Don’t assume fishing for King Salmon demands braving the rough seas. British Columbia’s Inside Passage is a breathtaking checkerboard of remote islands and protected waterways. At Sund’s Lodge, a fishing getaway is about a lot more than just fishing.

Located beneath the northern tip of Vancouver Island and tucked between two archipelago reserves, rests Sund’s Lodge. This luxury fishing destination is a getaway both the passionate angler and refined vacationer will love.

Owned and operated by husband-wife duo, Bruce and Lisa Barlean, the lodge is only accessible by boat or plane. Opened in 1984, the 38-acre spread on Malcolm Island is just across the water from Cormorant Island.

Between picking mattresses for their newly refurbished cabins and deciding between salmon or halibut for dinner, Bruce and Lisa shared some of their favorite bits about the lodge with me:

MC: Bruce, fishing’s not something new to you, right? You’ve been fishing for quite some time?

Bruce: Yes. My dad was a commercial fisherman. He founded Barlean’s Fishery in 1972. I first went out on the water for a few days when I was seven. But I started fishing full time when I was eight. We’d go out on the boats starting around the 4^th of July. Then once school would start in September, I’d just go out on the weekends.

KA: What drew you two to Sund’s Lodge?

Bruce: I always dreamed of having a house on the water. Lisa always dreamed of having a home in the mountains. Sund’s Lodge gave us both the home we always dreamed of. We love living on a dead-end road with only four neighbors. You can sit here and watch the whales and seals go by. And of course, I have a passion for fishing.

Lisa: I have to second Bruce. The scenery here is just incredible. When we bring friends and family up, they have trouble wrapping their heads around what the experience is going to be like until they get here. Because it’s so much more than just fishing. Being here is breathtaking. We regularly hear visitors say this is one of the most incredible, surreal experiences they’ve ever had.

MC: Speaking of scenery Lisa, it seems you’ve really taken advantage of the setting with your photography.

Lisa: You could say photography is my very serious hobby. It’s extended into the lodge as we’ve needed images for building the website and on social media. Whenever I’m walking around the lodge or out fishing, I just can’t put my camera down. It’s that beautiful.

MC: Can you share a little about what fishing at Sund’s is like?

Bruce: We’re an all-inclusive lodge. The food. The alcohol. The guides. The boats. That’s just part of the deal. We even provide raincoats and boots. We just make it easy.

We have ACB boats (Aluminum Chamber Boats), which makes being out on the water significantly more enjoyable. Not only are the boats incredibly safe, they cut through the water really well, so it’s a much calmer ride. Plus, each boat has a cabin with a bathroom, so you can get out of the elements and be comfortable.

Lisa: I like to call it ‘princess fishing.’ You can do all the work if you want. Or you can stand on the boat, enjoy the scenery and wildlife, and let the guide do all the work. The guide gets the fish on the hook. Then they hand you the rod and you reel it in so that you get all the glory.

Bruce: Yeah. That’s one of the things guys often say to me. They say, “I could bring my wife to this lodge.”

The food here is top notch. The accommodations are good. There are a lot of people who think a fishing lodge is just where a bunch of guys go drink and fish. Here, it’s something the wives like too.

MC: So if it’s ‘princess fishing’, what’s staying at the lodge like.

Lisa: The lodge was built in the early 1900s by Finish settlers. We have 38-acres, which is also home to a herd of alpacas and wild deer. So, there’s always plenty of wildlife around.

We can accommodate up to 18 guests at a time. Our 12 guest rooms are being updated this year with new mattresses, fresh linens, and new furniture. We also focus on bringing in highly skilled chefs who serve superb 5-course dinners, tasty breakfasts, and really great lunch

Book Your Trip to Sund’s Lodge

The Pacific Rim of Vancouver Island is a place like none other. It’s close enough to reach in a day and yet somehow it feels removed from the “real world.” Once you slip into this little slice of coastal paradise, it can be easy to forget just how close to home you really are.

The coastal towns of Tofino and Ucluelet are major tourism hubs in the summer months and visitors come from all over the world to experience fishing, wildlife watching, kayaking, hiking and surfing on the West coast. While both towns are without a doubt charming and picturesque, a truly authentic West coast experience requires venturing a little further beyond the well-worn tourist track.

My home away from home each summer is , nestled deep in Barkley Sound about an hour outside of Ucluelet, and it provides exactly the kind of authentic West coast adventure I’m talking about. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the resort offers one of the most unique all-inclusive experiences on Vancouver Island and as remote as it is Eagle Nook is still less than half a day’s travel from Seattle; direct flights with �鶹��Ƶ mean it’s easier to get to than you might imagine.

Adventure Abounds at Eagle Nook Resort’s Barkley Sound

Adventure is abound in Barkley Sound. Between Humpbacks that can often be seen breaching along the coastline, the excitement of landing a trophy Chinook salmon and breathtaking views from every angle, it’s pretty hard to get bored.

I was lucky enough to guide our Eco-Adventure Tours last summer, 4-hour cruises through Barkley Sound and the Broken Group Islands searching for Humpback and Gray whales, sea lions, seals, porpoises and even the occasional black bear foraging for a snack at low tide. I can honestly say that before guiding these tours I had never seen so many types of wildlife, so close and so frequently.

Although growing up on the West coast means I’ve spent my fair share in, on and around boats and the ocean, being brand new to guiding was still slightly daunting; for starters I had no idea where to find whales. Thankfully in Barkley Sound they aren’t hard to come by.

