We arose at 4:30 am- which I guess technically is a part of today, but I feel like the first few hours should be a part of yesterday. Chris was up, dressed, he had made
We arose at 4:30 am- which I guess technically is a part of today, but I feel like the first few hours should be a part of yesterday. Chris was up, dressed, he had made breakfast and packed a picnic to have on the boat- all of this by 5am. I stumbled around rather deliriously but somehow made it to the car by 5:15. The marina where we were meeting our fisherman was a 5-minute drive- THANK GOODNESS. Our fisherman guide is Sonny Boone- and he was great. He zipped us across the water in the darkness as we watched the sun rise.
We were the first boat to our destination but within 30 minutes there were about 20 other boats. Sonny described a downrigger to Max (which was also very enlightening for me), and all the boats formed a que and slowly trolled in giant circles, with the Captains yelling out greetings to each other every once in a while.
Chris was the first to catch a fish. Sonny was very excited and dancing around yelling instructions to Chris about how to reel it in- which he did very successfully. In the end, it was 14 pound chinook salmon.
The next fish in the boat was reeled in by Max, it was a pink salmon (around 4-5 pounds). Which he was really very proud of until he hooked a chinook. The hook ends up around 200 feet down, which for Max took awhile to reel in but he stuck with it, and he landed a 13-pound chinook salmon. When it was finally in the boat Max got a round of applause from all people in the other boats- which added to our excitement. I have never seen a bigger smile on Max’s face.
At the end of the day we had each caught a pink salmon and Chris and Max both had a chinook. We decided to keep the two pinks to eat on the island in the next few days and Sonny was going to Campbell River to have the rest of our haul sent home for us. 😊
During our fishing trip, we saw a whole pod of dolphins “dancing all around” to quote Max. We also saw several bald eagles (two of whom were fighting) and a group of about 30 Orca’s swam right by all the fishing boats and we got our best whale pic of the trip.
Chris fished an eagle feather out of the water and gave it to Max. We have tried to tell him how special it is to have an eagle feather and we will have to find a place of honour for it at home.
On the boat ride, back to the marina Max took the skipper seat beside the Captain and then fell straight to sleep. This wouldn’t have been noticeable but he fell straight over and landed on Captain Sonny’s lap. This was good for a round of laughter.
We returned to our cottage and had a nap and then Chris made a lovely meal of fresh fish and rice- ahhh, fresh fish and home cooking.
