Salmon fishing in kayaks

It took a while for the summer to finally arrive and when it did I asked my friend Chris, from Sweden whom I had met in Yukon in the spring, if he wanted to do a kayak trip.  As an avid fisherman he was eager to catch some salmon.  I took him out several times in my skin-on-frame kayaks so he would get used to them.   He had no problem and mastered the roll after just 15 minutes of practice

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After picking up my friend Erik's touring kayak and some food we were off to Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Nanaimo and arrived  just after sunset.  It's a five hour drive north to Telegraph Cove, so we stopped halfway, near Campbell River and just pulled over a roadside parking lot along the sea and slept in the Kaiser (my old Benz).   The beautiful sunrise announced a gorgeous day ahead.

We arrived at our destination a few hours later and we were in the water by noon.  Johnstone Straight was calm and a deep blue.  The salmon were jumping all around us.   We had bought a few extra buzz bombs, the favoured lure in this part of the world, and started casting toward wherever they jumped.  After a quick lunch of salami and cheese on bread, I caught a nice sized pink salmon.  He was a perfect size for a meal for two, so I kept him.  I then caught another one which I released.  Chris caught a few as well but they were really small and I could see he was a little envious of the fighting fish I had caught.

We stopped at a rocky beach to spend the night.  I told Chris to go back out fishing while I would set up the tent and get dinner ready.  The sunlight was golden and, as he was floating and casting fifty meters away from the beach, I heard the familiar "ppffffff" sound of a blow hole.  The orcas were fishing as well.  Several of them cruised by very close to shore between the two of us.  They were surfacing close to his kayak and I was glad he was able to have that awesome experience, one I have had several times before.   A few sea lions were also fishing a few meters from the beach, tossing salmon in the air with their powerful tails.  A lesser blow hole sound was that of porpoises,  joining in on the feeding frenzy and they were followed by several commercial fishing trawlers.

 

It was blue skies again the following morning. The water was calm so we crossed the Straight to Hansen island where we jigged our lures in deep water along some cliffs and quickly caught many rock fish, that we all released except for one that I figured would go well with the Indian curry we were having for dinner.  We had to wait a couple hours before going through a narrow channel since there were tidal rapids and a current going up to five knots.  Lunch on the rocks, bald eagles above and another blow hole blowing, this time a humpback whale who, at first was far in the distance but then appeared later some fifty meters from where we were paddling. Like a reef it surfaced and, thankfully, did not get too close.   Once again a pod of orcas cruised by as well.  The water was so clear, cold and full of life. 

Our next campsite was in a bay, with a long shallow entrance to a creek coming from the forest.  It's always a little challenging figuring out a good spot to land the kayaks as the water line of tides must be taken into consideration.  You may arrive at one spot that seems easy enough to get out along rocks or a pebbled beach, but what does it look like at low tide?  More than once I have been surprised by huge rocks full of seaweed that make it difficult, if not impossible, to re-load and launch your kayaks.  Having a tide table is essential.

We pitched the tent in the forest and cooked dinner on the rocks.  Another beautiful evening.  The coastal mountains were lit by the setting sun. A few old wooden trawlers motored by then a couple of floating hotels, the massive 10 storey cruise ships heading up the Inside Passage to Alaska.   We woke up to a foggy bay and set out on the water with a completely different feel; one of being suspended in nothingness, the horizon of water blurred with that of the sky. 

We started fishing once again, me catching the first salmon, Chris the next one but then his line broke. It was 3 - nil for me at that point.  Finally, he caught one, a Coho that was a good size and it gave a great fight, jumping out of the water several times.  He was very happy.  We decided that we would leave that evening so that meant we could keep up to four fish each, as we could put them on ice for the long ride back.  Once again, we had to wait for a strong tidal current that was going the same direction we were but was too strong take a chance riding through.   We kept on fishing but then we were slowly being sucked into the current even as we paddled further away.  This proved a little complicated when Chris caught another salmon.  It takes a good 10 minutes to land them to the kayak, before clobbering them on the head. On top of that,  we pissed off two sea lions that were also fishing and they were aggressively following us, popping their massive heads out of the water with what seemed like an angry snort only a few feet from our kayaks.   I got totally freaked when I saw one swim under water quickly next to my boat.  Think of a fast swimming bull under water that could easily knock you upside down.

The current subsided and we paddled through the channel.  The fog and clouds lifted as we crossed Johnstone Straight toward Vancouver island. The wind picked up and it was fun to paddle through waves with the sparkling diamonds of reflected sun light. A humpback was feeding ahead of us once again.  A few trawlers motored by with their bounty of salmon and us with our three good sized fish, before we arrived back at the small town that is Telegraph Cove. Another stellar trip of wildlife and natural beauty from the sea of Vancouver island.