed her personal best Chinook, a beautiful 52 lber, in the final minutes before the radio call the last morning of her trip. Congratulations again on the fish of a lifetime! Elizabeth’s fish held up as the largest Tyee landed in 2016. DSCN1671

As always the staff at Haa-Nee-Naa takes great pride in customer service and want to leave a positive impression on each and every guest. Thank you to those who joined us this year and we look forward to seeing you next year for another memorable adventure! Stay tuned for our annual newsletter coming out in the New Year.

If you have not yet heard from Robyn, she’ll be in touch soon to confirm the dates and details of your trip for next season.

See you next time!

One Tide Away from a Great Day!

Posted on June 19, 2016 by Danny Merth

During periods of tough fishing it is important to keep a positive attitude and to be optimistic. That is why the motto for the trip #3 was: We are just one tide away from a great day! Everyday on Dundas Island is a great day if you ask me. Any angler knows you will go through some slow periods, which makes catching a beautiful Chinook salmon all that more rewarding!

Guests on trip #2 and #3 had to work hard for their fish and made sure they were ready when that Chinook salmon bit. We had a few good flurries of action where multiple hook ups occurred in a short period of time. The weather made it especially difficult to travel around and fish some of our offshore spots, which usually hold good numbers of feeder Chinook salmon.

After 5 days of tough fishing, perhaps the highlight from that week was when the floatplanes could not make it to the lodge due to the 40-45 knot winds all afternoon and evening. For the first time in Lodge history the outbound guests had to stay overnight and the inbound guests got stuck for a night in Prince Rupert. So what do you do when you are stranded at Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge? Go fishing of course! The boats were loaded back up with guests and out everyone went for a bonus evening of fishing.

Hats-off to Jake Snorsky who had not landed a Chinook salmon during the trip, fate was on his side and during the bonus evening of fishing, the fish gods smiled down upon him and he was rewarded with his first Chinook of the trip! Good job Jake, perseverance pays off!

Our “One tide away from a great day” mantra proved itself to be true on trip #4. It always amazes me how quickly things change when it comes to salt water fishing. After missing the evening fish, the inbound group was rewarded the next morning by a large wave of hungry Chinook salmon. Everyone was into multiple fish and throughout the whole day pushes of Chinook salmon kept coming. Both the ebb and flood tide produced large numbers of fish. Everyone salmon fishing had no problem getting their limit and could be selective on which fish they decided to retain. 17-23lbs seemed to be the average size of fish caught with some larger ones mixed in.

The atmosphere at the lodge was electric and everyone was eager to get back out on the water!

Fishing remained very consistent for the following groups of guests with plenty of feisty Chinook circling the waters around Dundas Island. Congratulations go out to Jeff Lewis who until a few days ago had the biggest fish of the season, a beautiful 39lb slab! Dwayne took home 1^st place in the derby this past weekend with a 31lb dandy! Good work Dwayne.

Coho have started to show up in decent numbers and everyday seem to be getting more abundant. We have started to run into the odd larger pod of fish when a school of herring or needlefish is near. This often results in a flurry of Coho action with double and triple hook-ups. These silver bullets make for a great battle and usually end up tangling one or more of your lines if you are not quick to get things under control! Their acrobatic nature and agility make them a blast to target.

As always, bottom-fishing remains productive for those who wish to target cod and halibut. A few 50+ pound whoppers were caught this past week. Not exactly the easiest fish to bring up from 200+ feet…. Darn good eating though!

Don’t forget to get your fishing licences on-line before your visit this year. You can visit the licensing website here: Online Licencing to set up a profile for yourselves, purchase your fishing license and refresh your memories on catch limits.

Tight Lines,

Nugget

Chinook Salmon Fever!

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Danny Merth

The 2016 Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge fishing season has officially begun! Staff were hard at work during the three weeks of start up: painting, repairing, cleaning, and just about everything you can think of in-between in preparation for opening day on May 20th.

I love this time of year! After so many months of anticipation in the off-season, it feels great to finally throw down some cut-plug herring. Nothing beats rolling into any one of our Dundas Island hot spots and having it all to ourselves.

The season got off to a great start on May 20th. We welcomed back past guests and new faces to kick off the season. It is always a treat for us guides to witness someone’s first Dundas Island Chinook – a truly memorable experience.

