There’s nothing like wrapping up a project!
Each season Big Coast finishes its broadcast run with an amalgamation of 12 episodes featuring the best of saltwater boating, angling and adventure from that given year. As we turn the page on Big Coast Season 17, it’s easy to reflect on nearly 20 years of Greatest Hits shows.
In 2024 Captain Tim Milne piloted the Big Coast Bridgeview BV30 with a pair of Twin Mercury V10 350hp SeaPros up and down the British Columbia Coast, making stops from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy to Barkley Sound. It was an incredible run and the most miles we’ve put on in a single season…reflecting nearly 500 hours on the new outboards.
The season started in earnest down Bella Bella way (or up depending on your calibration) with some early season fishing close to home. I’ve long expostulated on the many benefits of home tacks and solo fishing and all that…and this is exactly what that was: awesome home tack fishing in Lama Passage in Bella Bella.
After a great Spring session in Bella it was BC Ferries time for a trip up to Port Hardy to grab the BV30 and rip back Southbound to heart of Great Bear. I had one of my finest fishing trips early, one that didn’t really register on TV but struck close to home heart. I was fortunate to pick up my good buddies Marshall and Jason from Bella Cola and hit the Duncanby Lodge Rick Hansen Fundraiser trip for the Percy Walkus Hatchery. This always happens early June and this season it provided some of the best fishing we had…not to mention raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for PWH!
From Duncanby the season took a serious turn as I ran the rig Southbound to Parksville for a tow across to Barkley Sound. Before getting stuck down Island with a big blowing NW shutting travel down, we had one of the best Big Coast weeks of the year fishing with Jeff Hanak and visiting the boys at Eagle Nook Lodge. Great Halibut and Salmon fishing and some truly awesome company made this trip a favourite.
Summer was in full swing after the Island mission, with a trip back North just after Canada Day. We had a few beauty weeks boating and fishing in July, and another excellent trip to Duncanby Lodge, before running up to Prince Rupert to meet the Mercury crew from Wisconsin. This was our show of the summer, as Don McNeice and I ran two BV30s with a combines 44 cylinders and 1700hp down the Coast with our Mercury friends on board.
We made stops in Hartley Bay, North King Lodge, Klemtu, King Pacific Lodge, Bella Bella, Shearwater Wilderness Resort, Legacy Lodge, Good Hope Cannery and Duncanby Lodge. To say this was a trip for the ages would be an understatement. More like a colossal coastal expedition all packed into six days!
On the heels of that amazing trip, we rallied down to Port Hardy to visit the Bait Shack and fish with Big Jim Henschke, Nita and Jes. I’ve been trolling with these great friends for well over a decade and Hardy delivered up near Cape Caution. We got into some amazing Chinook action and enjoyed having the old band together.
The Big Coast crew hunkered down in Great Bear and fished Bella Bella and Rivers Inlet through the remainder of the season…home tacks and familiar haunts. The fishing in 2024 never really cranked up. There were good numbers of Chinook at times but a serious lack of hawgs. Outside North King Lodge, which seemed to hook an inappropriate number of Tyees, everyone struggled to find the big fish. We got a few nice Tyees but no grande salmon, despite a pretty good effort.
The end of August saw the season tick down and our final run North, this time to Sandspit and Haida Gwaii for the Longfin Tuna Poke. I spent nearly two weeks in Haida Gwaii and had some amazing runs through the Skidegate Narrows and wicked tuna days on the West Coast. We led the derby for a few days, but as per usual, couldn’t close it out for the big win. Some half drunk guy from Kitimat in a dirty Kingfisher hit the lucky tunas and took the win!
Regardless, one last trip of the season to Rivers Inlet and Percy Walkus Hatchery provided the perfect finish. We were all concerned with lack of big fish on the Central Coast that the Wannock returns would be super weak. But just to prove that we’re a bunch of silly humans and Mother Nature rules all, the big fish were plentiful in the Wannock and we finished the Egg Take in record time.
Another 300,000 eggs in the Percy Walkus Hatchery and a wonderful season in the books. In no short order big thanks to James and Don McNeice, Ted and Dwayne Walkus, Sid Keay, Kyle Morton and Dave Logan, Jeff Hanak, Jackson and Dawson Raden, Cousin Tom, Mackenzie Moore, Jim and Nita, Andy and the entire Merc Crew.
Last but certainly not least, a big thanks to the Heiltsuk Kaxla Crew and Heiltsuk Nation for cooperating on the first-ever Kaxla Big Coast Derby in Bella Bella. This was a definitive season highlight and we can not wait to walk it back this coming summer!
With respect and appreciation of traditional territory of our Coastal First Nations, this is a very Big Coast. Tight lines in 2025 all!
