Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin and Langara Fishing Adventures
Vol. 22, No. 10, July/August, 2019
Double, double, eagle! Say what? We aren’t talking golf here. No, this was just one of several fishing adventures around British Columbia’s northernmost island Langara, in Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands.)
My buddy Tucsonan Lori Mackstaller and I both hooked up while fishing for Chinook salmon in a twenty two foot Boston Whaler. The ensuing chaos, as we followed our fish around the center console in order to keep our lines untangled, ended abruptly. A two ton sea lion grabbed my fish leaving its head before he ate Lori’s fish. Between gulps, a bald eagle swooped down to fetch my leftover salmon head. This was a real close up taste of the wilderness food chain.
We were so busy, when a radio announcement broadcasted a pod of twenty killer whales or orcas swimming through Parry Passage, there wasn’t time to reel in the fishing lines for a short motor to view this spectacle.
Lucky for us, we got to see that pod of orcas after they swam through Parry Passage. They appeared to be heading north, perhaps the fifty miles to Alaska. The bull, with his super-sized dorsal fin, and his mate swam some distance from the rest of the pod. During our four days of fishing, we would also observe several lone humpbacks.
Monkey Puke and Betsy “dummy” flashers were tied to the boat to use as teasers. When I told our guide that I wanted to hook my own fish, he replied the policy was that all anglers were required to hook their own fish.” How unique and refreshing not to have a guide hand over a rod with a hooked fish.
Fortune stayed with us. The sun was shining, the sea was calm. We headed to the west side of Langara’s Lacy Island. Not in the lee of the island, the water and wind here can create stomach churners waves. And that is more typical of weather conditions in Langara.
We were using cut plug herring for bait. Langara uses the finest fishing gear: Islander single action “knuckle-busting” reels and Shimano rods. In other words, if you don’t get your hands off the reel when the salmon runs, the spinning action of the reel on your fingers is going to cause a world of hurt.
For three and two half days, Lori and I released salmon while fishing Lacy and the calmer lee waters of Cohoe and Andrews Point. We enjoyed the wildlife including pigeon guillemot, numerous bald eagles, and observing beautiful landscapes off Seath Point and Killer Bay that included remote, uninhabited beaches and pinnacles including Langara’s iconic Flower Pot and Pillar rocks. We were transfixed by bull kelp, white-sided dolphin, and numerous jellyfish.
British Columbia’s Department of Fisheries has set new limits on daily catches which Langara flash freezes and packages for their guests. Before we hit day three, we had limited out on salmon—the only choice left for us was halibut fishing.
Let’s be honest. Halibut are some of the best tasting fish, but they aren’t a lot of fun to catch. Then again, some folks may enjoy hauling what feels like a dead weight two hundred feet to the surface. Not me. We were grateful that we caught “chickens,” the smaller and better tasting halibut.
Langara Fishing Adventures was a dream inspired by the adventurous spirit of Rick Bourne and several of his fishing buddies. They were looking for a better place to fish. Deciding to venture north to the remote Queen Charlotte Islands, now known as Haida Gwaii, they ventured north to the small island of Langara, located twenty eight miles south of Alaska. While its isolated location kept it undiscovered by the sport fishing community, rumors soon spread that its fishery was more abundant than any other along British Columbia’s west coast.
Eagles outnumber Heermann’s sea gulls dive bombing bait balls of schooling frenzied herring feasting on plankton krill. Nearby humpback whales breech and fin as if waving to busy salmon anglers. Someone radios that three black bears are grubbing for food in Bruin Bay. As we returned to Langara, a humpback exploded out of the water. Following his breech, he raised his tail fin. It was as if he was waving to say “so long.” It may have been the completion of our fishing journey, but not the memories. For the serious angler, the rugged island and Langara Fishing Adventures is as close as it gets to the heavenly fishing grounds of Haida Gwaii.