With a gale warning called for the Douglas Channel this past week, most if not all boaters are hesitant to try the area near Kitimat.
When our nearest wind and weather station is located some 120 nautical miles away in the Hecate Strait it’s impossible to predict the local weather. This past week proved the weatherman wrong again - and thank goodness it did.
We stuck to the local area trolling for Columbia River chinook - yes, these salmon travel into our channel enroute to rivers in the U.S. and boy are there some nice sized salmon.
I’ve attached photos of a couple of beauties we caught while trolling in the flat, calm waters of the Kitimat Arm. My fellow fishing guides and captains, Phil and Donny made a few passes with our trolling gear. Having three fishing guides in one boat can be a challenge, as all know what’s best!
We experimented and trolled at different depths and with different lures.
We found that fishing deep with the bigger spoons was the most successful - man, can these fish put up a good fight!
As we opened the fish’s stomachs we found small herring and dew worms - yes, freshwater worms.
Funny how we know more about the stars and the planets than we do about the deep blue waters beneath us.
The river estuary is full of life and many animals play in our brackish waters.
If you’re not keen for a trip out into the channel, how about going up to Lakelse for a day on the ice?
The char make it fun to take your kids fishing while feeding the hungry eagles that hang around hoping for a small meal.