Patsy Cline faithfully woke us up on the first morning, getting everyone up out of bed and excited for the first full day on the water. Along with all the other guides I had trouble sleeping the night before, dreaming of Freshie’s and hungry Chinook salmon had us all jacked up for the 4:15am wake up call.

The first couple days of the trip yielded low Chinook salmon hook-ups for everyone. The herring were very scattered and tough to locate during our morning hunt. Thoselucky enough to find a bait ball of mature herring that were willing to bite their sabiki rigs had a definite leg up for the day.

By the third day of the trip the herring were showing up in big numbers and the salmon fishing got steadily stronger. Fishing stayed consistent through the latter part of the trip and everyone got to shake hands with at least a few Chinook. The first Tyee of the season was brought in by Robert, weighting exactly 30lbs. First time guest and first time salmon fisherman, John, also topped off his salmon card with a beautiful, well-earned 32 pounder. Congratulations guys!!

The average salmon weight for the trip was 16 pounds, with a couple of Tyee and a handful of fish in the 25-27 pound range.

Bottom fishing was excellent for all species. Lingcod and Halibut were plentiful along with the various types of rockfish. It is exciting to be the first rod to fish many of these humps, ledges and pinnacles that haven’t been fished since last season. The aggressive lingcod were hiding in their caves just waiting for a freshie to be sent down! Four halibut over 100 cms hit the dock with the largest being 127 cms.

All in all a great start to the 2016 season. Fishing continues to get better and better everyday, shaping up nicely for great early June Chinook fishing. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the season. We are looking forward to seeing all of you up here this summer and can’t wait to hit the water with you.

Tight lines,

Nugget

Outlook for 2016

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Robyn Bertrand

Chinook

It is always interesting to read through the collected data from the past season’s sport and commercial fishery. Comparing the data to previous years, biologists come up with an educated estimate of run sizes for the upcoming season. It causes us to reflect on last season’s ups and downs and pushes us to think long and hard on how to characterize a whole season at the lodge in just a few paragraphs.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) forecast for our region concerning Chinook salmon always seems to be about the same: average returns, all hinging on ocean survival of outgoing smolts. When you really sort through the data you can see some downward trends and some definite trends looking upward. It appears that the early season Nass and Skeena fish, which make up a large portion of the fish we intercept on Dundas Island, seem to be fairly stable or slightly down from the historical average. However, the percentages of fish swimming by Dundas to the central and lower parts of the Pacific Northwest seem to be on the rise. It is only a matter of time before we get a bumper year on the North Coast tributaries and when combined with the increasing numbers to Central and Southern rivers, we could be in for some incredible fishing.

Last year saw some of the largest returns of big fish to our local tributaries. At one local hatchery, fish in the 70 pound range were being harvested for brood stock on almost a daily basis. The hatchery manager on this tributary anticipates this season to be even better! These big fish are still out there and swim past Dundas – who will be the lucky one to get their fish of a lifetime this season? Our regional biologist has noted some highlights from last year: in 2015 the average weight of the commercial troll fishery Chinook on the north coast was only 11 pounds. In most fisheries when there is a large return of jacks or smaller fish, the next year tends to get a bump in the population of 4 and 5 year olds (big fish). With any luck we will see that bump in 2016.

Coho

The outlook for coho on the North Coast has been described as abundant for 2016. This is good news given that late run Skeena coho numbers were down last season. These low numbers didn’t seem to impact our experience – we continued to have incredible coho action on both cut plugs and on the fly throughout August and into early September. We are excited by this forecast for next season and hope to see large numbers of coho passing through the waters on the north end of Dundas.

Bottom Fish

Possession limits for halibut will remain the same in 2016 (one halibut per day, 2 possession), however there will be changes in the size restrictions. The large fish will remain at 133 cm and the second fish in possession will drop from 90 cm to 83 cm. We are also anticipating a change in yellow-eye limits from 3 per day down to 2 per day, four in possession. We look forward to more great fishing for halibut and all other bottom species. Fishing may even get better as our guides and anglers are always trying new techniques and locations to further our knowledge of the area.

