North Vancouver Island Trip

Three coworkers and I headed up to the Port McNeill/Port Hardy area for some saltwater kayak fishing a couple weeks ago.  Big tides (15 ft) and so-so bottom and salmon fishing.  I ended up catching some snapper (10-14 lb), and halibut (5 of them up to 33 pounds, didn't expect these), a 16# king, some nice coho up to 13 pounds, some pinks, plus a lot of small bottom fish (eaten or released).  No lings this time.  Whales everywhere.  I had one monster hali on for 20 seconds or so before it broke me off on 80# spectra.  A coworker got a nice one however that was 58" or about 100 pounds that I had to gaff and hold on for a minute or so, getting soaked, before things calmed down.  I can't give specific location details, but there are plenty of places for kayak fisherman to fish without any boats in sight/vicinity and the fish seem to be all over the place, including the hali's (this year).

I love British Columbia!

Mike

That sounds like an awesome adventure and some really, really quality pics to go with it.  Nicely done!!!

-Allen

Looks like you got the full spectrum fishing trip and I do mean full!  Way to go -- nice pics.  Always nice to have several friends along as well.  Now, exactly where was that?   

Gorgeous fish and excellent wildlife shots. Life must be good. BTW is it ok to gaff salmon in BC? Actually that looks like a hook w/ the barb. What's the story behind that pic?

Z

Zee,

I caught all my salmon on apex's.  I lost my gaff last year so I took my hardwood billyclub and drilled a hole in the end and glued in a big shark hook with the eye cut off into the end of the billy club.  This homemade gaff was for the hali's and lingcod.  Without it we would have never got my buddy's big hali.  I just used the gaff to kill this particular salmon for a picture.  A gaff is legal in saltwater if used to subdue a legally caught fish, in BC but I think you are right that it is not legal in Washington.

I will buy a harpoon and bouy next time since the 100# hali was almost too much to hold on from a kayak with a small gaff.

Here's a pic of my buddy's hali.

Mike

WOW! amazing pictures, how close were you to that black bear?   That's a great report and set of pics, nicely done.  (insert picture of a little yellow face with a thumbs up)

I will buy a harpoon and bouy next time since the 100# hali was almost too much to hold on from a kayak with a small gaff.

More story on this one!  Did you gaff the butt without any other altercation with it? A hundy butt is a lot to deal with on a kayak.  I would have loved to see the rodeo ride you took.  On the 50 I took this summer I stabbed it in the head with my safety knife and let it calm down for little while before letting Joey the gaffman have a shot at it.  Even then he got some tear-your-arm-from-your-shoulder-socket jerks from the butt.

-Allen

That salmon went out FRIDAY THE 13TH style then eh? Ouch! That hali's a straight Pigosaur. Insane that you subdued it just w/ your gaff. Nice work.

Z

Allen,

The 3 coworkers I took had never fished saltwater from a kayak before and none of them had ever caught a hali either.  I told them over and over that there was going to be a significant struggle when the fish got on the surface and I don't think they believed me until I put the gaff through the fishes head.  They just stared at me while I hung on and the fish thrashed like crazy nearly tipping me over and soaked 2 of us.  The fish ripped the handle out of my hands and for a while all I had was just the little rope loop in my hand.  They thought for sure there was no way I would be able to hold on but eventually the fish tired and I had one of them poke its head a bunch of times with the knife.  Then I took a knife to the gills and let it bleed out for 5 minutes before wrapping my paddle leash through its gills.  The I tied it to my buddies kayak transom so he could paddle it back to an island where it could be filleted.  He got wore out towing it since it porpoised up and down like an out of tune wiggle wart all the way in.  A better way would be to tie it's head directly to the back of the kayak instead of being 5 feet behind. 

I do NOT want to do it that way again.  I've harpooned a bunch of smaller halibut from a boat and am convinced it would be a far better way.  If the fish was a 150# or bigger there is no way I could have held on, and feel I was lucky with this one on the hand gaff.

Next time I'm going to be ready for the barn door fish, with a harpoon and bouy.

Mike

I do NOT want to do it that way again.  I've harpooned a bunch of smaller halibut from a boat and am convinced it would be a far better way.  If the fish was a 150# or bigger there is no way I could have held on, and feel I was lucky with this one on the hand gaff.

Next time I'm going to be ready for the barn door fish, with a harpoon and bouy.

Mike

Good man. The harpoon is the way to go. I'm glad you made it w/o injury and w/ glory the shots to prove it!

Z

WOW!!!

Awesome Job!

I didn't even want to handle the 50#.  I was only a couple hundred yards from shore so started paddling that way, until Joey manned up.  At that point I thought it best to try to get a head shot in with the knife before letting him learn the hard way.  Still, he cowboyed up and had a bit of a ride.

-Allen