I had a super day yesterday and forgot my camera! .........

[Wayne in BC]

we took the big boat (31 foot is darn big to me!) to the west coast of the Island with a couple of "city boys" along. Nice fellas, cousins of a good friend. We wanted to see if the late run of Coho Salmon "Silvers" to many of you folks, was starting.




It is on a trailer and my bro in law pulls the beast with his Hummer. To get to the launch point at Port Alberni is only 20 miles but entails navigating a narrow mountain highway that has a section of 7% grade for 2 miles! Locally and semi fondly known as the "hump", it is intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with our geography here, which is mostly mountains with a few valleys. While we were traveling up the grade, Cliff said, take a look at the "fuel economy" read out on the dash.....it was wavering between 1 and 2 mpg! All 350 of those horses were chowing down!
[attachment 7878 Lifetimer005.jpg]

A fine sunny day, an unexpected bonus, met us as we travelled up the inlet some 20 miles to out chosen spot. We lost a couple of fish right away, both heavy fish in the 20 lb range and likely "Chinook" Salmon, on the same rod which had a new "squid" type lure i was trying out. Fishing was very slow but we were thoroughly enjoying the day and the guys were appreciative of the scenery, fish were secondary but anticipated.

An hour later we started getting strikes, once again on the new lure, but nothing stuck. We were all disappointed for a while, until suddenly there was huge waterspout and a Humpback whale surfaced and broached a few hundred feet away! The guys had never seen such as this and were real excited, fishing forgotten instantly! My friend John had his 35 mm camera fortunately and if he scans some pics i will post them.

We watched several of the big beauties blow and wave their tails at us for 1/2 an hour before they sounded and were gone. I reset the lines and once again we tried to catch supper. Lots of "bites" and a couple hours later the wind came up off the open Pacific, making it uncomfortable to fish and we called it a day.

Before putting on the power and heading back to port, i began stowing the tackle and when i began to take off the new lure that had seen all the action, and while making a mental note to buy a couple more, i realised that it had no hook on it!!!!!!! It had broken right at the "eye" on the last fish that one of our greenhorns had fought. A hard lesson learned, one which i should not have had to.......

A good day to all
Wayne

 

[Kieth-Tx]

n/t

 

[Micheal_R]

It has the most fascinating diving on V.I. And the wreck!!!! I have seen a few whales while out there. Those were greys though. Plus the one that I mentioned earlier while diving

Great story Wayne. Hope that you are doing well.

We will miss seeing you . We will phone though

Sunny skies

M

 

[Wayne in BC]

"Rainy bay", lots of them! They were all over in family groups and we were seeing huge stacks of Krill and other bait on the sounder. I was surprised to see them that close in to the shoreline, sometimes with 50 feet of the rocks.
Wayne

 

[Wayne in BC]

photos also. I was taking care of the rods and steering the boat from the rear station, so did not get as good a look as the other guys.
Wayne

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Let's hope those film camera pictures turn out OK. When do you think they will be developed? Please do not forget to post them.

I still find it difficult to believe that the whales will not do anything to you. Has there ever been a case where they attacked and sunk a small boat? I assume that you folks play it safe and do not do anything that would make them angry at you, right?

That new bait appears to work, just need to make sure that there is a hook on it...next time you might consider explaining to the city folks that there must be a hook on it if they want to catch a fish. I think it is kinda funny that they would fish with the lure and not realize that it has to have a hook on it.

Thanks for sharing the story, enjoyed reading it. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I saw a short video on Google that showed an ice fisherman fishing through a round hole dug in the ice...all of a sudden, the ice breaks and a Killer Whale grabs the poor fisherman for dinner. I do not know if the video was a fake, but it sure looked real to me...I will never want to ice fish after seeing that video. You folks sure have some interesting wildlife up there....bears, wolves, whales, and moose, just to name a few. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Micheal_R]

We do have a lot of Orcas [the true name fror a killer whale] up on the coast here. When you are diving, or fishing, and an orca shows up, well it is best to just leave the area. Diving, well the reason is obvious..... although to the best of my memory, no diver has ever been attcked by an orca. Fiushing.... The salmon know that a large predator is around and just take off.

Sunny skies, clear water

M

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

You say that the video was a fake? I suspected that it might have been, but I wonder how they got the Killer Whale to look like it grabbed the poor fisherman.

The only big fish around here are sharks down on the Gulf Coast. It is always best to leave them alone and get out of the water as quickly as possible. Now there are some Crocodile Lizzards that live in some of the lakes down here in South Texas that can sure put the hurting on you real fast. I hear tell that some of them get so big that they will pull you out of a boat...all they will ever find will be maybe a shoe or a hat.

Years ago, we stopped at Three Rivers, Texas for lunch and saw a man with scars on one of his arms. He said that the scars were caused by a small Crocodile Lizzard that he had tried to catch for a pet. I knew right then and there that it is best to stay away from one if I ever saw it in the area where I was fishing. Choke Canyon Lake has lots of them. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Wayne in BC]

ignore you, only moving out of the way if they are on a collision course with you. They do not seem to care much about boats but will avoid them if they are not actively feeding. I am not aware of any Whales ever deliberately harming a boat or people.

The "Killer Whales" you referred to are abundant here. They are not true Whales, but a member of the Dolfin family known as "Orcas". They got the name "Killer Whales" from the white men perverting the Eskimos name for them, which loosely translated means "Whale Killers" as they often prey on Whales. They do not ever bother humans, tho there is one young Orca on the west side of the Island near Goldriver who was separated from his family group last year and began socialise with humans, coming up to their boats at the dock and wanting to be petted. Unfortunately he also began to scratch his back on sailboat rudders and disabled one, much to the chagrin of the folks on board.
The fool natives in the area intervened when the government wanted to capture him and transport him to the area where he could hook up with his family group. They claimed he was the spirit of their grandfathers come back to visit them and they scared him away and got in the way each the fisheries guys tried to catch him!
They have since changed their tune tho, cause he is trashing their boats lately
Orcas are a very social animal and will substitute humans when they do not have their own company, as witness their conduct in aquariums and movies.

Wayne

 

[Micheal_R]

Cousteaus crew if I remember rightly. They were tracking the migration of the grey whales using a hot air balloon. One of the guys watched a shark on the surface just idling around. He watched as an Orca, about a mile away, dove down and, a couple of minutes late, came right up beneath the shark.....with it in its jaws.

I read this in one those cousteau books that ere so popular for a while.

Take care

Calm seas, fair winds

M

 

[Royal]

was when we were diving on St Maarten a couple years ago. We were not very close but the dive master was pretty excited. He said it was a rare event and a couple of the guides jumped overboard and tried to swim near them but it was a waste of time. They just swam off,

That was the same day I went on the shark dive and the porpoise came down to visit us. Another rare event,

Thanks for posting about your trip

 

[Art SC]

n/t

 

[Sunny]

it when an opportunity like this happens, and no camera. I carry one usually all the time, but just let me forget it once, and I always regret it! I hope your buddy sends you some photos. This was a very interesting story, and I would like to see what they look like in person, or would that be "in whale"?

 

[General Ray]

n/t

 

[Wayne in BC]

you would have been awed when when that thing came up alongside! Actually it kinda reminded me of my ex mother in law

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[Wayne in BC]

be an "ADMIRAL" ? C'mon admit it ya landlubber!