Story & photo by Mike Kelly
A few days each year, I get the pleasure of angling with people involved in the recreational fishing industry, including some of the great folks from Normark Canada who bring with them a sampling of the new and exciting products that are under development. The best part about the Normark crew is that they represent many of the top brands in the fishing world like Rapala, Gamakatsu, Sufix and luhr Jensen just to name a few.
As a guide and member of the Rapala Pro Staff, I get the unfortunate “chore” of angling for salmon and halibut for much of the year. Last season was no exception. To start the year, I had a visit from Normark’s Bill Gower and Kyle Bryan. They brought with them the Shift and Classic moocher salmon reels, as well as some Coyote spoons and flashers to try. We wasted little time firing up the boat and cruising out to a fishy shoreline.
Bill rigged up a 6.0 “Glo Kermit” Coyote spoon on his Classic moocher rod and Shift reel and quickly sent it down to 50 ft on the downrigger. Just then I noticed a school of baitfish on my depth sounder, and before Kyle could even get his gear wet, Bill was fighting his first fish of the trip.
Not wanting to be outdone, Kyle started to drop his spoon just as I clicked the boat back into gear. No sooner did he hit the magic number of 50 ft, I noticed more baitfish on the depth sounder and there was another fish on. There is nothing quite like the sound of a well-tuned reel as a chinook heads for the depths. After taking a deep run, the fish abruptly turned and swam straight at the boat. Had it not been for the large arbour of the Shift mooching reel, I don’t think Kyle could have kept up, but he did. After some brief acrobatics at the side of the boat, we had our second chinook salmon in the net.
We decided to try a different area that usually fishes better on stronger tides. The area we intended to fish was about an hour away, and had a sandy consistent bottom, while the first spot was much rockier and varied in depth. I chose the second spot for a reason. I knew that the occasional halibut could be found there, as well as a few salmon. I really wanted to see how the gear would perform in deeper water against a sturdy halibut. When trolling along the bottom for halibut, I tend to compensate for the greater amount of line that is out, by setting the hook like I am swinging for the fence. It’s a long way from the surface to the bottom, so removing any slack with a big hook set is imperative to connecting with the fish.
We dropped a couple of anchovies paired with coyote flashers all the way to the bottom and started trolling. It took a while to find some baitfish, but when we did, all hell broke loose. The first halibut bite was quite subtle and had it not been for the sensitivity of the Classic Moocher rod, we might have missed it. I assume the fish had the bait in its mouth and was following the Coyote flasher, with plans on eating it next. Kyle wasted no time in grabbing the rod from the holder and setting the hook hard. The halibut immediately turned tail and made a run for Japan. The Gamakatsu hook held tight, as the rod absorbed each and every headshake. We turned the boat into the tide and used the current to plane the fish up to the surface. A well-placed gaff hook and we had a halibut in the boat, on salmon gear!
I must say that I was impressed by all the tackle we had tried that day, a testament to the hard work the development staff at Normark put into each and every one of their products. I can hardly wait for the next trip to the Normark testing grounds.
Mike Kelly runs Tides and Tales Sport Fishing Adventures on Northern Vancouver Island and is a guide and member of the Rapala Pro Staff.