There’s nothing like a home tack.
For a West Coast angler it’s a special place. A sacred space close to home…or dock or marina
The 2024 season in Bella Bella was a beauty. Fishing was oftentimes tough in local mainstays down Hakai way or up across Milbanke Sound. There was some decent early fishing but the big Chinook were few and far between. But the fishing close to home on Denny Island was another story and surprisingly consistent.
Just around the corner from Bridgeview Denny Island and Big Coast summer base lay the Lama Passage. This is the route down to Hakai or out to Fitz Hugh Sound and Rivers Inlet. It’s also home to McLaughlin Bay ferry terminal and a few beauty home tacks.
The Archie, or the section of Denny Island shoreline from Story Pt to Archibald Pt, is simply a cool place to fish. It’s waters are sheltered and always doable…usually better than that. In filming Big Coast Season 17 Episode 11: Island Time…we got up close and personal with the Archie tack. There was a good chunk of the season on Central Coast where Lama was producing as many fish as anywhere.
While the Archie provided one fine tack on Island Time episode, the other Island was one of my very personal favourites…McInnes Island. My good buddy Dawson Raden and I rooped the hour run up to McInnes with his cousin Sailor Tom on a couple awesome Central Coast days. Cousin Tom cracked me up with his signature Washington State Sailor reeling style. And we got some great Chinook action in North of Milbanke Sound…and filmed a few of my favourite days of the season.
On the tackle side I fished spoons and anchovies most of the summer on Central Coast and both were productive on Island Time. The slow Central Coast troll, all in Heiltsuk Traditional Territory, was as classic McInnes Island and Archie as it gets.
Nothing like a little Island Time and some home tacks in summer!
