PPS Destinations Report

Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge, Dundas Island, BC, Canada

Date:         August 24 - 27, 2001

Reported by Ernst 'Ernie' Schmidt

Although not a PPS seminar, I was truly fortunate to be invited to join along as a guest member of the ABC Study Club.  This august group (some of whom were PPS members anyways) was made up of fellow dentists from the Seattle Washington area (I was the token Canadian) and the trip was largely organized by Drs. Barry Feder and Don Pratten.

Haa-Nee-Naa , a remote lodge located on Dundas Island, is probably BC's northern most salt-water fishing lodge since it is the last stop before the Alaska Panhandle.  Accessed by a very short float plane ride from Prince Rupert, the flight is over pristine wilderness territory with hardly any evidence of the hand of man.  The lodge is located in a sheltered cove on the northern aspect of Dundas Island, the last island before the international US/Canada boundary.

My mandate during the four days was to pursue the renowned hard-fighting northern coho (aka silvers) on the fly.  During the first two days, I basically flogged the waters using an 8wt. Scott ARC flyrod and a Type V full-sinking line.  Our method was to either tie up to a kelp bed, anchor in water less than 50' deep or to just drift.  Two to a boat, we would cast our flies over bait balls or, when hooked up to kelp or anchored in shallow water, along current seams which seemed likely to concentrate the small bait fish.  We would basically cast our lines as far as we could, let them sink and then retrieve as they swung in the current.  My first two hook-ups came on the first morning while anchored to a kelp bed on the northern aspect of White Island.    Although there were really no signs of life in these outside waters, the peace was literally shattered with the vicious strike of a chrome northern coho.  It took the fish about 1 second to realize it had been hooked and then, promptly, peeled off over 100 yards of backing.  The first fish ran so hard and fast that I was sincerely concerned that I would be backlashed despite the excellent drag system on my Maryatt MR8 reel.  After a hard fight of nearly 20 minutes, I finally brought the handsome fish to the boat and easily released the lightly lip-hooked fish from my barbless hook.  A few casts later, a repeat of the first fish occurred except that this fish knifed the line out by running 100 yards+ into the backing with his back partly exposed during the entire run.  Just after boating this handsome silver-bright 12 pound coho, my fishing parnter, Dr. Don Pratten of Seattle Washington, hooked and played his fish in repeat fashion.  I guess what really struck me during the first bit of action was that I totally underestimated how powerful these fish were.  Despite the cold clear north-Pacific waters, I would have to say that pound-for-pound, these fish fought every bit as hard as a bonefish of the same size.

Although we had several instances of this type of action, we were unfortunately plagued by the season's heaviest rains and gale force winds during our four days of fishing.  Just the same, Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge is located on a sheltered bay on the north side of Dundas Island.  The beauty of this location is that even during periods of heavy winds, there are always a few spots where one can get out of the wind and find some quiet water.  Most of the time, I am told, the waters are so calm and the wind barely noticeable that the fisherman may be plagued by black flies earlier in the season.  Another thing I really liked about the location of this lodge, is that the angler basically has three options when leaving the home bay (left, right or straight ahead) and that one never needs to travel more than 15 minutes to reach any of the productive waters.  No long pounding trips back to the lodge in order to have lunch!!!!

During our four days at the lodge, I managed to hook and land several coho per day on the fly.  It was certainly clear that weather conditions were far from ideal (basically we were informed they were the worst of the entire season) and, as owner/operator Clayton Vanier informed me, when the conditions come together, a good angler may expect to hook and land at least 15 coho per day on the cast fly.  In addition to fly fishing, most anglers use the more conventional method of cut plug herring on a light rod with a single-action reel.  I confess that when the wind got to me and my shoulder started to tire from casting, it was a sheer pleasure to hang a herring overboard and just set back and watch nature roll by.  The big difference with this method is that it never seemed to take long before one had a hook-up.

Haa-Nee-Naa Lodge is a Ma 'n Pa operation run by Clayton and Jennifer Vanier.  With a maximum of 12 guests, Clay keeps a close eye on all aspects of the operation in order to ensure a smooth and highly personalized experience for his guests.  All of us were extremely happy with the service and level of equipment provided by this full service lodge.  Boats were 16 foot welded aluminum crafts with flat floors and adequate motors in order to ensure safe and comfortable fishing whether trolling bait or casting flies.   The lodge set up is unique!  Sleeping quarters were comfortable and arranged directly around the central guest room, dining room and kitchen.  The open style kitchen adjoining the dining room allowed our chef, Tracy, to showcase not only her culinary skills but her ebullient personality.  No salt-water fishing lodge could survive without good food and Haa-Nee-Naa was certainly up to snuff if not somewhat better than average.  Again, this brings us back to Clay's mandate of small and highly personalized service for his guests.

Fishing the waters around the lodge is basically for Springs (aka Chinooks, Kings, Tyees) during the May to early August period and then for the cohos (aka slivers) during the latter part of the season.  In addition to these salmon staples, many guests also enjoy the abundant bottom fishery including an excellent halibut fishery within easy distance from the lodge.  A real bonus for us was the presence of three Humpback Whales which were present during our stay.  Several times we would be fishing only to have these graceful giants roll and blow within 50 feet of our anchored boat.  Truly, this had to be worth the price of admission by itself.

Despite the crappy weather, we still managed an excellent fishing trip (with help of excellent company of course) and I give this lodge two thumbs up for the fishing resource and attention to detail.  For further information on this salt-water destination, please view the Haa-Nee-Naa Website.

Dear reader, if you have any questions about our trip to
Haa-Nee-Naa, please feel free to contact me at eschmidt@direct.ca.  

Click on these thumbnails for more photos of the trip!!!