Year in Review – 2015 Chinook Fishing

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Robyn Bertrand

Chinook Fishing

Overall, chinook fishing in 2015 was great! Lodge guests experienced consistent catches all season long, hooking limits of bright fish daily. The arrival of our first guests in late May kicked off our season with larger numbers of fish than previous years. While the average fish weight was smaller than in previous seasons, the numbers definitely made up for it. As we often see when targeting migratory fish, there were ‘bumps’ of salmon throughout the season: last season the end of June was a bit of a slump as fishing tapered off a little. This only lasted for a short time frame then the fishing came back strong as we moved into July. Mid-tide bites seemed to be the ticket last season, more often than not the bite would come on right smack in the middle of the tide change – a refreshing transformation from 2014 when the bites were very unpredictable and fleeting.

Weather seemed to play a large part in the good fishing. May had only a few hours of rain throughout the entire month. Normal average rainfall in Prince Rupert in May is approximately 132cm (52 inches), less than 3 cm (1inch) of precipitation fell in 2015. June, which can sometimes be a rainy month, was equally nice. These warm conditions paired with the long hours of sunlight had a noticeable effect on the marine conditions. The ocean was teeming with algae and plankton, conditions perfect for herring to actively feed in the shallows and close to the surface. Where there is bait salmon are never far behind!

With little wind and few storms lodge guides were free to roam wherever the bite would take us. The average weight of chinook salmon in May/June was below our 25 year lodge average, though many fish in the 20-25 pound range were boated by our first eager guests. These early season fish pull line very hard – there is something that makes them a little different. Maybe it is the long, cold winter without our rods bent, or just that these anadromous fish are genetically perfect in every way. After an amazing journey where they spend 3-8 years at seas, less than 2% of theses fish beat the odds and return. They swim past our island to feed on the abundant bait fish in preparation for yet another amazing journey up our wild, remote northern rivers to spawn; continuing an age-old cycle.

The first Tyee of the season was caught by none other than Anita Irwin Bowers, Jason’s lovely bride. Anita’s 34 pound buck at the end of May set the stage for many other Tyee that would arrive later. As June crept along the average fish size stayed about the same, though fishing continued to be very strong and most guests were able to take home their limits. For a few days in late June salmon fishing was slower than normal. There are a few factors which may have contributed to this. Though they are only guesses at best, the most plausible theory is that the north coast drought, while it brought great early season action may have also been a factor to the clearing of water surrounding Dundas Island. Clear means no plankton – which is the foundation of life in the ocean. Krill and other euphausiids feed off plankton and in turn the herring feed on them. This may have pushed the salmon runs a little offshore and made them travel deeper in search of food their favourite food: herring.

The late June slump didn’t last for long, the rain eventually showed up and with it the return of some real Dundas Island hogs – there were four fish landed at the lodge weighing in at over 50 pounds!! Congratulations to 15 year old Kate Leeuwenburg who on her first ever salmon fishing trip landed a beautiful 55 pound chinook, out-fishing not just her Dad, but Uncle Chris and Grandpa too – all seasoned salmon fishermen. Overall the 2015 season saw over 50 Tyee landed – that means you have a 1 in 4 chance of being the next member of the Tyee club. These are some of the best odds Chinook fishing on the coast of BC. The strong Chinook fishing continued un-characteristically late into August. One noteworthy slab was a 35 pounder brought to the boat in the third week of August!

2015 HALL OF FAME

Dan Nordstrom	58 lbs
Kate Leeuwenburg	55 lbs
Jon Heisler	54 lbs
Joerg Nixdorf	52 lbs
Gunn Robison	47 lbs
Dana Burchart	45 lbs
Chris Davis	43 lbs
Stephanie Kramer	41 lbs
Gary Lewis	41 lbs
Kevin Formes	40 lbs
Mel Grant	40 lbs

Another of the many highlights of the season was watching Leon Loucheur set a new lodge record – one that may never be broken! Leon caught a 30lb Tyee on a small trout rod using a buzz bomb with 12lb test line! The battle lasted about an hour and the Chinook tired out before Leon did, giving him the chance to net the fish all by himself. This was an extraordinary feat for any angler and is an experience that Leon will never forget!

First time Lodge guest Joerg had the trip of a lifetime too – arriving late on Friday night – not on the same schedule the rest of the group and departing at lunch time Sunday, Joerg still managed to clean house. Joerg’s first ever Dundas Island salmon was a 52 pounder, followed by an even 30 pounder and a couple in the high teens. Add to that 2 nice halibut and a boatload of ling, Joerg went home with full fish boxes thinking “That was easy!”, though he did miss collecting his derby winnings for the weekend!