Tag Archives: fishing

Grizzly Bears on the River 3 of 4

grizzly watches guideSuddenly she stops and looks toward us. The problem is that she is less than 25 meters (yards) from where I am sitting on the bow of the skiff and I had stood up and started to move the skiff backward to give her more room to fish. Wrong move on my part. She froze looking at me so I sat down and she…

Bald Eagle Feeding 18 of 20

eagle catching herringAs a guide I am always looking for seagull and duck activity to help locate a herring ball because herring balls attract whales and eagles. For this photo the ducks were feeding on herring and forcing them into a ball and near the surface providing a perfect opportunity for the bald eagle to feed. Experience and luck will put the guests in the right position but is is the skill of the photographer that produces the photo.

Fishing?

commercial fishing

Eagles, grizzly bears, sea lions, killer whales and humpback whales are not the only thing we watch trying to catch salmon on our wildlife trips. Their are also sports fishermen and in this case commercial fishermen. This boat is the Ocean Predator which works for the Department of Fisheries doing “test sets” to determine if there are enough salmon in the area to have an “opening” for a commercial fish. We watched them do a quick count of the number and variety of salmon in this set. About seventy-five salmon means there will not be an opening for a while.

Dock fishing at Grizzly Bear Lodge

Dock fishing at Grizzly Bear Lodge

Not all guests are this lucky when spending time fishing off the dock at Grizzly Bear Lodge. This is a 30 k (app. 65 lb.) halibut that we were able to bring onto the dock after getting it free of the anchor chains holding the dock in place. Not sure how that happened but it did and with Angus’s help we got it up for a picture. With halibut this would mean about 45 lbs. of meat which also means several dinners at the lodge and many happy guests.

Spin-fishing with Trapper Rick

River Fishing

On that extra day’s stay at the Lodge we visit Rick on the Kakweikan River. Travelling over old logging roads to a river crossing we then have a short hike to Rick’s cabin, which overlooks a set of falls. At the falls there are salmon that leap the falls or use the fish ladder to bypass the falls. The salmon gather below the falls and at the peak of the run grizzly bears come to feed. This is an opportunity to fish on the river and catch pink or coho salmon as well as trout. Many guest say they have no interest in fishing but once they see the pristine river full of salmon they say they will try for a few minutes which turns into an hour or more. We have the time and the day is yours so enjoy it.

 

 

Hungry Grizzly Bear

hungry grizzly eating
Click to enlarge then click again

The reason for watching grizzly bears on the rivers of British Columbia’s coast is to obtain photos and more important memories of the grizzlies catching and eating salmon. This photo of a bear eating the “whole” salmon shows a hungry bear. At the start of the salmon arriving in the rivers the grizzlies have been eating sedge grass, root, bulbs, berries and turning over rocks on the beach for three or four months. This food source keeps them alive and adds a little fat but what the coast bears want is salmon and when they first arrive they eat the whole salmon. At the end of the salmon run and just before denning (hibernation) if the bears do not have a sufficient fat layer they again will eat the whole fish. In between these two times grizzlies are more selective catching only the females for their eggs or just eating the skin and its fatty layer or the brain.

 

Bait fishing for bald eagles

clubbing rosk fishIf time permits while you are whale watching and if there is a shortage of suitable food back at the lodge your guide may jig up a few bottom fish to feed the camp eagles. The guest reaction to the fact that I must “knock” the fish on the head is often a mixed response. As much as they want to see an eagle fed there is a certain amount of sympathy for the fish. Karen and Martin visiting from the UK provided this photo.

Everybody eats in the fall

eagle on rivr
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Following from yesterday’s post and the use of a small camera to get a photo this is from the same camera. The evening of this photo, back at the lodge, guests were showing their pictures of this eagle and they were amazing. The photo was taken on the Glendale River as the guide was walking the boat up the river on an incoming tide. Yes guides wear waders and as the water in the river is not deep enough to use a motor we pull the boat up river to obtain the best opportunities for photos of wildlife which at times means close ups of eagles as well as grizzlies.

 

 

 

Guide Photos

eagle resting
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Bald eagles can be viewed from the front deck of the lodge on Minstrel Island as they fly from the nest behind the lodge to their fishing areas. On all the day trips for the whale watching safari, grizzly bear tours and wild river trips eagles are plentiful. The hardest part for a good bald eagle picture is to have the eagle so it is not “sky lined”. They need a dark background to set off their white head as shown in this photo. Also to note is the spread wings as it enjoys the sun while drying after the summer’s morning fog.

 

Interesting Guest Photos

Wilderness-fishing-tour
Wilderness-fishing-tour
Wilderness-fishing-tour
Wilderness-fishing-tour

If guests are interested and Ingo’s crew from Germany was there is some great salmon fishing while visiting Trapper Rick. This protected river provides opportunities for guests to spin fish for salmon with light gear that often gives the salmon the advantage. The protected aspect means that anyone fishing the river must have a guide which has been allotted time on the river and therefore it is not open to the public. The only other people we see and that is rarely are from a lodge that brings guest in by helicopter and you can guess what that costs.