December 24th - Cowichan Bay (#25)

Monica, Jenny,Claire and I went for a Christmas eve prawning trip to Saanich Inlet. The weather was sunny and calm and not too cold considering the time of year! We put our traps down off Ardmore and then went to Cowichan Bay for a pub lunch - nice and warm! After lunch we made our way back to pull the traps and stopped by a large cargo ship on the way. 295 m long and 45 m wide - a bit bigger than us! The catch was not as big as some times, 103 prawns, but I think I dropped a few traps too shallow this time. The prawn puller with hands free attachment worked well. A lovely day out!

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48 km.

October 5th - Constance Bank (#24)

Martin and I went out again to Constance Bank to look for some more coho. We stopped first and emptied Martin's prawn traps near the launch ramp and then went out to the bank. On our way we dropped out traps at two locations near the bank (#63 and #64). the traps were well weighted and has 300+ ft of line in spite of about a 200 ft depth. We fished for a while, and things were pretty quite. We hooked and landed one nice coho (while watching the MS Coho come in and out of Victoria!) at #65. After we decided that coho fishing was too slow we tried our hand jigging for halibut on the bottom with no success. When we decided that we were done we went looking for our two prawn traps, but they were nowhere to be seen! Amazingly we found trap#64 at  location #65 and then after much more searching found trap # 63 at location #66!. So no gear was lost! (we thought we had probably lost all of them!) . The weather conditions were great, and we were lcuk that it was easy to see the traps at a good distance.

Overall route - click to enlarge

Click to enlarge - zoom on Constance Bank

52 km.

October 2nd - Constance Bank (#23)

Martin and I went out to Constance Bank for the afternoon to see how the coho fishing was. We landed two coho and had a couple more hits. It was also a great afternoon to be out! Flat water and a few rainbows about!

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33 km

September 6-8 - Sidney C-Brat Gathering (#22)

I launched the boat on the 2nd at Cattle Point north ramp and went over to the mooring buoy where I left Natural C-lection until the 5th when I went up to Port Sidney Marina where I was hosting the Sidney C-brat gathering. I met a few of the "brats", had a nice Thai dinner and then came back to Victoria by car so as to work Friday. On Friday afternoon, I went back up by truck and dropped off the trailer to have the brakes fixed. We then gathered at Fish on 5th for a great dinner and a group of us went on to Boondocks for a couple of beers. Saturday was spent walking the docks, checking out everyone's boats, a Thai lunch, a visit to West Marine, a few boat christenings, and then a post luck dinner in the event tent. I was pretty happy how the event went and feel I would be happy to host another one in a year or so. I came back to Cadboro Bay late Sunday morning and left the boat on the mooring again. During the week, the trailer brakes were fixed, and I took the boat back out of the water on the 14th. Even in that short time, there was a rim of algal growth to remove, as well as several gull deposits!

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The album

Sidney Cbrats

61 km, not sure how much gas...

September 1st - Otter Point fishing (#21)

Jenny, Jayson, Claire and I went for a fishing trip to the waters out of Sooke. The forecast was for some wind, but it was calm until late morning. Unfortunately,the fishing was very slow - one good hit, a small pink and a wild coho. I forgot to turn the tracking on for the first part of the trip, so there is a blank section which I made up from memory! We had some "adventures" with some commercial crab trap lines that resulted in some lost gear... not the best day fishing, but a good day out on the water! :)

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38 km, 1.3 km/l approx

August 30 - prawning and Portland Island (#20)

Jenny, Claire, Jayson and I set out from Tsartlip ramp to go prawning and to visit Portland Island. We left the ramp around 10:30 and spent some time setting our traps in the usual area. we covered depths from about 180 ft to 270 ft and the deeper ones were more productive at this time of year. We then went around to Princess Bay where we shore tied with the anchor buddy, had a picnic lunch and then went for a walk inland and over to the Kanaka bluffs and back via shell beach. We then made our way around the east side of the island and back to our traps which produced reasonably well! The anchor buddy system works well, and my ACE prawn puller system also works well!

Portland trials - click to enlarge

The boat shore tied with the anchor buddy

It was Jayson's first time prawning and he had fun pulling traps and cleaning the prawns.

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56 km,

August 18 -24 - The Broughtons (#19)

Monica and I spent 6 nights out in the Broughtons exploring from Telegraph Cove to Bond Inlet and back.
Part of my track log has been lost due to my not realizing the log limits, so I will be recreating part of it from memory and my inReach tracks.
Here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
Map image and more to follow!

