Call me Ursus
maritimus!
Or, maybe not — although I’m definitely a maritime bear, Ursus maritimus is actually the
scientific name for the mighty polar bear. And I am a Spirit Bear: Ursus americanus
kermodei.
Still, I do love the sea. During my visit to Port Renfrew,
British Columbia, I returned to sea aboard one of Trailhead Resort & Charters’ seaworthy, ten-metre Silver
Streak cruisers.
Trailhead Resort is run by the Hovey family. The resort has beautiful gardens, private cabins, smaller
huts for hikers who are tackling the West Coast Trail or Juan de Fuca Marine
Trail, and suites with kitchenettes. Gourmet meals are also served in the
resort’s main lodge.
The Hoveys can arrange whale-watching for you, kayaking tours, or — my personal favourite — fishing!
Well, I got in for
free …
I went fishing with Mike Hovey and six other people. We
cruised westward from Port Renfrew for an hour; marine fog soon made the forested coastline
disappear from sight. We might as well have been in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean.
We made our way to the entrance of Juan de Fuca Strait, about 25 kilometres offshore, where the
sea-bottom rises to within 35 metres of the surface. This is a famous fishing
ground called Swiftsure Bank.
It’s like a hill under the sea. Ocean currents swoop around and
over the shallow bank, concentrating plankton and other nutrients where fish,
marine mammals, and seabirds can feast to their tummies’ content. Swiftsure
Bank is a protected feeding and breeding area for marine life, but humans are
allowed to fish around its edges.
You can often tell where schools of fish are at Swiftsure
Bank by the huge flocks of seabirds circling and diving above. Humpback whales
sometimes cruise by, their jaws open to swallow masses of little crustaceans
called krill. Salmon, halibut, ling
cod, rockfish, and sharks feed on smaller bait-fish (herring, anchovy, needlefish,
and a kind of sardine called a pilchard). You sometimes see killer whales, sea
lions, and dolphins chasing after all this seafood, too.
Swiftsure was named in honour of a Royal Navy battleship
that was stationed in Esquimalt, on Vancouver Island, in the 1880s.
Hey, in case you’re wondering where the Strait of Juan de Fuca got its name … it’s a cool
story. Way back in the 1500s, a Greek seaman named Apostolos Valerianos got a job with the Spanish navy, and took the
name Juan de Fuca. He claimed to have
explored this coastline — two hundred years before any other European — but
could never prove it. Few people believed him. Still, in 1787, when British
explorers found a strait exactly where
de Fuca had said there would be one, they named it in his honour. De Fuca’s
mysterious voyage is the kind of historical enigma that gives me shivers!
Mike showed me how to fish for halibut, using a sturdy “star
drag” reel:
The legal limit allowed each of us to catch one halibut.
We then turned to fishing for salmon. Two different kinds of salmon were around: coho, and chinook.
Here Mike is making sure I know what to do when a salmon
hits the line.
When I got a bit chilled, my new friend, the writer and poet D.C. Reid, helped me warm up!
Nick, Steffen, and Martin were
good company, too. Nick is from New Zealand, while Steffen and Martin are
visiting from Germany. They came to Port Renfrew through an interesting network
called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It lets people do temporary jobs in exotic destinations in return for
their room and board.
Look, this is Martin’s first salmon ever.
Here, Mike is netting a salmon for Mr. Reid.
About a dozen other boats were fishing Swiftsure Bank around
us. It was neat to have company in what felt like the middle of nowhere. The
time flew by with all the fish hitting everyone’s lines.
Back at the dock in Port Renfrew, we couldn’t stop smiling
at our good fortune. Mike sure showed us some tremendous fishing at Swiftsure
Bank!
Trailhead Resort also processes any fish you’ve caught, and
their team do a beautiful job. They clean, vacuum-pack, and flash-freeze the
fish so well that it will stay cold in your cooler all the way home.
Yummmm ... Dave didn’t make me wait long for a salmon barbecue!
Story © S. Clouthier
Photos © S. Clouthier and D. Wei
Map courtesy http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/juandefuca.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment