The trip started off right in that something wrong. We blew a tire on the trailer about 10 miles to Campbell River at around 7:10pm. Luckily we were able to get a new tire and on the road about 2 hours later at 9:15 thanks to a 24 hour on call tire shop. We were able to get to Gold River around 11:00 o'clock. Where we stayed at some very decent accommodations called the RidgeView.
We made our way out to Critter Cove in the morning. Dropped all of our things off on the dock as instructed because our room wasn't ready from the previous tenants. We shot out and started hitting the water after a little guidance on where to start from the owner Cam.
There was a couple things that really suprised all of us while up there; First, there was A LOT of boats up there, in the morning time we were seeing over 2 hundred boats and who knows about the rest of that huge Sound.
Second, I have never been part of a fishery where people or trolling that fast. It was wild always have to keep your eye out when driving as you and others are zooming around there.
Even though the high speeds and great numbers the majority of the Armada seemed to be very conscientiousness of others especially when hooked up.
On to the actually fishing report.
From what we experienced and what we were seeing was that it was a case of "you should have been here last week" We were able to catch about a fish and a quarter per day over the 4 days of fishing. All but one in the 20's. The biggest being a 28#. The majority of fishing was done in Tahsis inlet as that was where the catching was really happening.
The Hot tackle for us was a coyote spoon in Wonderbread with a white flasher. And we tried everything in the spectrum. Shoot Kirk even threw on an Ibex that he knocked the dust off of because we went through the tackle box. We hit the water hard fishing the water from usually 5am to 730pm everyday with a usually 2 hour break in the middle to make more coffee and maybe an ice cream cone. We caught more than a few shakers and lost a few dandies as well.
The wild life out there was amazing and almost....almost made up for the lack of catching. We say humpback. Saw a couple black bears that we were able to see up real close. I was able to see my first Sea otter that I can recall, because I sure don't ever remember seeing German Sheppard sized otter swimming before. And of course we had Eagles coming out of our ears up there.
Critter Cove was a really cool place to stay while we were up there and I would recommend it for sure if someone was looking for a place. Enjoyed being around on the docks and have a dinner at the dinner that they have there. It has all the supplies you could need. Even downrigger balls which can be needed with the sudden depth changes that can happen in Nootka that I was happy to find out.
All and all it was a great trip and we shall contemplate heading back there next year. I am excited to be back in Washington and looking forward to catch some more salmon in my home water of Puget Sound.
Sorry for no pictures, I found out that my camera was/is broken while looking to take a picture of the first fish of the trip.
If anyone has any question about the area up because they are contemplating on making the trip up I would be more than happy to answer them.
Rock
or both! We are in a 19 foot Campion and staying in the one of the cabins.