I flew with most of the staff from Vancouver to Bella Bella. We boarded three Grumman Goose aircraft to fly direct to the lodge which is located in Barden Harbour at approximately 53 degrees North, 129 degrees West. The lodge is on a barge moored to shore and the water is over 100' deep right at the dock. The aircraft comes right alongside the dock. This is the view toward the harbour entrance from the room where I stayed.
As the staff were preparing the lodge for the first guests the manager, Terry Schultz, kindly had a boat ready for me and with some advice from two of the guides I set out alone across Whale Channel to try my luck at salmon fishing. One tip was to fish at about 37' and stay in about 80' of water. The shore line is very steep so I could stay close to shore.
Two hours passed and not a nibble. I tried various depths with no results. The port reel gave a little buzz and I removed the rod from the holder. I gave a sharp tug to trip the line from the downrigger clip and nothing happened. Turning on the electric downrigger to bring up the weight I started to reel in my line. Somehow I had fouled the line around the downrigger cable. After clearing the line I continued to reel in and the line was very heavy. I realized I had a fish on the line and soon a 20 lb. spring (Chinook) broke the surface. I have caught a few salmon before but never by myself in a boat. After three attempts with the landing net the fish was in the boat.
Returning to the lodge, two of the guides gave me a hand and some tips on cleaning and filleting the salmon. They kindly took a picture so I could show my family. After the fish was prepared it was taken into the barge, vacuumed packed and flash frozen. When I flew out three days later, the fish was boxed and put on the plane for me.
My thanks again to Terry and all the wonderful staff. It was a pleasure to work with everyone. The food was great and the scenery spectacular.
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