I can’t say that I have been a life-long fisherman. I can
say that there was a time in my life, probably from my late twenties until my
early forties, when fishing was one of my favourite things to do. There is a
sound that kind of goes z-z-z-z-z, z-z-z-z-z-z-z that is unforgettable when a salmon hits a
lure and the fishing line takes off into the water as the fish speeds off
trying to get free of the hook by sheer force. That sound is like a payoff at a
Las Vegas slot machine except that you are not rewarded right away. You still
have to get the darn thing into the boat.
My guess is that I am not alone in that there have been
times in my life that I was really interested in one activity for a period of
time and eventually I would let that interest wane and become involved with
something else. At one time or other I was keen on sailing and tennis. I even
joined sailing and tennis clubs. For a few years I was hooked on rollerblading.
I used to love kayaking. It wasn’t as if I got bored. Nor did I lose complete
interest. It was just time to move on to something else. Tennis might be the
only one of these pastimes that I can’t see myself doing as I get older. I’m
just not the old gaffer type who has learned some off speed shots to confuse
two other old gaffers on the other side of the net. Shit! Why not be honest….I
just can’t run like I used to!
Growing up in Montreal, Quebec, I never had many
opportunities to go fishing. About the only time I can remember actually being
out on a lake in a boat with a fishing rod was when I was about 19 and got
together with some co-workers at the Simpson’s department store in Pointe
Claire, Quebec for a day out on Lac St. Louis. We drank some beers and had a
great time. I think we caught a fish or two but tossed them back as the word at
the time was that the lake, which is part of the St. Lawrence River, was
polluted. I remember getting sunburned really badly and getting lathered with
Noxema when I got home.
A year or so later I was living in downtown Montreal at a
frat house and one of the roomers was a student from British Columbia who paid
for part of his schooling by working as a deckhand in BC each summer. His
stories peeked my interest but I had no idea at the time that I would later be
spending many hours out on the Pacific Ocean.
One summer when I was in Banff another guy and I tried
fishing in the small Spray River that feeds into the Bow River right near the
Banff Springs Hotel. The river was glacier fed and the water was as cold as
ice. We never got a bite and were highly doubtful that there actually was any
fish in the river.
It was in the late 1970s that I really got interested in
salmon fishing. I was working in Vancouver at the time and every so often I
would go over to Vancouver Island and rent a boat for the day. I fished near
two cities that have both laid claims as being the salmon capital of the world,
Port Alberni and Campbell River. I also rented a boat once at Bowser Bill’s at
Bowser, BC which I have written about elsewhere on here. Another placed I rented
a boat was at a place called Patterson’s at Qualicum Beach. One day I caught 2
salmon just off the shelf drop-off a few hundred yards out from the beach at
Qualicum Beach.
Sometime around 25 years ago almost all of the old boat
rental places closed down. The insurance rates skyrocketed and it was just
about impossible to make a go of it. Today, they only way to go salmon fishing
if you don’t own your own boat is go out on an expensive charter.
Somewhere along the line I picked up a salmon rod and a Peetz
reel. Peetz reels are made of a hardwood like mahogany and have brass fittings
and gears. This ain’t no plastic spinning reel. They are built to drag in big
fish. The company that makes them is still in operation in Victoria, BC. The
mechanism is kind of simple but very practical. Owning a Peetz reel is a bit
like becoming serious about your hobby.
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Peetz reel. |
In 1981 we moved over to Bowen Island just off of
Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. Our next door neighbour was an outdoors kind
of guy and I went salmon fishing with him several times. At first he had a 2
seater speed boat that was very awkward to fish from. Later he bought a used
Bayliner. One weekend the neighbour took me and one of my salesmen up to
Gibsons to do some fishing. Gibsons was where the TV series The Beachcombers
was filmed. We parked the boat in the marina and walked up the ramp to a pub
called Molly’s Reach that overlooked the ocean. We had a few beers and my
salesman had brought along some pot. By the time the sun had disappeared we
were totally wasted and we hit the sack early. I remember waking up in the
middle of the night not knowing where I was and banging my head on the ceiling.
It took me a few moments to realize that I was sleeping in the bow and that the
ceiling was only a foot or so above me.
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Salmon catch at Gibsons, BC. |
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Relic and Bruno Gerussi. |
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Molly's Reach, Gibsons, BC
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I got married in Saskatchewan on August 1st of
1981 and we travelled through the western US to San Francisco and up the
Pacific coast on our honeymoon. We stopped off in a little town called Winchester
Bay, Oregon and went out on a salmon fishing charter. We caught a couple of
salmon that we brought back to Canada. As we were coming back to shore the
captain spotted a marlin flaying about. These were not marlin waters and how
the fish ended up in the area is a mystery. Someone gaffed the marlin and it
was brought ashore. A few years ago we stopped off at Winchester Bay and we
were told that the marlin had been stuffed and had been displayed for about 30
years before they decided to take it down.
