PART 6

DAYS 11,12,13 - SAT. SUN. AND MON - JUNE 1,2,AND 3:  We had returned to the Haida Way after returning from our day with the Grizzly Bears.  On Saturday morning we got up at 6:00 am, got dressed, loaded the wagon and headed south towards Campbell River. (Note: I have not mentioned what route we have been traveling on as we went up and down the northern part of Vancouver Island. This is because there was only one road, Hwy 19, after we left Campbell River on our way to Port McNeill.

At about 9:30 am we stopped for breakfast at "Charlie's" before continuing on into Campbell River.

About 2 miles north of Campbell River we saw a sign directing us to "Painters Lodge" which is a lodge owned and operated by Oak Bay Marine Group who also own "April Point Lodge" where we were headed and would spend Saturday and Sunday nights before heading for home with an overnight stop in Comox on Monday and Tuesday.

The entrance to Painters Lodge sets the mood for the place. Beautifully landscaped and quality throughout.  We walked around the grounds and through the buildings and ended up on a wooden terrace high above the dock area and the Inside Passage channel.

From this point, we could look across the channel at the "April Point Lodge" on Quadra Island.  Below us fishing launches and sightseeing Zodiacs were coming and going from the dock at Painters Lodge.  

We then headed into Campbell River where we drove around sightseeing for a while until we caught the 1:00 pm BC Ferry over to Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island and the short drive to the April Point Lodge.

To get to April Point lodge we drove through a beautiful wooded area and the final drive to the lodge is beautiful with huge trees and lots of flowers and plantings along the road.  We originally made reservations at Painters Point back in October, long before they had begun to sort out their spring and summer reservation requests.  In January, I had received a note that since they were fully booked on all Water Front rooms at Painters Point with requests prior to mine, I could have my choice of a Water Front room at a reduced price for my trouble at April Point or I could stay at Painters Point in a garden view room.  Thank goodness, I chose the Water Front room at April Point.

The place is wonderful. It is located on a point which has the Inside Passage out front and beautiful coves on either side. The main lodge faces the Inside Passage and other residential buildings and the dock house face the coves.

We were assigned room "3" which is directly over the offices and part of the dining room facing the Inside Passage.  The room was actually a suite type room with a beautiful terrace, a large living room area and a raised platform for the King Size bed.  Everything was decorated and furnished beautifully both in the room and in the public areas.

In the evenings we could sit on the terrace or in the living room and watch the boat traffic, including huge cruise ships, pass on the Inside Passage out front.  We could also see Painters Lodge all lit up on the far shore across from us.

We ate downstairs in the restaurant the first night and outside on the patio the second night. All of the meals were very good and the service was great.

Sunday morning at about 11:00 am we started out, with our guide Craig, on the first of two 4 hour fishing adventures in one of the Lodges 17' Boston Whaler specially rigged fishing boats. 

Craig, who looked to be in his early 30's had been fishing the waters for nearly all of his life and has been guiding for about 10 years professionally.  I asked him what he did for a living in the Winter and he told us that he is a Snow Board instructor and Safety Patrol at Mt. Washington which is a large Winter Resort area just South of Campbell River and that he and his wife and kidlets live on the mainland.

We headed towards the south end of Quadra Island to fish.  As we rounded the point of the island we saw quite a few other fishing boats which appeared to be slowly trolling around the area.  On arrival at the fishing grounds, Craig pulled several feet of wire cable from a weird looking machine mounted on the side of the boat. To this cable, he attached a huge lead ball and also clipped the line from one of the 10' rods to which he had attached a trolling plug and had let out several feet of line.  He then put the ball overboard and released a break on the top of the machine and letting out fishing line as it sank the ball of lead dropped some 180 feet down into the water.  This in effect allowed us to troll the plug behind the boat at 180' depth. He then reeled the line tight until it bent the pole and placed it in a rod holder with the pole still bent.  He then repeated the process with another poll and machine on the other side of the boat.

Here is how it works. The fish were appearing on his depth finder at about 175 to 185 feet down. We were now trolling fishing plugs behind 12 lb lead weights which were at a depth of 180 feet.  We trolled at about 4 mph and when anything hit the plug there would be a small almost invisible little jerk on the tip of the bent rod. He would then grab the pole and keeping the line tight and the pole bent, he would strike back on the line. This would apply enough force from two directions to pull the line loose from the clip on the 12lb weight and he would hand the pole to one of us and we would fight the fish without the added 12lb weight.

On Sunday we caught 1 Salmon which measured 1/2 inch too shore (limit 25" my fish 24-1/2") and another very small (14") Salmon and a Dog Fish which looks just like a sand shark. We also had a couple of other strikes. On our second trip Monday early morning we had several strikes and Norma brought in a Dog Fish.

We did see several nice fish being pulled in by other fishermen on other boats and on Monday morning we watched a man fighting a 22lb Salmon which had been grabbed by a Seal  for about 20 minutes. The seal would come up for air once in a while with the fish in it's mouth. When this happened, the guide would run the boat at the seal hoping to scare him into dropping the fish.  Finally this was successful and when they got the fish in it weighed 22lbs and did not have a mark on it.

Sunday evening, just about everyone ate dinner out on the patio as the weather was so beautiful. We had baked Halibut which was delicious.

Monday morning when we arrived back at the lodge from fishing at about 11:00 am, we finished packing, had lunch and checked out headed back across to the mainland and then to Comox  where we found a nice motel where we spent the night and arrived at the Comox Airport at 7:00 am to begin our long day of three flights back to Orlando.