August 12-17 - Kyuquot Sound (#18)

Monica and I spent 5 nights at Spring Island with JF and the team at West Coast Expeditions. Our first day was pretty nice, but the remaining ones were damp as a result of a front that came through. We did some kayak fishing as well as fishing from the boat. JF had some great fish while kayaking and I had some good fish from the boat. The WCE camp at Spring Island is a great spot, and we enjoyed walks around the island, excellent dinners and good company as well as trips to Kyuquot village. We were very heavily loaded for the trip out (3 people, 3 kayaks (2 delphins and a Trident) plus lots of gear, so it was slow going. On the way back it was just Monica and me with two boats and less gear, so the going was better! Unfortunately, I did not realize that my Lowrance HDS8 has a limit on the track storage, so I lost our entire Kyuquot track. I am going to recreate most of it from memory and my inReach locations soon.
The c-dory performed well as a home base for the two of us in spite of inclement weather.
here is a link to Monica's photos of the trip.
map image to follow...

July 31-August 3 - Clayoquot Sound (#17)

Pete, Kyle and I went for a few days of salmon fishing in Clayoquot sound. The main focus of the trip was bucktailing for coho, but we did go offshore a few times looking for chinook. The weather was excellent for fishing not too sunny, but not windy or rainy either so the seas were calm throughout. Three of us were able to sleep on board, one in the V-berth, one on the dinette and one in the companionway! One night was spent in the Tofino harbour, one night in a cove on the north side of Vargas Island and another night on the west side of Bartlett Island. The C-dory performed well as a fishing boat and the modifications I had made the week before worked well also. The fishing was not fast for coho inshore, and we had to work hard to find fish. We did manage to have an amazing coho frenzy for a couple of hours where we could not keep the fish of the flies! I managed to delete or lose the track for the first few hours of the trip, so the track was estimated from memory...
The leak from the anchor locker into the v-berth is still "active", so I need to get that fixed. I also have lost the pin end for the hinge of the anchor chain deck pipe and will have to figure out a replacement.
Pete, Kyle and I had a great time. Lots of laughs and some very good fishing at times.

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318 km, approx 237 L, 1.34 l/km (this seems to be pretty average mileage when loaded for camping)

Our next trip is as a mother ship for a kayak fishing exploration in Kyuquot sound and then a few days up in the Broughton Archipelago.

May 17-20 - Friday Harbor (#16)

Monica and I set off from Cadboro Bay on Friday afternoon to head over to Friday Harbor for a C-dory get together. We joined almost 50 other "c-brats" for a weekend of sharing stories, comparing notes and boats,eating,  and drinking. The event was masterfully organized by Barry and Patti of C-Cakes, and we enjoyed ourselves greatly. I learned lots and got many ideas for improvements to make on Natural C-lection. Barry had organised a visit to the West Marine store in Friday Harbor as well as a good discount, so I spent a few dollars getting bits and pieces - including the basics of an electrical hookup. There were three other boats from Vancouver Island (Anonymous, Nomad and Kerri On), and though most of the boats were CD-22s, there were a sprinkling of other similar boats as well. The potluck on Saturday was attended by the "crew of 49 boats as well as a couple of "boatless" people!
After leaving the gathering around noon on Sunday, we made our way up to Jones Island State Park were we paddled ashore (we have decided that the West Marine scamper 2 inflatable works well as a tender for Natural C-lection) and went for a nice walk around the west part of the island. After that we made our way past Roche Harbour to Garrison Bay where we visited the "English Camp" from the Pig war and spent the night at anchor. I used a stern anchor to stop us swinging as much, and it seemed to work quite well.
The following morning, we set off after breakfast and made our way down the west coast of San Juan Island and then back over to Cadboro Bay, where we cleared customs, put Monica ashore to get the truck and trailer, and then went over to Cattle Point to retrieve the boat. On our way out of Mosquito pass I noticed that a channel marker buoy (#6) had moved overnight and was able to inform the US Coast Guard to that effect.
Clearing customs and immigration was easy both in Friday Harbor as well as in Cadboro Bay. Though I only spoke to people via phone, all were friendly and helpful.
A great weekend! We made several new friends, and it was great to put faces to many of the people I had only "met" on the c-brats site. Now to get back to organising a September gathering in Sidney!

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100 km, approx 80 L, so 1.25 km/l (seems a bit low, but I guess we were more heavily loaded for camping...)

