Hi Everyone,
I once again had the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the MV Charlotte Princess and her crew. On this particular trip I was able to enjoy it with my mom and dad. We arrived on Thursday to sunny skies and calm seas. After a detailed orientation by the Chief Steward and Fishmaster we were off to Cohoe and Andrews Point to test the waters. We had been at Andrews Point no more than 10 minutes when our first of many battles with feisty Coho began.
These battles continued throughout the afternoon until we returned to the ship with some very respectable 10 pound Coho and a couple of nice Chinook in the 20– 25 pound range. All of the fish were caught in the 20–40 pull range.
Over the next couple of days we literally caught dozens of Coho, Pink and Chum salmon. My mom had an epic battle with a hard fighting 31 pound Chinook. The weather wasn't as cooperative on the Saturday as it was on Thursday and Friday. The Fishmaster had to close the east side of the island due to the sea state however, there were plenty of other fishing hotspots to hit.
We jumped into our boat and head out to Lacy Island. Not only did we experience a bit of a Coho feeding frenzy but we landed a couple more nice Chinook. We departed Lacy so that we did not miss one of Chef Brian Cook’s dinner.
As we were passing Chanel Rock just north of Marchand Reef we noticed a couple of guide boats hooked up on fish. So we stopped and tossed a couple of cut plug herring over the side. Before we could get the third line in the water we had a double header of 12 pound Coho. We netted those two fish and ran the boat back over to our starting point and started the drift once again. This time we didn’t even get the second line in the water before we had a nice 20 pound Chinook hooked up. After several line peeling runs we had another nice fish in the box.
We motored back over to our starting point again and had just started our drift when my dad’s line bent over to the water and the reel started screaming out line. After five or ten minutes of this fish skulking near the bottom my dad and I exchanged looks of “this fish could be pushing the 50 pound mark”. The fish sat on the bottom for several more minutes before I suggested to my dad that maybe he should try moving the fish up from the bottom. He agreed and started the slow process of retrieving line. After he had gained a bit of his line back and the fish showing none of the tell-tale signs of head shaking and racing to the surface only to dive again we both agreed that this very possibly could be a Halibut. Considering we were only in 45 feet of water it did not take to long to see that it was in fact a very nice sized Halibut. Once we had the fish to the boat and I instructed my dad to keep its head in the water so we did not agitate it and send it back to the bottom, I netted it. The Halibut turned out to be a very nice 57 pounder.
It was an amazing trip once again to the MV Charlotte Princess and to make it even better I was able to share this adventure with my mom and dad. They both had an amazing time and are now both Captains Club members.
Tight Lines,
Steve Sinclair
General Manager, Northern Resorts
