August 30 - prawning and Portland Island (#20)

Jenny, Claire, Jayson and I set out from Tsartlip ramp to go prawning and to visit Portland Island. We left the ramp around 10:30 and spent some time setting our traps in the usual area. we covered depths from about 180 ft to 270 ft and the deeper ones were more productive at this time of year. We then went around to Princess Bay where we shore tied with the anchor buddy, had a picnic lunch and then went for a walk inland and over to the Kanaka bluffs and back via shell beach. We then made our way around the east side of the island and back to our traps which produced reasonably well! The anchor buddy system works well, and my ACE prawn puller system also works well!

Portland trials - click to enlarge

The boat shore tied with the anchor buddy

It was Jayson's first time prawning and he had fun pulling traps and cleaning the prawns.

click to enlarge

56 km,

August 18 -24 - The Broughtons (#19)

Monica and I spent 6 nights out in the Broughtons exploring from Telegraph Cove to Bond Inlet and back.
Part of my track log has been lost due to my not realizing the log limits, so I will be recreating part of it from memory and my inReach tracks.
Here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
Map image and more to follow!

August 12-17 - Kyuquot Sound (#18)

Monica and I spent 5 nights at Spring Island with JF and the team at West Coast Expeditions. Our first day was pretty nice, but the remaining ones were damp as a result of a front that came through. We did some kayak fishing as well as fishing from the boat. JF had some great fish while kayaking and I had some good fish from the boat. The WCE camp at Spring Island is a great spot, and we enjoyed walks around the island, excellent dinners and good company as well as trips to Kyuquot village. We were very heavily loaded for the trip out (3 people, 3 kayaks (2 delphins and a Trident) plus lots of gear, so it was slow going. On the way back it was just Monica and me with two boats and less gear, so the going was better! Unfortunately, I did not realize that my Lowrance HDS8 has a limit on the track storage, so I lost our entire Kyuquot track. I am going to recreate most of it from memory and my inReach locations soon.
The c-dory performed well as a home base for the two of us in spite of inclement weather.
here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
map image to follow...

July 31-August 3 - Clayoquot Sound (#17)

Pete, Kyle and I went for a few days of salmon fishing in Clayoquot sound. The main focus of the trip was bucktailing for coho, but we did go offshore a few times looking for chinook. The weather was excellent for fishing not too sunny, but not windy or rainy either so the seas were calm throughout. Three of us were able to sleep on board, one in the V-berth, one on the dinette and one in the companionway! One night was spent in the Tofino harbour, one night in a cove on the north side of Vargas Island and another night on the west side of Bartlett Island. The C-dory performed well as a fishing boat and the modifications I had made the week before worked well also. The fishing was not fast for coho inshore, and we had to work hard to find fish. We did manage to have an amazing coho frenzy for a couple of hours where we could not keep the fish of the flies! I managed to delete or lose the track for the first few hours of the trip, so the track was estimated from memory...
The leak from the anchor locker into the v-berth is still "active", so I need to get that fixed. I also have lost the pin end for the hinge of the anchor chain deck pipe and will have to figure out a replacement.
Pete, Kyle and I had a great time. Lots of laughs and some very good fishing at times.

click to enlarge

318 km, approx 237 L, 1.34 l/km (this seems to be pretty average mileage when loaded for camping)

Our next trip is as a mother ship for a kayak fishing exploration in Kyuquot sound and then a few days up in the Broughton Archipelago.