Like any good road trip, the run from Bella Bella to Rivers Inlet is a classic slice of navigating British Columbia’s Inside Passage and Great Bear Rainforest.
Somewhere around 60 miles from Bella Bella to Duncanby Lodge can find you cruising in comfort or getting your ass handed to you by Mother Ocean. When the Fitz Hugh Sound gets angry…she can get real angry!
We had the pleasure of making the run many times last season, whether that be running lodge boats for Bridgeview Marine, Duncanby and Good Hope. Or of course on the boating and trolling trip that so often is Big Coast.
Departing Denny Island conditions weren’t bad, and that was a good thing since we were running an original Bridgeview 22-footer down to Duncanby Lodge to fish with Kyle Morton on his Grady. The new Big Coast boat was still heavy in construction at Bridgeview Prince Rupert so the early season turned out to be a big boat smorgassbord and whole lotta Mercury power.
Well, this run wasn’t so awesome and cameraman Chris Wheeler and I got our butts kicked pounding into a strong Southerly while heading down Fitz Hugh Channel. We ducked and we jived and we hid as we could from the onslot but, hey, when you’re in it…you’re in it.
After crashing Southbound for hours we rounded Addenbroke Island and things mellowed on the backside. Hammer down in The Gary, our trusty old steed, and we ripped down to Rivers Inlet most excited about getting our troll on.
Now the new Duncanby Lodge dining room and bar is a pretty impressive and special place and the lodge like nothing else on the Coast. Hosts and Owners Sid and Leigh Keay run a tight tie-dyed ship and the Duncanby crew is one of great people and stellar service. Kyle Morton graduated to Operations Manager after putting in his time as head guide and the Big Coast has been fortunate to fish with him and Dave Logan for years.
This trip was a little different than past trips and marked the first time we ever fished a Grady White on Big Coast…which was pretty cool. Normally at the helm, it was nice for this Captain to kick back and get chauffeured around like a fishing guest. Different..but nice.
We had a couple days of decent Chinook fishing, hitting a few nice fish and having a great old time in Great Bear Rainforest. On our final morning I hooked back-to-back bleeders and had to bonk both fish, immediately taking me out of the game for rest of day. Well, rest of day took forever as we trolled six straight hours without a bite!
But somewhere around that six hour mark, the port side rod started melting and Kyle jumped to answer the bell. The fish was heavy and put in a couple amazing runs to start the battle, which was a seesaw affair. After about 20 minutes we had the fish near the boat but couldn’t get it any closer. We spent the next 10 minutes walking it around the middle of Rivers Inlet like a dog before it finally tuckered.
All-in-all it was a 31-minute Chinook fight and the Wannock beauty weighed in at a whopping 44 pounds, a personal best for Kyle and season best for Duncanby Lodge. The fight was awesome, net job solid, the release clean and high fives…many! After an hour or so floating out in Rivers Inlet appreciating the walkoff Chinook, we ripped back to Duncanby and bellied up to the new bar. Spirits were high, glasses were raised and the 44 party went down in the annals of Duncanby history!
