Text and photos by Mary L. Peachin
January, 2011 Vol. 15, No. 3
Cheerful staff ringing cow bells outside your door at 4:15 AM does not make for an easy wake up call. It’s still dark, and you feel like rolling over and going back to sleep. After an evening of fine wine and dining, only the urgency to catch a salmon tyee can rustle me out of a warm bed. I’ve fished British Columbia’s coastline for more than a decade and have only come close, a pound or two shy of catching the fabled 30-pound tyee, the weight qualification to an exclusive club.
In seven years of guiding, Geoffrey Duddridge had never witnessed a triple salmon hookup. Brian Gage and I were fishing downriggers near Craycroft Point, his wife Diana was on the flat line. When the couple hooked up, my rod also bent. Soon, it was bedlam. We each followed the line of our fish exchanging places and moving rods around and over one another to prevent a tangle. Tangles and all, we landed three nice size Chinook.
British Columbia is noted for five species of salmon migrating along coastal waters throughout the summer. Bottom fishers favor BC’s numerous flats where they can jig for halibut. But, where can you go to fish, at a lodge that offers both saltwater, bottom, and freshwater fly fishing? Not too many places. If you include luxury accommodations, gourmet cuisine, and cheerful service, Sund’s Lodge excels.
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Storm fronts move quickly between Port McNeil, Vancouver Island and the fishing grounds of Baronete Pass. Sheets of rain silhouette between the lush horizons of the Coast Mountains. We are fishing waters adjacent to Johnstone Strait and Blackfish Bay near the Georgia Straights.
Fishing for Chinook, also known as Spring or King, near Parson’s Island drop off “The Wall”, in less than five minutes after lowering a sardine-baited hook on a downrigger, the line tugged gently. Chinook are unpredictable. Most will make an initial fierce run, a few will jump, and some swim toward you until seeing the boat motivates them to take off. This one waited until he neared the boat. Most of the fish were “teeners” or Chinook weighing in the high teens.
Sund’s aluminum boats, powered by a Yamaha 250 plus a trolling engine, are custom made and average twenty three feet. They have a cabin and the luxury of a flushing head. Most fishers used the Lodge’s Shimano mooching reels and Laminglas rods.
When fishing or the “salmon bite” was off, or the day at “The Slide” when I limited out (two Chinook a day or a total of four) by 6:30 AM, there were other awesome sights. Minke, orca, and humpback whales ply these waters. Pacific white-sided and Dall’s porpoise sometimes swam in the boat’s bow wake. Murres dive, bald eagles soar, and shore-birds wade in quiet bays.
Successful anglers will frequently fight salmon during the early morning bite then afternoon jig for “chickens.” These smaller halibut, in the 25-45 pound range, make for better eating.
On a day of fishing with guide Geoffrey Duddridge, and Diana and Brian Gage from Camas, Washington, we had some interesting and exciting afternoon action.
After hooking up, a salmon jumped in the air before running endlessly. Coho are more typical jumpers and while they hadn’t seasonally migrated through the area, there were a few around. Geoff knew from the pull that a harbor seal had grabbed my salmon and was heading into a bed of bull kelp. Chasing it with the boat, Geoffrey prepared to throw Pepsi cans to scare the seal so he would release his clutch on my salmon. The seal won.
While I was mooching for salmon, my husband David was an hour and a half north wading for sea run cutthroat. The only access to the Ahta River is by boat. Its inaccessibility keeps its rushing waters pristine and the fish unwary.
Elusive sea-run cutthroat are sometimes call coastal trout tinsels, harvest, or yellowbellies. Theyprovide sporty fishing on a light weight fly rod. They enter various spawning rivers to feed on springtime salmon fry or fall salmon eggs. While nomadic, sea run trout spawn and return to the same system.
Armed with bear spray, guide Shaun Vanderberg and David bushwhacked an overgrown, but marked trail along Bond Sound’s Ahta river on the British Columbia mainland. Bear scat along the trail was so fresh “we could smell it”. Shaun and David released a dozen 16 to 18-inch fish along with two sizable rainbows. Shaun ties his own flies and used a Mickey Finn clouser, an attractor minnow patterned fly and a custom-made “bubbler” minnow, similar to a mudler.
While David was cheerfully casting dry flies at jumping cutthroat, I was still aiming at a decade-long challenge of catching a salmon that weighed the magical thirty pounds: a tyee. Sund’s Lodge didn’t disappoint. It was the third and final full day of fishing when I hooked into the big one. He didn’t look like a tyee, but before bleeding it (for better taste), we weighed it. It was exactly thirty pounds and not an ounce more. There were four witnesses just in case the fish lost some weight and went under thirty pounds. It didn’t.
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Avid anglers will appreciate the amenities provided by this family owned and operated lodge. Located on forty acres on Malcolm Island, twelve cabins host a maximum of twenty four guests. Anglers can fish the entire three or five day package, explore the coastline in a sea kayak, or bicycle ten miles into the small Finnish town of Sointula. Founded in 1901 as a socialist commune, Sointula’s or “Place of harmony” eight hundred residents are proud of their heritage.
Sund’s cedar cabins are built with wood locally harvested. Comfortable beds, covered with down comforters and 600 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, feel great at the end of a 12-hour fishing day. All cabins have a gorgeous view of Blackfish Sound. The Sund family has a herd of groomed alpaca that mow their acre-size lawn overlooking the water.
If you have time, there are two hot tubs, a sauna, bicycles and sea kayaks, a golf practice range, horse shoes, hiking paths, satellite TV and pool table, and wireless internet through the property.
Lunch is different than that provided at most fishing camps. Instead of packing your own lunch or waiting for a boat to come out at lunch hour, Sund’s has a “burger boat” that has a gas grill cooking hot dogs and hamburgers.
Another day, the staff greets you on a nearby beach with a glass of wine and a first course of freshly caught Dungeness crab. But first, there is a lesson on preparing the live crab. The Chef has a table-clothed table with pull pork sandwiches, salad, and his scrumptious home made lemon squares for desserts.
Fine wine and spirits are included in your stay. They can be enjoy while dining on Chef Paul Shand’s, formerly of renowned Sooke Harbour House, gourmet five course cuisine. He is not your typical fishing lodge chef. Servers and bartenders Sheena, Amber, and Jamie are so friendly, hugs are forthcoming when you say goodbye.
None of this would be possible without the personal leadership and friendliness of Scott Sund. He bought the lodge from his father, Dave, about eight years ago. Along with his wife Heather and three young children, their goal is to make you feel as though you were part of the family. And they do a mighty fine job!
www.sundslodge.com