Fishing Report April 25, 2011,

Fishing around Great Bear has started to pick up for feeder Chinooks. There are also some Chinook being caught around Sail Rock, however our boats have been generally fishing with good success around Great Bear. There is lots of needlefish around and that is a very good sign for things to come. Needlefish are a small narrow bait that is rich in fat content. Salmon seem to really enjoy feeding on this small bait and you can generally count on having good early season fishing with lots of needlefish hanging around. Most of the Chinook caught this time of year are between 7-15lbs, however you can get them up to 30lbs as well.

We expect great things for 2011 in the area of large Chinook (King) salmon. This year is going to see many 4-5 year salmon returning and we are excited. 4-5 year salmon often mean that you are getting more salmon in the 25-45lb range. This always makes the anticipation great! Halibut limits have been set to the same as last year at 1 per day and 2 as your carrying limit.

Randy and Sarah Andrashewski and sons April 18, 2011 Chinook 12-18 lbs

Don MacDonald and Dianne Boisclair with Chinook 15-23 lbs April 19, 2011

Darcy Leavitt group April 20, 2011 with 8 Chinook salmon

Matt Harrison with dad Wayne April 22, 2011

Crabbing is good this time of year!

Forecast for 2011

We expect great things for 2011 in the area of large Chinook (King) salmon. This year is going to see many 4-5 year salmon returning and we are excited. 4-5 year salmon often mean that you are getting more salmon in the 25-45lb range. This always makes the anticipation great! Halibut limits have been set to the same as last year at 1 per day and 2 as your carrying limit.

Summer 2010 was Incredible!!

Hi Everyone, thanks for reading our season recap. If you read our forecast for 2010, you would have read about our great expectations for this season's fishing! After a long, but successful season it is time to look back and appreciate another successful year!

The salmon were plentiful and made many happy faces for all who came. After working another busy summer I had to ask myself this question:

Why do we choose to guide almost every day and work long hours? Well, a good part is that we get to fish! We also enjoy the water and the challenge of success at the end. But the great part is seeing all the smiling faces, and then hearing all the laughter and banter in the boat and seeing the people we guide are loving it too. We had a feeling 2010 was going to be a great year, but it was even better than expected!

Here is a recap month by month:

March to May 2010:

The salmon were biting closer to shore and the salmon we saw were mostly in the 12-15 lb range with a few around 20 lbs. It was nice to fish in close to the harbor and most days we didn't go more than 10 minutes outside it.

Last year saw some good fishing happen earlier in the season, but this season saw bigger salmon coming through on average and more of them. It was the best early season fishing we have had in about 6 years! We also managed to get a few halibut as well as prawns and crab. Early season is when we will do prawns and crab if we are finding salmon on a quick bite that are closer in.

June 2010:

Salmon fishing was very good most of June. We had a few days near the end that were a little slower, but overall the fishing was excellent. We fished most days around Great Bear Rock until near the end where we started heading off shore again.

Halibut fishing started in April and by June we were mostly getting our limits. In most years the weather usually starts to get nice by mid-June aswas the case again this year.  June is usually a little more relaxed for us as the full swing of summer doesn't hit until July!

July 2010:

July is often our month with the largest Chinook numbers, mostly coming in the 15-25 lb range. This July was close to last year in terms of numbers for Chinook. Early mornings produced the best action and we often had a tub full by 11:00 am. According to our records, Murray Penner caught the largest Chinook of July at 37 lbs on July 18.

Mid July had some nice salmon in the mid to high thirties come through. Coho fishing was not as good as last year during July. Guides generally don't mind this, especially if they are fishing for BIG Chinook. However, we know guests love all the jumping and frantic action that Coho can provide!

August 2010:
August proved to be very good It had a slower start and really took off around the 10th. We had many days with double hookups on large Chinook. This proved tons of fun for all who were able to enjoy. August is usually good, but this year it was exceptional. The largest salmon was taken by Salmon Eye guest Roy Dawe (pictured right) at 49 lbs 10 oz. Congratluations to Roy for winner the summer long derby!

Salmon Eye Charters organized a $10,000 salmon derby August 14,15,16.  Congratulations to Salmon Eye guest Bill Sarantopulous (pictured right) for taking 2nd place at 37 lbs 2 oz.  If you would like a group salmon derby, we can help you organize one. They are loads of fun and people will tell stories about them for years to come. I think people remember them more than getting a hole-in-one at golf!

September 2010:

Early September saw some great salmon fishing continued from August. The coho showed up on good numbers and we also had some good halibut fishing. We usually like to have most of the season done by mid September and things worked out this way very nicely.

2011 Forecast:

We haven’t heard  fisheries and oceans predictions for 2011, however we are seeing great winter fishing and this is usually a good indicator of salmon fishing going on into the summer. We expected 2010 to be a great salmon fishing year, we just didn’t know how good. While we never know exactly what will happen, early indicators are having us believe that 2011 will be very similar to 2010.

Check out our pictures below that finished off the year!

Richard and Julie Griffis with son David August 2, 2010

Joe Flynn August 5, 2010

Scott Anderson group August 8, 2010

Philip Garnett group August 11, 2010

Mike Stickland group August 14,2010

Mike Stickland group August 15, 2010

Cory and Natasha Reynolds Aug 16,2010

Courtenay Lewis August 17, 2010

Daren Kennett and Dave Plett August 18 2010

Peter Boudewyn group with half of their 16 large Chinook caught August 18,2010

Daren Kennett and Dave Plett with 35 and 33lb Chinook August 20, 2010

Joe Sipeki with a 38lb Chinook August 21, 2010

Guide Dan Dowell and Roy Dawe with Derby leading 49 lb 10 oz Chinook Aug 23,2010

Blaine Luke group August 24, 2010

Blaine Luke group August 25, 2010

Gary Rich with sons Jeremy and Aaron August 28,2010

Austin and Nathan Huang August 30,2010

Laurie Reno with daugher Kendra, September 2, 2010

Justin Bennett with dad Ron and Mom Chris Sept 3,2010

Rob, Ted and Dean Jetten Sept 6,2010