Looking Back on 2025, Looking Ahead to 2026

A Year-End Note from Mark Hodge.

Seasons Greetings to our treasured guests and friends of The West Coast Fishing Club.

Another year is drawing to a close, and what a season it was at Langara Island and Port Louis, Haida Gwaii. Thank you to everyone who joined us.

Salmon fishing, particularly for Chinook (King), was superb at both lodges right from the start of the season. A true testament to this was the need for us to reorder our coveted Tyee pins three times throughout the season, congratulations to the recipients! Another welcome highlight was how strong the Coho fishing remained well into September.

Prior to 2025, previous seasons saw strong Chinook runs, but the majority of fish were in the mid-teens to low-twenties, with guides and guests occasionally “tripping” over a Tyee or even a 40 or 50-lb specimen.

In 2025, however, the Chinook runs were even stronger, and far more big fish were encountered. Many of these beautiful Tyee’s were caught, photographed, and released to spawn - helping to create great fishing for the future.

Early in the season, the Fish Bowl and Lacy Island produced consistently. Later on, the Gelan, The Egg, and Andrews Point were all “on” for numbers and size. Depths were all over the chart for them as well, with The Egg fishing deep at 150+ feet on the rigger, and another boat picking up a late-season 46-lb chrome beauty at just 22 feet between Boulder and Gunia. As stated, this spectacle continued right through until our last trip of the season, September 7 to 11, and was further complimented by feisty chrome Coho with some Northerns up to 18lbs being picked up.

It is our expectation that this encouraging trend will continue into 2026, and we will be closely monitoring the DFO’s forecasts and keeping you informed accordingly.

Speaking of 2026, we are delighted to welcome back our Executive Chefs, Blaine Robinson and Stjepan Balen, along with their exceptional teams, to The Clubhouse and The Outpost respectivley. Throughout the season, we will also be hosting our Culinary Event Series featuring world-class chefs from across the country, highlighted by the 20th anniversary of Chef David Hawksworth’s & Friends Culinary Adventure, running July 5–9. For more information, please visit our events page.

Our guide complement for 2026, led by Mike (Screamer) Tonnessen and Colin (Butcher) Roberts, is shaping up well, ensuring once again that our guests will have the very best on the water to put them on the fish.

As part of our never-ending quest to continually enhance the most memorable wilderness and fishing experience for our guests, many improvements are once again underway at the lodges during the off-season by our crews on site. We have also added another beautiful 31 ft Boston Whaler Conquest to the fleet.

This, in itself, is a testament to the unbridled passion that Brian Legge and Brian Grange have for the WCFC and this truly remarkable place. Our vision has always been simple - we never stop trying to make it better.

The crews were kind enough to share some photos of a rare occurrence: snowfall at both The Clubhouse and The Outpost on December 20. As you’ll see, they are postcard perfect.

Thank you once again for an exemplary 2025. All of us here look forward to welcoming our guests back in 2026.

Have a healthy and happy New Year!

Mark