Painter's Lodge Reel Reports

2009 Chum Derby Results

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-10-13

The Painter's Lodge Chum salmon derby has just wrapped up and it was exciting right up to the last minute.

From October 1 to 12, anglers battled the huge runs of fall Chum salmon that course through Discovery Passage each year. Great prizes were up for grabs, including a four day all-inclusive fishing package at the MV Charlotte Princess, Langara Island.

Dave Picariello nabbed third place with a 15.14 lb. Chum caught on October 3. Dave won a fishing package for two back at Painter's Lodge in 2010.

On October 7, Ton Nieuwpoort upped the ante with a 15.70 lb. Chum salmon. He won a three-night getaway at April Point Resort & Spa.

And just in the nick of time, Brad Allan secured the top prize with his 16.24 lb. Chum, caught October 11.

Congratulations to our three winners, and to everyone who squared off against the scrappy Chum.

David and Suzanne Wei

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-10-08

David and Suzanne Wei just got home from their trip to Painter's Lodge and send in these fantastic photos and this note:

We sure enjoyed our stay at Painter's Lodge...had a whale of a time! ... Alas (for us) our Chum salmon weren't big enough to win the trip to Charlotte princess, but with so many fish being caught, every guest was a winner!

Many thanks for setting up the nature cruise (turned into a fabulous whale watching adventure with around fifty whales in three pods), the lovely room, the great fishing (we've got lots of info from the guides for our story), the delicious meal, and fantastic weather!!!

Cheers,
Dave and Suzanne

Megan's fishing adventure

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-09-22

The weather up here is good and it's only getting better. I saw a few high 20s in the weather forecast, which is great for the end of September.

Every couple weeks I write about the guest fishing and wild life trips, this week I am going to write about my own fishing adventure. We went out for an eight hour fishing trip yesterday and it was fabulous. Couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was gorgeous, and the fish were biting. I highly recommend the eight hour option (or even a six hour), as you have much more time to explore all the wonders the ocean has to offer, without cutting into your precious fishing time.

On an eight hour trip you get to check out some fishing holes a little farther up, such as Chatham Point and Greensea Bay. Chatham is beautiful, I had never been and was blown away with its beauty. On our way up to Chatham we fished the Narrows for Lingcod, stopped and played with White-sided propoises, TWICE, and watched a monster of a Sealion take down and eat a huge salmon, and that just on the ride up there.

Once we got to Chatham it was sunny and the waters were calm, we peeled off some layers, set up the lines and dug into our lunches. We didn't get any bites for the first half an hour or so and anticipation was building, especially after we watched some friends of ours land a nice Coho in another boat and still we hadn't had a bite. Then BANG! We had more bites than we could handle, it was total chaos in the boat, of course I wasn't helping with all my shrieks of joy and nonstop picture taking. We couldn't get the line back in the water before the other line had a fish on!

In total we had over 10 hits and in the end we caught and kept two Coho, one Chum and one Pink. As for what we didn't keep, we got four undersized, a wild Coho and lost two bites.

After Chatham Point we cruised over to Greensea Bay, another great fishing spot and cruised around there for a bit, we didn't get any keepers over there, just another wild Coho or two, and some undersized, to be honest my arms were soooo sore from pulling in the other ten fish that I was happy, watching the other boats catch some fish.

All in all it was great day, caught some sun and some fish! Spent a beautiful day on the water, and can't wait to get back out there, especially since the Chums are starting, they're sooo much fun to catch.

The Chum Derby starts on the first of October and runs until we close. There are some great prizes to won and some big fish to be caught, so come up and give it a try, every Chum caught is entered in to the grand prize draw, and there are daily prizes as well.

Megan Lane
Dock Supervisor
Painter’s Lodge

Fantastic fishing continues

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-09-06

August has come and gone, which means the August Heat Chinook Derby is over! The winners are:

1st place Mattew Liska: 34.60 lb. Chinook
2nd place Terry Adams: 34.06 lb. Chinook
3rd place Carlos Civitraese: 33.70 lb. Chinook

Enjoy your fish and your prizes guys!!!