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Out on the salt chuck in Oregon. |
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Confused marlin at Winchester Bay, Oregon 1981 |
I used to fish for cod down on the rocks below our house
on Bowen Island. You catch them with a thing called a buzz bomb which is kind
of a diamond shaped piece of lead with a hook that flutters as it drops to the
bottom of the ocean where the cod live. I bought a whole wack of these lures at
the old Army and Navy store in downtown Vancouver where many fishermen bought
their gear at the time. Cod are a pretty stinky fish when you are cleaning
them.
We moved back to Vancouver from Bowen Island. I had hired
a secretary from Saskatchewan and knowing that her husband was a prairie guy I
thought he might be keen on doing some salmon fishing. I picked him up about
5:00 a.m. one morning and we headed off to Sewell’s boat rental in Horseshoe
Bay. We both lived in Richmond, BC at the time. I got pulled over for speeding
by a cop near the airport and after I explained that there really wasn’t any
other cars around and that we were going fishing he just let us go without a
ticket. That was about as lucky as I was going to get this day.
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Fishing with Shane Kenneally.
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We checked in at Sewell’s Marina in Horsehoe Bay and a
young guy once overed the boat over before sending us on our way. We were just
leaving the harbour when it dawned on me that my secretary’s husband was
frightened by the ocean. He seemed to be very anxious. We were headed to
Passage Island which is just off of West Vancouver and on the west side of the
this little island is a shelf where I had caught salmon before. As we neared
the island I suddenly realized that we didn’t have any rod holders on the boat.
We had to go back to the marina to get them. I don’t know what I was thinking
at the time. I wanted to get back to the marina as quickly as possible and I
was also kind of concerned about the other guy’s fear of the ocean. I gunned
the motor and on our way back we hit a few waves. And then it happened. My rod
complete with my prized Peetz reel bounced off the back of the boat and into
the water never to be seen again. What a bummer!
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Horseshoe Bay. |
I went deep sea fishing in Hawaii a few times. On the
first charter I caught a marlin. My wife at the time’s parents had a condo in
Honolulu. I went out with my later to be ex father and law and a friend of his
from Saskatchewan. There were also about 4 American tourists. Everyone else on
the boat other than the crew had a few alcoholic beverages other than me and
all of them got seasick when we got out to open waters. You might say that I
was the last man standing. When the marlin hit the lure I was the only one
capable of reeling it in. They use steel line to fish for marlin and the lure
bounces along the surface of the water. The marlin kind of looks like it is
dancing on the water after it strikes the lure. That big dorsal fin actually
collapses when the fish is in the boat and you may notice in a lot of photos
that someone is holding the dorsal fin out.
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My ex father-in-law and his pal Emanuel with Maui Maui in Hawaii. They have both passed on. |
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My marlin in Hawaii.
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Marlin rod off of Hawaii. |
The second time I went marlin fishing was less eventful
but I did catch a few Maui Mauis which are part of the dolphin family and
yellow in colour. On both fishing trips I gave the fish I caught to the crew.
On the west coast of Vancouver Island there are two towns
at the opposite ends of Long Beach and Pacific Rim National Park, Tofino and
Ucluelet. Tofino is more touristy with a number of seaside upscale lodges.
Whale watching and salmon fishing are two of the bigger draws in Tofino.
Ucluelet also has some lodges and a fair sized first nation’s population.
Ucluelet is also where the The Canadian Princess is moored. The boat has been
made into a hotel and about a dozen or so salmon sports fishing boats are tied up next to it. The Canadian Princess
is owned by the Oak Bay Marine Group in Victoria, BC. They also own resorts at
April Point on Quadra Island, Painter’s Lodge near Campbell River (John Wayne
and Bing Crosby spent time at the original Painter’s Lodge), a spot on Langara
Island and Pedder bay, and a resort in the Bahamas.
The Canadian Princess also has a lodge close to the boat.
I stayed at the resort 3 different times. The first time was the only time I
stayed on the boat and was when I was dating my future wife. The rooms are
pretty small and the beds are very narrow. On that first stay we were just
guests and never went fishing. The other two times I stayed at the resort.
