Avid Sportfishing
Avid Sportfishing
Avid Sportfishing
Good times and great fishing are just around the corner. This will be our 5th year in operation and we can hardly wait until our first guests arrive at the lodge. The preseason fishing has been outstanding this year and we have been getting in on the action whenever possible. Most of our success has been right outside of the marina but we did make it out to the west coast on April 2nd. The weather report was too good to ignore so we geared up and made our way west in search of early Chinook salmon and halibut. We started off trolling the wall for salmon and it didn't disappoint. In just a couple of hours of trying we hooked 6 fish and landed 3, the largest tipping the scales at 28.5 pounds, not bad considering this is our off season! We finished the day near Marble Island where we managed to land a couple of nice halibut and a handful of Red Snapper. It was beautiful calm sunny day that felt more like June than April.
Hopefully this is a sign of what's to come as predictions look good for Chinook in 2016. Early Columbia River runs of Chinook are predicted to be good again this year as well as some of our North and Central Coast BC runs. Ocean temperatures are starting off cooler that last year and the El Nino current that pushed in close to the West Coast of Haida Gwaii last summer is showing signs of receding. This is good news for herring and salmon that survive better in cooler water conditions. The only bad news is that the incredible Albacore Tuna fishing we experienced for much of the 2015 season might be out of our reach but we are hopeful that August will offer a couple of chances at this adrenaline charged fishery. Halibut limits and size restrictions will remain the same as last year and the fishing should be good as always. As for our fishing program we are sticking to the same formula for success, putting our guests on the fish and having as much fun as possible. Simple but extremely effective.
Back at the lodge we have some new kitchen staff for the upcoming season. Tonny and Ashley are our new red seal chefs. They come with a ton of fishing lodge experience and are a welcome addition to the Avid team. Our in house fish processing was a huge success in 2015 and we are excited to provide this service to our guests again this year. Some great news about travel to and from Haida Gwaii for 2016. Air Canada will be operating 2 flights a day to Sandspit all summer. This means less chance of having to overnight in Vancouver on your return flight. We have a lot of returning guests again this year and quite a few that have been with us now for 3 or 4 seasons which tells us we are on the right track, with a little help from the great fishing of course. We look forward to seeing our regulars and meeting some new guests that haven't been with us before. Overall 2016 is shaping up to be our best season yet!
If you are thinking about a fishing trip to British Columbia this summer drop us a line. We would be happy to show you what fishing the West Coast of Haida Gwaii is all about.