Nootka Sound

Finished up my day paddle and headed to the rendezvous with George - we got to the visitor center at the Comox exit within 30 seconds of each other  - not bad.  Spent the night at an airbnb in Comox - a good east Indian meal, licenses, lures, breakfast and grocery shopping in Campbell River, then the 2 hour ride out to Nootka Sound.  We got a great campsite right on the water, so we could launch our kayaks right from camp.  The campground was totally full when we got there, and only two-thirds full when we left 8 days later.  Everyone there is fishing for salmon, but as fate would have it this is the worst salmon fishing on the entire west coast in memory.  The theory is that the salmon are there but are totally full and not hitting lures.  Very few salmon were brought in during our time there, and we gave up trying for them after 3 or 4 days.  George being the expert fisherman he is, salvaged the trip by first catching rockfish (we had a very good rockfish dinner) and them finding flounder (some very nice size flounder) ...so he took home his possession limit of 16 for his home freezer.  I enjoyed a number of great day paddles and explored much of Nootka Sound while we were there, twice making it all the way out to the open Pacific Ocean (8-9 hours RT).  The islands around Bligh (yes that Bligh) Island were particularly interesting.  We saw a humpback whale near our camp one morning too, which was definitely a highlight.  Saw Sea Lions up close eating salmon (in the water like that they are huge and a bit terrifying), bald eagles, se otters, starfish, etc.  So even though the salmon fishing was a bust it was still a grand adventure.