So now on to the next derby, the Octoberfish Chum Salmon Derby which runs from October 1st to 12th. All you have to do is catch a Chum! Furst place gets a 4 day/3 night trip to the MV Charlotte Princess, 2nd gets an April Point package which includes accommodation, fishing, wildlife tours and spa treatments, and 3rd place gets a three night fishing package at Painter’s Lodge.

As for fishing right now, the Pinks are still coming down in the millions. The Chinooks have been big and plenty. Just this morning Tim and Barb Still brought in two Tyees (30 lbs. and 33 lbs.) and a 26 pounder, all in under 1 ½ hours. I hadn’t even had my second cup of coffee and these guys come in with three huge Chinooks!!

Paul Brown caught the first registered Tyee this year. By registered we mean the Tyee was caught in the Tyee pool while being rowed by one of our fishing guides, and following the strict rules and regulations set in place by the Tyee Club. It’s definitely a lot of work , but well worth it when you get to brag about being the first to catch one the old fashion way!

There’s only a few more weeks for the Sunset Tours, so come on down and book a trip, you’ll love it!

That’s all for today. Thanks for checkin’ in. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Megan Lane
Dock Supervisor
Painter’s Lodge

Campbell River Fishing Update

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-08-16

Hello all. The fishing in the last two weeks has continued to be strong. We’ve had some interesting weather to deal with and the shift in winds and precipitation has brought more fish down the straights into the Campbell river area.

Our guides are now into the usual August fishing haunts; Green Sea Bay, Chatham Point, Browns Bay and Separtion Head. Many trips are seeing an abundance of Pinks, with a few Sockeye mixed in, and of course, Chinook. Our August Heat derby leader is Kurt Richter with a 33 pounder. Way to go!

The Tyee Pool is also seeing some of the good fishing. Only two fish have been registered this year, but there have been many “undersize” caught. An undersize fish in the Tyee Pool means that it is smaller than 30 lbs. and can not be registered into the Tyee Club. However, this is still a beautiful fish and the fight is impressive when caught out of a row boat in the dusk of night or as the sun begins to rise and the waters are still. We’ve got 4 weeks left in the Tyee fishing season, so come on out and fish the traditional way by the Campbell River.

Dave Gosnell
Marine Operations Manager
Painter’s Lodge and April Point Resort & Spa

Scott White at Painter's Lodge

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-08-12

Scott White just sent in this fantastic photo taken on August 9, on his second trip to Painter's Lodge in as many months.

His party of three caught two Chinook, 11 Pinks, and released three Coho during their trip. These beauties were caught at Browns Bay.

Thanks, Scott!

Aaron McEwan, Fisherman

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-08-11

Wow — it looks like August 7 was a great day for fishing!

Painter's Lodge guest Aaron McEwan sent in these two photos of his 29.18 lb. Chinook.

Congrats!

The week in photos

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-08-06

Chantal at Painter's Lodge just sent down some fantastic photos from the past few days.

Feelin' the Heat!

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-07-29

Another fabulous week here! Its been crazy HOT! So far a solid week over 30 degrees (well over 86 degrees for the Americans tuning in). We’ve seen no rain and no clouds, just bright sun and blue skies.

The fishing story of the week goes to John and Dylan Robinson, a father-son combo who limited out not just once but TWICE. This was Dylan’s first fishing trip, and I guess what they say about beginner luck is true, because they caught 7 Chinooks over 20 pounds and a Tyee, and not to mentions Dylan’s favorite...his little Pink. In total these guys brought in over a 180 pounds of fish!!!

There has been a touch of pink…we’ve had about 10 pinks so far…so they are trickling in…there’s several million more to come…boy won’t that be fun!

As for the Whale Watching and Wildlife tours they’ve been great, our whale watching guide has been real successful at locating the whales…and dolphins for that matter, hundreds of them!

Thats all for today, thanks for checkin' in. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Megan Lane
Dock Supervisor
Painter's Lodge

Rebecca's First Salmon

Painter's Lodge - Oak Bay Marine Group — 2009-07-20

Mark Mawhinney just sent us this fantastic video of his fiancée, Rebecca, landing her first salmon at Painter's Lodge last weekend.

What a fish!