August 2019 Fishing Report

August was a thrill in so many ways….

It started off with 2 weeks in the Esperanza area with Charters coming and going every 4 days. Home base was Port Elzia Lodge where we received great hospitality & service from Jim & Robert who have just taken over ownership of the property. Being so close to the fishing grounds was an advantage on the days where we couldn’t go offshore. The Chinook salmon were plentiful and double headers were frequent with both wild and hatchery Coho in the box daily. Typical size were 18 – 24 lb with a nice 36 lb Tyee being caught on a sister boat. Lots of white fish were caught, the lings were angry and big halibut were a thrill to haul up from the bottom. There were a couple of lures that were absolutely on fire that will be kept a secret for now but old faithful “white death” hootchie put a lot of fish in the box. Areas fished included Whale’s tale (Dickeys Favorite), Grassy, Potato and everything in between. Kingslayer charters is booked next year at Elzia Lodge stay tuned for details.

The second half of the month we focused in Area 29 on the North and South arm of the Fraser river. Once again daily limits were caught on all trips with size ranging from 17 – 27 lb being the biggest one in the boat. We pretty much fished bait the whole time but occasionally caught a few on spoons and hootchies. I had a couple great buddies join me in the Vancouver Chinook Classic, a catch and release derby where we placed 4th at .7oz out of 3rd place and some nice prize money…Oh well next year we will get the big one. The best moment of the derby was on the Sunday, it ends right at 1pm and the lines come up and everyone heads in for BBQ & prizes. It was a bit of a slower day, only netted 2 fish with neither in contention for measurement however I just had a feeling that we were going to get one at the bell……Sure enough I pop inside to check the time, it read 12:57pm, I was right in the prime spot and I hear my buddy’s losing it and screaming FISH ON FISH ON!!! It was a line screamer and weighed in at 22.6, just out of the cash but put another scare to the leader board while it was being measured. Such a well run event with like minded anglers getting together to raise money and have a great time. That’s the bell ringer fish in the picture above.

August definitely didn’t disappoint…

Hicksy