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Archived Reports 2006 Summer
Saltwater Season Wrap Up Fishing Report As the steelhead season rolls along we are finding a mixed bag of results. December stayed strong with rivers staying in shape nicely and good numbers of steelhead through out all the rivers that have returns. 2008 brought a few big rains which pushed most of the Nov/Dec fish upstream. Fish continue to trickle in, however we are still expecting a strong push of late January chromers and, of course, the hog's of February. Speaking of big fish, this season thus far has seen a very noticeable up tick of larger steelhead with fish in the 20 pound range getting hooked on a constant and average of 14 pounds! Fishing pressure has been minimal to non existent leaving the rivers to the otters and eagles. Days are also getting longer and with them the water temperatures begin to rise; this drives steelhead crazy... Time is getting short and days are almost all booked, if you have any questions about visiting the Queen Charlotte islands in search of steelhead, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Fishing Report They're here... Fall rains plus high tides have pushed a good number of steelhead into the rivers: ready, willing and waiting. Yesterday saw us hit 13 steelhead out of 2 runs in a matter of 5 hours. Primarily on the fly a few fish were hooked on bait as well. All but one fish looked to be saltwater chrome and extremely spirited in both the fight and aggressive nature towards the hook. One specimen took 200 yards to tame! Every fish that came to hand and even the ones we lost all seemed to be in the mid teens; weight wise. Decent fish thus far in fact, no reel small one at all. Along with the steelhead we managed to run into quite a few beautiful cutthroat trout. Great start to what looks to be a very promising season. Water levels and weather have been perfect as of late, coupled with minimal to no pressure it is a great time to be traversing with nature in one of the most beautiful rain forests in the world. Steelhead season is here... come and get 'em.
2006/07
Steelhead Wrap Up Wow, what a season we just had. Large returns of large steelhead, what else could you ask for? Things started off early in November and really did not let up with chrome fresh fish still coming into the rivers in above average numbers right to March. Water levels were fantastic in 2007 and had to make up for the monsoons of November and December 2006. We really did not lose a day since the first week of January. Water temperatures were also favorable as weather was mild and comfortable for January and February. All rivers that typically hold steelhead on the island fished above average. This seemed to be a positive trend that held up and down the west coast. Although each trip seemed to fish different the over all fish numbers at the end of the season were up. Size also seemed to be on the positive side with many trophy specimens taken. Some days were truly spectacular with the finest seeing 2 anglers hook over 30 salt fresh steelhead, primarily on the fly, and landing a few twenty pound plus specimens. Many story's developed as crazed steelhead made short work of more than a few stunned anglers. The Masset House management and staff
woud like to thank all those taht amde steelhead season 06/07 a great
success. Hope to see all of you next season for another storied season.
What a season! This summer was what west coast saltwater fishing is suppose to be like. With water temperatures back to normal from a warm '05 season the bait (herring and needle fish) was abundant in president setting numbers, and of course with them; the salmon. Before we really started off in June the staff and a few drop in charters had already started soar mouthing the Chinook as early as the end of April. In fact we reported a 30+ fish afternoon between two of our boats in mid May! With the largest Chinook reaching in at 41 pounds! Things were shaping up for our "on season". June had our best start of all time here at the Masset house, with all the bait being just outside Masset Inlet one did not have a far run in the Grady Whites. Most of the fishing was with dummy flashers and Anchovies combo's right off of Strie Island and the Green cans. Any one that has spent any time on the water up here knows that this is close to home. Everyday saw great numbers of Chinook hook ups with the action heating up to the point of multiple double headers per day, with the odd triple thrown in for good measure! Needless to say full limits were the norm, particularly towards the end of June as we started seeing some early Coho mixed in with the Chinook. July came and with it the Coho in stellar numbers and, of course, the Chinook kept right on track. To say that we had plenty of bait fish around was an understatement, for quite some time we were fishing with nothing but spoons and plugs as putting down a cut plug was similar to the old needle in a hay stack routine. With the abundance of bait the Coho kept growing and by the end of the month we were seeing above average size on all salmon. Of note this July saw the first 50 pound + Chinook weighed in at the Masset House! August was ushered in with fishing that just seamed to be getting better. The Coho were now reaching epic sizes and Tyee sized Chinook were an every day affair. Fish were starting to really push in to the kelp and the old cut plug was really hammering the big fish. Another 50+ Chinook was added to the tally with oodles of 30's and quite a few 40's. Coho numbers started to dwindle towards the end of the month but size was everything as most silvers in the box were in the 10 to 15 pound class. September was looking to hold on fairly well and did so for the first few weeks, particularly for Tyee class Chinook. On average 1 in the 3 were breaking the magical 30 pound mark, for those of you that are pure hog hunters this was the time. Cut plugging over the tide changes was again the method of choice. The local runs of Coho started showing up very well and again the board was filled with large silvers. The largest dropping the scale to 19 pounds and fish boxes holding nothing but teens. As the Coho began entering the rivers some of our guests took the time to hunt them in fresh water with fly and light spin tackle. These ocean bright Coho were really something to see once hooked in shallow water and put the anglers to the test, what a great way to end the season! The Masset House staff and management would like to thank all the guests and everyone who made this season a smashing success. Here's to good companions, beautiful places and wild fish, hope to see you all in '07!
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