July 25/13

They don’t call it the Bell Ringer for nothing! The Tyee bell was ringing steadily this week as both salmon and halibut fishing continue to be outstanding. Each evening as the boats returned to the dock with their catches, the collection of lodge guests at the Bell Ringer happily celebrated the fish and the stories of how they were (or weren’t) caught. And there was lots to celebrate!

Experienced QCL angler John Bowser started things off in a big way on Monday with a beautiful Chinook that tipped the scale at 53 pounds, fishing off Yatze with guide Luke Wagner. Around the same time first timer Matt Newton was reeling a very comparable prize to the gunwhale of the Fishfinder while enjoying a staff fishing day with Paul Clough and a collection of lodge crew. After a good strong fight Paul slipped the net under a broad-backed giant that taped out to more than 55 pounds before they quickly revived and released it. Awesome job gang! That’s quite the start to your fishing career Matt! Well done!

There were more great releases thru the week as Reed Courtney turned back a nice 39 pounder on Monday and Tom Boos a 33. Tuesday saw Jordan Rule catch and release a nice 51-pound plus Tyee (his second in 3 years!) with guide Ryan Winger. And Jordan Clough had another great day fishing with his Dad Rob, bringing a giant chrome trophy to the boat that taped out to 51 pounds before they released it. That just happens to be Jordan’s second 50-plus salmon at QCL and he’s not in high school yet! Fantastic fishing gang! Thanks for letting those big ones go! On Thursday Conner and Brad Rule returned to the Bell Ringer a shiny 52 pounder, complementing a number of nice 30-something Tyees on the dock that evening. Great fishing guys!

The halibut fishing had its highlights as well with several nice fish in the 30 – 55 pound range coming to the scale from depths in the 200 foot zone, great additions to all of those 12 – 15 pounders we see every day.

The weekend looks promising with clearing skies and moderate northwesterlies in the forecast. The big tides peaked days ago and we’re looking forward moderate flows over the next while. Lots of bait is still showing in the area and these northerly winds will certainly help keep it here so we are optimistic that these times of plenty will carry on for a good while yet!

Watson Lake