May 5th - Gulf Islands (#15)

Monica and I set out from Tulista ramp on Saturday morning to meet up with our long-time friends Jack and Mary who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary by staying at the Galiano Inn in Sturdies Bay (ours is in September!). There was a stiff northerly wind which created enough chop that we could not go too fast, so it took us just under an hour and a half to get to Sturdies Bay. After having coffee with Jack and Mary and organizing moorage at the Inn's dock, we set off to spend the afternoon cruising around (the wind had dropped and stayed down for the rest of our trip). We went to Montague Harbour where we had lunch and went for a short hike. we then went up to Wallace Island and cruised around it too before coming back to Sturdies Bay for the evening (great dinner at the Inn!). Monica and I slept in Natural C-lection and were rocked around by the occasional wake and bumped by a floating log a few times. We had a great breakfast (Eggs Benny all around!) at the Galiano Grand Central Emporium, after which Jack and Mary caught their ferry back to the mainland and home to Alberta. Monica and I decided to cruise a bit more and went around Mayne, past Saturna and over to Pender, into Bedwell harbour and through the gap to have lunch at the pub in Browning harbour. After lunch we made our way back to Sidney, A glorious sunny weekend!

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138 km, 100 L (so about 1.4 km/l...)

April 21st - overnight with Jenny (#14)

Jenny met me at Tsartlip ramp just after Pete and the twins had left (thanks for the drop off Monica!) and we set out to drop the prawn traps and go for an over night and a bit of a cruise. It was still a bit windy but we were able to put our traps down OK and then made our way to Portland Island. We had though of anchoring in Royal cove, but did not have a dinghy so lining to the shore was not possible. Instead, we made our way around to the bay by the Pellow islets which we had to ourselves. We anchored in about 10 feet of water and had a quiet night in the bay.
After breakfast the next day we set off to cruise over to Sturdies bay for a recce. We went for a slow cruise along the shore of Prevost and then scooted through Active Pass to avoid ferry traffic. On our way back to the ramp we stopped to pull our prawn traps and came home with around 140 prawns again. I think that there is a much greater likelihood of getting crabs, starfish and fish in the traps if one has a longer set...
The combine trips of today and yesterday covered about 140 km and used about 95 L of gas, so again about 1.5 km/L. Much of the trip was at fairly high speed.

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close up of the prawn zone

108 km

April 20th - Saanich Inlet prawning (#13)

Pete, Margo, Graeme and I went out to go prawning again in Saanich Inlet. There was a bit of wind from the south but not too much to be concerned about. We went and set the traps, and then crossed over to the Mill Bay side to have lunch and check out Brentwood College and Mill bay. While we were there the wind backed to a westerly and became much stronger - to the point that there were waves in the 2-3 ft range coming across the inlet. This made it challenging to say the least, but with me holding station at the help and Pete on the prawn puller, we were able to retrieve our traps and about 140 or so prawns. By the time we got back to Tsartlip ramp, the wind had abated quite a bit. Not as productive as our last trip, but still a great day on the water!

34 km

March 31st - Haro Strait (#12)

Monica and I launched Natural C-lection early in the morning too take advantage of a 8 + foot Oak Bay tide to launch from the North ramp at Cattle point. We then went around to Cadboro Bay where I dropped Monica off on the beach and then put Natural C-lection on my mooring. Later in the morning Kyle came by and we took the boat into Haro Strait to try some Halibut fishing. We also dropped some crab traps off by Discovery island. The weather was beautiful - sunny and little wind but the current was running pretty strong and we did not have any bites. I did manage to catch the bottom with my jigs a couple of times, resulting in some lost gear... :-(

We tried a few different spots and then came back for the crab traps that had only picked up a few red rock crabs which we returned to the water.

On making it back to the ramp around 5:15, the tide was at 5.5 ft and we  had a challenge getting the boat out of the water. I had to use the winch and work hard to wind it onto the bunks. I should have used the 18 inch trailer extension! I wonder if an electric winch or a more powerful/better geared manual winch would help....

Anyway, it was a great day on the water, and I learned several things! I also need to figure out how to use my anchor puller system.

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56 km

January 19th - Saanich Inlet Prawning (#11)

I met Pete with his twins Margo and Graeme at Tsartlip ramp to head out for an afternoon of prawning.
The weather was a bit cool to start with but it cleared up and the sun came out. We put our traps out and left them for about 3 hours. We came home with   334 prawns! Again, the catch was pretty variable, ranging from 4 to 135 per trap, and salmon carcass being the most productive. One trap had a small red Irish lord who seemed to have helped himself to a few prawns! The motor trim lessons from the last trip continued to be applicable as we were able to reach 50 kph and 5900 rpm fairly easily.
After dropping the traps, we went up to Coal Point and then over to Mill bay and then down the coast to Spectacle falls. From Spectacle Falls back to the traps we went at about 1700 rpm and 9 kph with Graeme at the helm (the yellow section). Margo did a great job of keeping stats on the prawn traps
The trap puller also worked well!

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50 km.

The last two trips were about 66 km and used about 50 L of fuel - approx 1.3 km/L