|
Talk about a seamless trip to and from Tofino, BC, located on the west, or ocean coast, of Vancouver Island. I joined a group of Seattle area fly anglers who were part of a package organized by Sound Flight. With wheeled planes and several float planes, Sound Flight takes anglers all over the Northwest and BC to fishing towns and lodges. This well run fishing airline takes off in Renton, Washington, either from a paved runway or off the waters of Lake Washington. The flight is both quick and very scenic. On the flight back, I left Tofino in a Beaver float plane and flew low and slow down the west coast of Vancouver Island. That flight was incredible.
In Tofino, we stayed at the famous Weigh West Marine Resort. For years, Weigh West has been the go to destination for NW salt water fly anglers. Nice rooms, good fresh sea food, a friendly staff and excellent equipment made for a great trip.
After breakfast, Graeme, the head fly guide would lead the group out to the fishing grounds. We were assigned a 16 foot "you drive" boat with a 60 hp motor and followed Graeme out to the coast. With radios we kept in contact and would be told about the tide changes, a hot bite and colors of productive flies.
The silvers were the hottest I have ever caught in my life. Extremely wild and they made many long, long runs. The occational king up to 25 pounds would hit a fly, also. There were places where you could get rockfish on every cast, too.
I really liked all the wildlife that we saw. The tufted puffins were there, as were dozens of sea otters, eagles, sea lions, porpoise, whales, gulls, starfish, jellyfish and more.
I rigged up an 8 weight fly rod with a Scientific Angler Mastery Streamer Express 350 grain fly line, the best line of it's kind for this style of fishing. 6 foot leaders were uncomplicated and ended at around 15 pound. Flies were baitfish patterns; some very realistic and others with some pink and orange to get the feeding salmon's attention. In areas where there was a hot bite, casting and retrieving fast got strikes and in-between flurries we would "bucktail" which is a Canadian fly trolling technique where the fly is only 20 feet behind the boat. Strikes on a tight, short line are very exciting.
Sound Flight - chris@soundflight.net
www.soundflight.net
Weigh West - fishing@weighwest.com
www.weighwest.com
|
Advertise with us