Gone Fishing

Our fishing trip was fantastic.  On Friday afternoon at 2pm we headed out on a five hour charter in the nearby Salish Sea that runs between Comox and the mainland.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for fishing.  25 degrees celsius, a very light wind and very calm seas. This trip had been saved for and planned months ahead and was part of our "experiences not stuff" Mother's day gift, Father's day gift, Hubby's Birthday and my Birthday gift.  We packed a picnic lunch and set out to hopefully catch some fish.  We had a fantastic guide from Cliff's Chinook Charters named Raiden.  He is 29 and has been guiding for many years along the Pacific Coast.

We all caught fish, 7 in total plus one that got away.  When I was a kid we used to go to different lakes in the interior of BC every single weekend for camping and fishing.  That was freshwater fishing which is completely different than deep sea fishing.  We all absolutely loved it.  My Mom was so happy and it was definitely a day to remember. 

 The seven fish we caught:  Pacific ling cod (too small), two sand sharks or dog fish as they are commonly known (I caught one, they fight hard), one rock cod (has poisonous spines, is edible but too small) and three coho salmon, only one of which was large enough to keep.

Small Pacific cod

sand shark/dog fish

Rock cod

Hubby caught this beautiful 15 pound coho salmon which was the keeper of the day,

At 7pm we returned from a beautiful day of fishing to this little guy, patiently waiting at the cleaning station.  He wanted the head and spine....waiting pays off.  After filleting our fish he got the proceeds.  He looks small but there is a very large body to that seal, I bet he weighed about 250 lbs as he hangs about the cleaning station every single day and knows when a new boat comes in after fishing.

So, here is the cost breakdown in case anyone is wondering:  5 hour Charter $450 - booked 4 months in advance so I got $50 of as was a special if you book early.  Guide tip $40.  Fishing licenses $35 for 3 adults for one day (all season licenses are not that expensive if you had your own boat) so $525 total which works out to $175 per person.  Was it worth it?  You bet, it was one of those favorite life experiences and I am so thankful we could afford to do it.  I actually think it is going to be an annual experience as we loved it so much.  Some people buy sporting or concert tickets, apparently fishing will be our new thing.

Why does it costs so much?  Boat, insurance, gasoline, and moorage fees plus the assistance of a guide who truly knew what he was doing, taught us a bunch about the resource management and who truly cares about the fish and wildlife.  If you owned your own boat to get on the ocean likely the annual fees just to maintain it would be $500 to $1000 not including the cost of boat and repairs.  Moorage at the Comox harbour is $2500 per year, if you can get a spot or pay for out of water storage.

Every single fish we didn't keep was carefully lifted from the water and had the hook removed then very carefully placed back in the water to swim another day.  It looks like that big stick is a spear but it is a gigantic hook that allows you to pick the fish up out of the net to handle it carefully, something that is super important when you are dealing with some fish that are poisonous like that rock cod's spines or the sand shark's teeth which are small but still have pretty sharp teeth.

So now I can say I caught a shark and both of us lived to tell about it!  And yes, we had a salmon BBQ last night and it was scrumptious.  Since the fish was so big there were 15 more salmon fillet portions so Mom got some and we are in Salmon for a while!