Make Mine a Whole Fish Filet

October 26

There are days when you are on a trip that just top it all……everything falls into place, and you realize this is why you are here.  Today was one of those days.
We had a scheduled fishing excursion with the Tofino Marina & Resort folks, just on the edge of town.  Signed in, signed our lives away, met our captain, John, and very shortly were in the boat and heading out to sea.  John stopped to set a crab trap on the way, and realizing we were on the Cook Your Catch pkg., said that the crabs would make a nice appetizer.  The deal is, whatever you catch during the day, the chef at the resort will cook for you that night in the restaurant……..very nice place called 1909 (the year the first post office opened in Tofino).  

We cruised past the islands into open water with John searching for his favourite spot on the gps, sonar, radar, whatever it was, but it wasn’t long before we shut down the motor and had a rod in our hands.  Imagine this, Jutta has never fished before……ever…….and here we were…….I couldn’t wait for it to happen, and it didn’t take long. I heard an oooh, oooh, from the other side of the boat, and there was Jutta reeling in her very first fish……..ling cod, and a beauty at that.  Before she had her’s in the boat, I had one on as well, so within less than 15 minutes of actual fishing, we had half our daily ling cod limit in the hold.  You can’t imagine the smile…….the picture doesn’t even tell half the story.

 
We kept getting good hits, and lost a couple boat side at the last second, but we landed another ling cod, and then I caught a cabazon???…….yep I had never heard of it either, but good struggle to get it to the top, and very interesting fish.  One more ling cod, and then another cabazon, so it was time to change gears and try for rock fish as we were at the limit on the other two.  We had hoped for some halibut, but apparently too late in the season for these waters.  Rock fish lures are on, changed locations, and the fishin’ magician’s are back at work.  We were allowed 3 each, and filled our quota within the next hour, but also caught a few more ling cod that were released.  We caught this orange thing…….wish I could remember the name……that John said we could feed to a bald eagle on the way home……..ok…….really.

Cruising back towards harbour we were really just looking for eagles…….none to be found.  John said he had a good spot so we trusted him, and when he said if you just wave the fish around, the eagles will see you, and they will come……….holy shit, he waves the fish back and forth over his head, and here comes baldy from across the bay.  We had our cameras ready, but it all happened so fast……..John tossed the fish in the air as baldy approached, but it was like missing that fly ball……close but no cigar.  However the orange thing hit the water, and was quickly scooped up by baldy in his talons, and pumping his wings to gain altitude he was soon joined by his partner who was obviously batting cleanup, and the two flew off to have a nice lunch in the trees somewhere. What a treat…….wish I had the big camera for that one.

Back at the dock, John started cleaning the fish, and we selected the cabazon for our dinner that night…….into a separate bag.  The rest was separated by species and will be filleted frozen, and shipped to our door after we get home.  I would send it earlier but I don’t trust Tony………he’s picking up the mail, so why not some dinner at the same time.  As you can imagine, it is a feeding frenzy whenever someone steps up to the cleaning table on the dock………shore birds everywhere looking for a bite, but interesting to note that baldy reappeared for dessert……John tossed him some guts, caught in the air, and he was off.

A quick shopping stop at Co-op was followed by take-out lunch at “Shed”…… Tsunami Tuna Salad….delish.  Back home to Plan B……..I’m having a nap before dinner.
With great anticipation we arrived at 1909, and had a great waiter who explained what the chef was planning for our meal, but the chef actually came out when the cabazon was presented at the table and gave us the whole run-through himself…….nice touch. Fantastic meal…….paired it with a 2015 Painted Rock Syrah which turned out to be perfect, and finished the deal with a fire roasted smores cookie.  Chatted with the chef afterwards on numerous topics……really great young guy who loves what he is doing.  He did confirm that this has been a very busy season in Tofino, particularly this late season where they normally see a huge drop-off in business, but presently remain almost fully booked.

We are out of here in a few days, heading to Victoria, and probably not a moment too soon……..the skies are scheduled to open up tonight, and we have rain in the forecast until at least Thursday.  Our plans don’t change…….we will be out there regardless, and will let you know what trouble we can get into as it happens.  Cheers, and hope your day was as good as ours.