fishing

It’s said that the charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of the elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. What many of our guests hope is to do battle with, then wrap their arms around, a 60-pound Chinook out of Rivers Inlet. Every season, we turn a lot of hopes into reality: 35-40 pound salmon are average, and 50 pounders common.

We also help guests catch a wide variety of Coho, Pink, and Chum, along with ocean dwelling giants like Halibut. If you’re game, our guides would love to go find an albacore tuna this season.

And if anyone want to try “bucktailing”, or play a gymnastic Coho on light tackle, we’ve got the fly fishing equipment you need.

However you fish, whatever you catch – or choose to release – the thrill stays with you forever.

Within minutes, a nickel-bright herring is cut out and the first rod bends to its weight from a stern holder. Fifty yards away, a thunderous strike rips across the stern of another boat. You watch the water erupt and the guide’s voice is a whisper. “They’re here. ” Reverence underscores his excitement and you notice your hands tremble as you work the rest of the gear.

Ahead, a salmon-stained sunrise is flaring through mainland valleys and you grasp to hold onto words you’ll use to describe it back home. Fishing no more than ten pulls deep, your partner and guide carefully switch places at the helm so as not to spoil the hushed drama of glassy water and bright anticipation.

The guide slowly executes a turn away from shore and you can imagine the out-side baits speeding up across the vanguard of a shifting school and the in-side ones fluttering down through them. Suddenly your partner’s rod slams down, then pops up silent. Everyone is galvanized, suspended, and just as the guide is about to say something, a second rod buckles and stays buried. Whether it’s over in seconds or still hanging in the balance an hour from now, one thing is certain – this is the moment you came for.

The fish is big, how big is a guess hazarded in the roiling water and length of run, but you can barely wrestle the rod from its holder, and already, this is by far the most exciting moment of your salmon fishing life. The rest, if you can just catch a glimpse, will spoil you