Well, with 16 seasons of Big Coast behind us it’s pretty easy to look back on what was a milestone time!
First off, we couldn’t have shaken things up more by bringing on new sponsors in Bridgeview Marine and Mercury Marine. The first half of the season was as diverse as we’ve ever seen, running everything from QCL lodge boats across the Hecate Strait, Don McNeice’s BV30 with Twin Mercury 500s, the Gary, Dwayne Walkus’ Ironwood, the Duncanby Crew Boat and Kyle Morton’s Grady. Might as well throw BC Ferries’ Northern Expedition in there as well!
The new BV30 Big Coast edition arrived in August with Twin Mercury Sea Pro 300s, an unbelievable one-of-a-kind coastal ride. The boat turned heads wherever it went and handled bigger water and tough conditions like we never thought possible.
As part of the new sponsorship framework, Bridgeview Denny Island became the rock solid new Big Coast home base. Central to everything we do in Great Bear Rainforest, the Denny Island move was a season highlight and will have lasting effects way into the future.
No we’ve done quite a load of tourism work over the years but the tides are slowly changing to stewardship and conservation. We were fortunate to work with Kitasoo/Xai’xais on their Creekwalker program and now our eighth season with the Percy Walkus Hatchery. The Tyee catch-and-release program we’ve promoted with Duncanby Lodge still carries wonderful momentum.
This season was so unique we didn’t make it South of Rivers Inlet. Two trips to Haida Gwaii and a whole lotta North and Central Coast captivated us for Season 16. We’ll return to a more coast-wide mantra in 2024 season but for last summer the Northern focus was an incredibly enjoyable one.
Finally, we’ve fished the Bamfield Tuna Shootout for a decade but we even shook that up…heading North again for the first-ever Haida Gwaii Longfin Tuna Poke. We even capped it off with a trip down to Lower Mainland and some fun sturgeon fishing up Harrison Lake way!
It was an honour toiling as the Mercury and Bridgeview Marine West Coast Consultant and Factory Pilot in 2023 and can’t wait to see what the 2024 BC season holds. In the meantime though, it’s been a winter of heading South. A couple weeks in Baja followed by 10 days fishing with the Duncanby del Sur crew down in Costa Rica. As I pen this final Big Coast Season 16 blog I’m on my way back down to Costa to help run a 50-foot Bertram up to Los Cabos.
Pura vida….let the adventure continue.
This…is Big Coast!