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Cormerants. |
Fishing at a resort is quite expensive. Being wealthy
doesn’t hurt. For some it is a once in a life experience, perhaps a special
gift to dear old dad. Often guests are part of a corporate group. It is kind of
a neat tax write off if one can manage it. I was part of one of the latter
groups. My wife at the time, worked in the tile business (she still does) and a
lot of her suppliers and contractors took part in the two day trip. Many in the
group were Italian-Canadians.
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Canadian Princess, Ucluelet. BC.
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Catch of the day. |
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Fish on!
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On one of the trips out to the Canadian Princess we all
met out at the small aircraft airport near the Vancouver International Airport.
I can’t remember if we flew on a Dash 6 or Dash 7. When we landed at the
Tofino-Long Beach airport the pilot brought us within a few yards of the bus
that was to take us to the Canadian Princess. I was impressed. The following is
a general description of one of those fishing trips.
Everyone was pretty gung-ho about going fishing and after
a pleasant dinner most of us hit the sack early so that we could get a good
night’s sleep and be up and ready the next morning. It was still dark when we
got our wake-up calls. Coffee and a light breakfast were offered and we were
given bags with our lunches in them. Some of the group seemed to be in a sort
of a fog as we put on our rubber pants and rubber jackets. The captain
introduced himself and moments later we were headed down the channel out to the
open ocean. There was something like 20 of us on each boat.
Charter captains all have their favourite fishing spots
and we headed out through the rolling sea to find this captain’s special spot.
Most of the group stayed inside the cabin and it didn’t take long for a few to
become seasick. One of the tricks to avoid seasickness supposedly is to keep
your eyes on the horizon. Just the smell of burning gas and rolling water can
make some people sick. Sitting in the cabin wasn’t the best idea because you
can’t see the horizon from there.
The style of fishing on the boats owned by the Canadian
Princess is called mooching. Basically what this is is having your line drop
off the end of your rod into the water and giving it a tug every so often. You
really can’t troll on a boat with 20 fishermen. As odd as it may sound, there
are times when you are actually fishing upwards. By that I mean the rolling
water is sometimes higher than where you are standing.
More and more of the group started to get seasick and
there was a bunch of sad looking individuals now in the cabin. About half of
the group managed to get in a full day of fishing. I never throw up out on the
open sea but I did this time, probably because I ate some lunch. I was glad I
had the rubber clothes on because the wind blew the stuff right back on me. I
might not have been able to hold my food down but I never actually felt sick.
One thing that really ticked me off was a sales manager who went into a he-man
act like everyone who was sick was a pansy. His bravado certainly wasn’t
appreciated by those with the pasty white faces.
That night some of us went out for dinner and another
sales manager from my wife’s company insisted on picking up the tab. He said
something about it only being the company owner’s money which was fine by me.
The next morning only about half of the group turned up for the 2nd
day of fishing. Some swore to never get on a fishing boat again. Mooching isn’t
my favourite way of fishing but I still had a good time.
My interest in fishing started to wane. One summer day I
took my kids up to Painter’s Lodge near Campbell River. We chartered a boat at
the lodge and it cost me something like 350 bucks for 4 hours. I didn’t fish
myself and left it up to the kids. They only caught one salmon. We fished near
an area called Ripple Rock. You can actually see the currents going two
different ways and what appears to be a ledge of water about a foot or so
higher than the water next to it. Many years ago over 110 people drowned in
this area and something like 120 ships were damaged or sunk. In 1958 they set
off a huge dynamite explosion that could be heard in Vancouver to make the sea
in the area safer.The last time I went salmon fishing was about a dozen
years ago with my son who was about 12 years old at the time. We rented a boat
in Campbell River and went over to Quadra Island. We had a fish finder screen
on the boat and you could see the schools of salmon going by beneath the boat.
Occasionally the salmon would jump out of the water nearby. We never caught a
thing.
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Painters Lodge, Campbell River, BC. |
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My son Dean fishing off of Quadra Island when he was 12. |
Now that I am kind of retired I have had some thoughts
about getting out on the ocean again. There is an old salesmen’s joke about the
3 “F’s”….If it floats, flies, or f__ks….rent it! The joke kind of makes sense.
Owning a boat is very expensive.
Being the old salesman that I am I think I might have
figured out how to go fishing cheaply. I am thinking about printing up a little
poster and leaving them at the nearby marinas. “Retiree available as company or
crew. Will keep quiet or tell stories depending on your wishes. Will supply I
dozen beer of your choice or a 26 ouncer.
It might just work!
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I drew this years ago. |
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Fishing...the good life! |
I really like your blog just wanna thank you for sharing.
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