All posts by Lodge Guide

Spring Grizzly Bears

viewing grizzly bears Knight Inlet

Grizzly bear watching from late May until August 24th occurs along the shore of Knight Inlet and most often in Glendale Cove and on the River. We travel up the inlet to the cove and transfer to a 5.5 meter (18 ft.) flat bottom skiff we use to move along the shore and up the river with a rising tide. Grizzlies are on the shore turning over rocks for the crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. In the river they graze on the sedge grass and dig up roots. In all of this time they are waiting for the salmon to arrive. On this day we have five grizzlies, one in the water looking for salmon, and four on the bank digging and grazing. The first half of the season tends to be eye level viewing whereas that changes in tomorrow’s post.

Grizzly Crossing Knight Inlet river 2 of 2

Grizzly Swims to beach

Comparing the photos in today’s and yesterday’s post they do not look like the same grizzly but the camera time stamp says they are the same. This is an August bear and does not have the fat layer it will have after feeding on salmon for September through October. This is noticeable by how low the bear is in the water is yesterday’s post. A fat bear would have much more of it’s back out of the water.

Grizzly Crossing Knight Inlet river 1 of 2

swimming grizzly river

Grizzly bear viewing from our lodge is an hour and quarter boat ride up BC’s Knight Inlet to Glendale Cove. Once in the cove we change into a 5.5 meter (yard) flat bottom skiff that allows us to follow the grizzlies along the shore and up the river. On this day a grizzly bear was taking a short cut across the bay and we were able to get some good photos. Part way down the column on the left of this post is “Pages” and under that “Google Map of Itinerary” if you take the time to follow the link and read the instructions you will have the “Google Earth Map” of our viewing areas.

Why guests really come to our Lodge 2 of 2

grizzly fishing

Photo time 8/25/2015 11:11 First day on the grizzly bear viewing stands is August 25 and as yesterdays post shows the first photos are of the salmon because the grizzly bears are not on the river. But 13 minutes later the grizzlies arrive and I remember that it was a good day because Glen reported eighteen grizzlies on his first day at the stands.

Keeping an eye on the watchers

Grizzly Bears on the River

Our lodge is located on Minstrel Island not far from the mouth of Knight Inlet, which is the longest inlet off the East Coast of Vancouver Island in mainland BC.  We are a 45-minute float plane ride from Campbell River.  The spring and summer tours from the lodge find the grizzly bears foraging for food along the shores of Knight Inlet.  As your guide will often say “Bears are where you find them.” And this means that you start looking as soon as you leave the lodge.  This fine example of a grizzly was in the estuary of the Glendale River, which flows into Knight Inlet. Grizzlies in the estuary frequently pause their activities to survey their surroundings. The bears are always on alert even though they tend to ignore our presence they still know we are present.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Fishing Techniques

Salmon Escaped

The grizzly tours from our resort on Knight Inlet, in the fall, travel to a small river up the inlet where the salmon are spawning.  The abundance of salmon in the area attracts grizzly from a wide area along the BC coast it is estimated that between 40 and 50 grizzlies come to this area for the salmon.  The bears have a short time to fatten before hibernation so catching technique is important. Looking under the belly of this grizzly one can see that salmon do escape and even though this grizzly does not appear to have the best technique it proceed to catch and eat several salmon while we were in the viewing stands.

 

 

Herring Balls and Humpback Whales 2 of 2

HB lunge

Many herring balls form off Bold Head which is a land mass not far from Telegraph Cove a tourist destination on Vancouver Island north of Campbell River. The plan is to sit near a herring ball and wait until the gulls shoot into the air and be ready. The ideal photo is a humpback lunge feeding.

 

Herring Balls and Humpback Whales 1 of 2

Herring Ball

On your whale watching day most of the time is spent is the waters off the east shore of Vancouver Island.  This water is rich in wildlife and it is not uncommon to see seagulls congregating in one area, in fact, that is a good thing.  Whether you are sports fishing or looking for humpback whales you want to see flocks of gulls to have a “good” day. The herring in the waters along the shores of Vancouver Island are at the bottom of the food chain (just above plankton and krill).  You know you position in the food chain when your main defense is getting in a tight ball and revolving from inside to outside so you can breath. The many ducks and diving birds in the area force the herring into balls, which try to escape by moving up to the surface. This attracts gulls and attracts whale watchers.