Unreel-Charters
1900 Zorkin Road V9s01a Nanaimo, BC, Canada

This was the third run our monster chinook took.

Epic day on the waters of Nanaimo this morning!! One of my guests, Tate Beckstead who is 16, landed the biggest chinook salmon Ive ever had the pleasure of hooking into. Truly the fish of a lifetime, for him and myself. About 3 hours into their 4 hour trip, and with catching mainly coho and some small springs so far, we hooked into this chrome bright tank. At 200 ft down on the rigger, this fish hit and then proceeded to go on the most epic run I have ever seen. I didn't even... get a chance to loosed the drag. Thank god I run 60lb braid. It took 3 runs, the last of which was the shortest and slowest which were caught on camera. And remember the drag is still at full lock from being on the down rigger. The first 2 runs took 4-500 ft of line off the reel in seconds. I've only seen a seal do that and thought that's what we may have gotten after hooking a fish. After the 3 runs tho it was pretty worn out so now it was a matter of slowly pulling it up from the deep. Once we got it close we realized how big of a fish we truly had caught. Into the net it went. With one finger I pulled the single hook from the top of it's mouth. No blood, no damage to the fish. I had educated my clients about releasing fish over 25 lbs and they were more than happy to release it. With cameras ready we brought it on board. Gave it a quick measurement, which was 45 inches in length, the back was at least 6 plus inches wide and almost a foot tall. Didn't have a tape measure so couldn't get an accurate girth measurement, but based on just the length, this was close to 40 pounds or more. Truly a fish of a lifetime! Quickly got the fish back in the water, moved it back and forth for about 5 minutes till it started to kick a bit with its tail. On the third kick I gave it a push and a slap on the tail and it took off like a shot, healthy as can be. I strongly encourage everyone whether recreational, or guide to release fish this size if they are healthy, to carry on the dna of these massive fish which are so rare these days. Can't wait to get out on the water again tomorrow! Tourism Nanaimo Gone Fishin' Island Fisherman Magazine Nanaimo News Now Cabela's Cabela's #tourismnanaimo #explorenanaimo #tyee #nanaimofishing #fishingnanaimo #explorebc #harbourchandler #hogust See more

It's been a busy month of July! Lots of great trips with awesome guests! Had the pleasure of spending many hours with many different groups of people on the water and it's been a blast! Fishing continues to be the best I have seen in Nanaimo for many many years. While the chinook fishing has been more variable, the coho fishing has remained strong and on some days has been non stop action. Some days on just a 4 hour trip we are hooking into 20 plus salmon. Also some more good news, it is a sockeye season and starting today open for retention. We haven't started seeing them yet but hopefully soon. Also the pink salmon should be in the area in the next few weeks, so this month should be one of the best opportunities to get into salmon of any kind! Here's some pics of some nice catches from this month!

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post any updates or reports as it's been a very busy last month. I've had the pleasure of taking out many great groups on the waters off Nanaimo. The fishing lately has been some of the best I have seen at this time of year and I sure hope it continues. 2 of the funnest trips I've had lately were young kids getting there first ever chinook salmon and the smiles say it all!! They had to work hard to get these strong fighting fish in the boat but with a little team work they landed these awesome fish. I'd say there official hooked #fishingnanaimo #nanaimo #nanaimofishing #salmonfishing #harbourchandler #tourismnanaimo #explorenanaimo #vancouverisland #explorebc