A Spring Report From Mike Tonnesen

Hi there,

This time from mild Victoria, B.C., Vancouver Island. It has been a mild winter down south here, with plenty of rain in the early winter but no freezing temps or snow whatsoever.

The same cannot be said for The CLUBHOUSE and The OUTPOST. A cold system with heavy, wet snow hit the Haida Gwaii in January, followed by a rapid thaw and torrential rain. Not a great combination for the gutters.

That said, at The Clubhouse we have work crews now on site led by Roger Piercy, not only taking stock of the repairs but also moving ahead with the renovations for 2026. Word has it we are going ahead with doubling the store size, enabling Coral to restock the inventory with many new products in all sizes and exciting new ideas. As well, the bar area has been rejigged and moved, and the designers are anticipating a huge positive response to the quality of materials on the way up via barge to the Club. Roger and crew are busy, despite 80 km winds from the southeast occurring almost daily!

One of my missions is to recruit guides for the coming season, and I am happy to report most of the guides you’re familiar with have signed up for the season. Pete, Bud, Korey, Liam, Todd, Paul, Evan, Austin, Jayce, D.J., Chantal, Tegan, Arron are just some of the guides looking forward to making your trip the best trip of the season.

Tucker, who often spends some time in winter up at the site helping out in construction, has moved on from the guiding gig to take over the dock operation. Tucker will be there to not only ensure the guides have what they need to get ’er done, but also ensure the self-guided operation runs as smooth as possible.

On top of that, Tucker will oversee the fish processing area, making sure you get your fish in your box, packaged up in a professional manner. We are continuing the processing and vacuum packing of fish on site so you can travel home with your fish frozen and in 1 lb pieces for ease of use. This proved to be popular with many guests and most likely will grow in popularity as there is no longer the wait to get your fish back once you return home.

As for outlooks on the coming season, it’s still early for the DFO to officially announce what the season will be as far as halibut size retention and daily Chinook limits. From what I hear, things most likely will be somewhat similar for our area. The returns this year were decent on Vancouver Island, with many rivers and streams reporting things were good. A lot of guides and operations reported the Chinook and Coho fishery were very good, which is obviously nice to see. In Victoria, the winter Chinook fishery has been good, with a 22 lber landed this past weekend — a great sign. Lots of bait and lots of fish is what the local guides are reporting.

There are so many highlights from 2025, it’s hard to pick out just a few to relay here. It was so exciting to see the return of some larger Chinook that we carefully release for sure. Top fish was landed by Hans K., with Korey on the helm and the net. I will include the pic here, measuring in at a wow 56 lbs!

The Bowl was the place to be for a couple shifts!

Next up we had Rance with our best effort of the season, measuring in at 50 lbs, and that was a very memorable fish for sure in Boat 4! Below is a pic taken by Austin — big thanks for that.

And on the size front, the third largest Chinook released at the Clubhouse in 2025 was Brent and his guest in the Spafford group.

Some of you may have seen this shot, but this is a fantastic pic of what happens daily in the Bowl — screaming oystercatchers protecting their turf from the resident bald eagles. Chris Spafford photo credit. It is definitely a big bonus when working the area — for sure Lucy’s highlight of the afternoon most summer days!

So the trips come pretty fast now and so will the updates. The large herring spawn starts soon and the Chinook move inshore feeding on this bounty, as do the myriads of wildlife. Early spring runs of Chinook start to build in APRIL, and the crew start to assemble up on the island to receive the barged-in supplies and get to work preparing for your arrival. The weather breaks and the storm season passes, and soon enough we are in our favourite place — the Clubhouse on Langara Island. Lucy will once again be riding shotgun and doing what she can to watch rod tips and make the day memorable.

We can’t wait — see you soon, and updates to follow!

Mike Tonnesen, Head Guide