Thread: Salmon Fishing Trip in Northern Canada

This past July, a few family members and some friends flew into Vancouver for a few days. Then we flew another 500 air miles north to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Finally, we boarded a helicopter for a 30 minute flight to our fishing lodge on Langara Island. This is easily one of the most beautiful, picturesque, and pristine places in the world. The lodge was literally a 5 star resort in the middle of nowhere. The food and amenities were way beyond my expectations.

The weather was typical for that time of year. It was basically overcast and temps in the low 40's everyday. The seas were very unpredictable. Some mornings would start off like glass and an hour later the seas would be 6 foot. Although it really didn't matter because we were there to fish regardless of conditions. Fortunate for us, they furnished everyone with fully insulated, waterproof fishing gear. There were 24' guided fishing boats for everyone or you could go out on your own. We opted for the guide because we had never been there before.

The actual fishing was a total blast. They supplied all the necessary fishing gear. Once you're out on the water, they even have a refreshment boat that comes by several times a day with breakfast, lunch, snacks, beer, you name it, they had it. You can basically stay on the water from 6am to 7pm (sunrise to sunset). I believe there was 5 different species of salmon there. We were mainly trying to catch Chinook, which are the largest and Coho, the most abundant and best tasting.

Although we never had any super huge catches, our fish averaged roughly 20lbs each. Our largest catch was 36lbs and the largest fish of the week was 62lbs. Along with the salmon, we caught a lot of Halibut, Lingcod, Rockfish, and Skate. They cleaned and flash froze all of our keepers as soon as we got back to the dock each day. We released most of the fish we caught and still ended up coming home with over 800lbs between the 6 of us.

There is a small sea lion colony on the other side of island that has figured out it is much easier to catch a salmon that is hooked to the end of a fishing line. You basically had to figure out where the fish were and the sea lions weren't. As soon as you hook into a salmon, the lions would bite it in half and all you're left with is a head. They were like underwater ninjas. You wouldn't see or hear them until they were tossing your fish through the air. It was as if they were laughing at you.

Along with the sea lions, we saw humpback whales, grey whales, and a pod of killer whales. The number of American bald eagles was astounding. Here are a few pics.

The lodge is up top and the dock and fish station are below. Notice the cable driven lift up to the lodge on the left.












Squirrel Fish caught over 300' down


The Saltwater Ninja


This guy was MASSIVE


Here's the rest of the colony


The Black and Whites








Humpbacks

A few more pictures

Landscape






The Alaskan Coastline

Looks like you had an awesome trip man!
I have been going to the QCI's since I was 8 years old. I currently have a garage with 2 Boston Whalers and a log cabin I built in Sandspit just 5 minutes away from the airport.
Cool catch on the Squirrel fish, although the ones we call Squirrel fish do not look like that, we just feed them to the eagles!

that squirrel fish picture is awesome. it's hard to believe there are still places in the world w/ this much wild life - very cool

- chuck

Its pics like this that make you appreciate nature a whole lot more.

I would love more info on where you stayed

It's without a doubt, the most remote place I have ever been and the wildlife was almost zoo-like. It was everywhere, all the time. The only thing we didn't see that there are a lot of, is black bear. Next time I suppose.

Here's a link for you Mikey

Langara Island Lodge | Langara Fishing Adventures

haha small world. My sister worked there a few years back and so did my brother in-law as a fishing guide.

There are a TON of places to stay, get guided fishing around the island.
I have probably stayed at 15+ lodges on the island and my favorite by far is Queen Charlotte Safari's. The staff there is just remarkable, great dinners, great guides and lots of great stuff they can keep you busy with aside from fishing. I have been sending clients there for 5+ years now and nothing compares. Queen Charlotte Islands Fishing Charters - Salmon Halibut Lingcod Red Snapper. If you mention my name(kelly ryan) to Valerie(the owner) she will probably give you a pretty darn good discount.
She also has a elk hunting lodge in Idaho that operates during the winter season.

wow, Great photos. I really want to make that trip one year.

Here are a couple of other places that were in the same vicinity as our lodge. The first, is the Langara floating lodge. Basically, the same amenities as the island lodge just on a smaller scale. The second one, was a different outfitter all together. Apparently, they refused to pay the local Indian's the required taxes to come ashore. So, they just anchored a few hundred feet out and set up camp.