The lodge boats are moored for the afternoon ready for the next day of salmon fishing .
Passengers aboard Kenmore Air arrive daily with hopes of catching salmon like this 20-pounder . terry sheely photo folks here talking about it . In September guiding legend Tommy Thompson put a 72-pounder in the boat at Denham Bay . We ’ ll go there later in the week .
The port rod dips and quivers . Don tenses . I set down my steaming blend of pretentious caffeine and move to the rod . It quivers again … . The radio crackles with news of several Chinook , one a 20 pounder , caught at Spring Creek , and we ’ re off in that direction . The shoreline plunges , following the mountainside straight to the bottom of Bute . Only 50 feet off the bank and it ’ s 352 feet deep . The electronics mark pinnacles reaching up from the Bocce ’ Pit bottom to within 280 feet of the Grady ’ s hull . A couple of herring balls appear on the screen and disappear without donating a strike . Don points to a patch of conifer terry sheely photo trees on a mountain-side of conifer trees and says Michelle Pfeiffer , actress , has a home up there . A floatplane is moored in front . I nod toward the radio and suggest inviting her on board for a mug of Arco Etrusco blend . Instead , Don pushes the throttle and we leave Miss Pfeiffer to relocate to Hal Point where Frederick Arm , Nodales and Sonora channels meet in an intersection of colliding currents and confused chinook .
The collision of currents , Don says , “ is what makes this such a special spot .” I can think of a few dozen other reasons . terry sheely photo
50 explore : NW | The Official Magazine of kenmore air | Spring 2016