In fact, I’d say anytime you head out on the water you’re far more likely to see at least one whale (but probably several) than to not see any at all. We’re fortunate to have summertime populations of both Humpback and Gray whales off the West coast of Vancouver Island, as well as transient Orcas that frequent the area (although they can be a little less predictable).

I was lucky to have no troubles finding whales on any of my tours last summer, and from Humpbacks lunge feeding right next to the boat to Harbour Porpoises playing in our wake, the shows were pretty spectacular.

Eco-Adventure Tours – Up-Close and Personal with Nature

My favourite day on the water was the very last tour of the season. I had a Dutch couple on the boat, Trudi and Cor, who had never seen whales in the wild before – I was especially keen to make sure they had a great trip.

Our tours are generally 3 to 4 hours long depending on the weather and how fast we can find wildlife. On this particular day it was cooler than normal. Fall was already heading our way, and I was slightly worried the whales may have already vacated my go-to spots.

September is when Humpbacks and Grays start their annual migrations South. Although I’d heard there was a lone Gray whale just outside of Ucluelet Harbour I opted to head for Bamfield instead, hoping the two Humpbacks that had been hanging around in Trevor Channel were still there.

After over an hour on the water without so much as a distant spout I began to feel doubtful. Maybe Ucluelet would have been the better choice. At this point we were running out of time to head in that direction. I put the boat in neutral and was about to ask Trudi and Cor if they wanted to stay where we were and hope for the best or make the run to the other side of the Sound.

Then all of a sudden a Humpback spouting off our starboard side. My question was answered before I could ask it.

The whale wasn’t far off at all, maybe 50 meters away, slightly behind us and moving steadily forward every time it surfaced. After a minute or two we realized it wasn’t alone. There was a second spout just a little further back.

The whales didn’t seem to be feeding and I figured they were probably preparing for their Southbound trip. Trudi and Cor seemed happy to snap photos of their signature “humped” backs as they slowly cruised past us but I kept hoping they’d do something a little more exciting.

After a couple minutes their tails curved out of the water one after the other, and they propelled themselves back into the depths. Humpbacks can stay down for a long time when they dive and it can be nearly impossible to know where they’ll resurface. I wondered if these two had decided to hightail it towards Hawaii.

Then out of nowhere, both whales burst out of the water in almost perfect unison, fully breaching the surface before crashing back down with explosive force.

In all my tours, I’d only ever seen Humpbacks lunge feeding (still a pretty neat thing to watch). Witnessing two of them breach less than a hundred meters from the boat left me just as excited as Trudi and Cor. It was nothing short of unbelievable.

The whales surfaced once more, one of them rolled onto his side and slapped a pectoral fin on the water and then they were gone. The show may have been short but it had certainly been spectacular, and the three of us were left speechless and smiling from ear to ear.

Once again, the West coast and its inhabitants hadn’t disappointed; I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the season. Trudi and Cor went home with a great story to share with their family back in Holland. I can only imagine and count down the days to see what the 2017 season has in store.

Plan Your Trip!

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Nadia Linning

A travel-loving, hiking, and fishing gal, Nadia Linning is originally from Surrey, British Columbia. But thanks to her dad’s Port Alberni roots, she spend much of her childhood on Vancouver Island, especially the Pacific Rim. And she fell in love with the area. Which is great for her job as Guest Services Coordinator and Eco-Adventure Tours Guide at Eagle Nook.

They say, “Home is where the heart is.” I may only have one heart, but it has two homes.

Twenty-five years ago, a phone rang somewhere in the offices of �鶹��Ƶ. The then marketing director picked up the phone and answered my query, “Where can I go to catch a lot of fish?”

He suggested Blackfish Lodge. It was a new lodge and he didn’t know much about it personally. But, the pilots were reporting lots of salmon had been coming back from this remote BC destination. I booked my trip.

Within moments of our plane easing into the dock, I was stuck by the lodge’s intimate beauty. Floating among lush, rugged landscape, it offers access to some of the best saltwater and freshwater fishing in the world. That trip, the fish were indeed biting.

Over the years there have been countless salmon hooked and, let’s be honest, some lost. There have been great meals and wonderful people met. There have been those who have learned to fly-fish and those who have perfected their techniques, jaw-dropping vistas and never-ending shows of coastal animal life. And somewhere in there, I became a minority owner.

Fast forward to 2015, our kids are married and might start having kids of their own. We’ve been to graduations and funerals, gone through break-ups and job changes. We’ve lived. Through it all, Blackfish Lodge has always been intertwined with our family’s life.

Cousins, nieces, nephews, sisters, parents, and friends have all fallen under the lodge’s spell. Rarely does a family get-together occur without talk of the lodge. Rarely do our daughters (now in the latter part of their 20’s) and their husbands miss a chance to pester us about “When are we going up to the lodge again?” Even though only one out of the three girls actually fishes, the trips to the lodge when they were younger established a permanent spot in their hearts for this wonderful and unique place.

Maybe it’s the startling exhalation of an unseen orca whale surfacing a few yards away on a foggy morning, or feeding the eagles. Perhaps it’s the otters that live under the lodge or the bears prowling the shoreline, turning rocks over in search of a snack. It might be the talking herring at “the hot spot,” or the adrenaline rush when, after hours of trance-like trolling, the fishing rod suddenly bucks like something possessed and chaos ensues.

It could be the stunning flight from Seattle up the Inside Passage. One day we were near the colorfully-named “Mortgage Lifter Bay” and my wife had hooked the first fish of her entire life. Two and a half hours later, just as we got it near the surface, the hooks pulled out of what was well over a 150 pound halibut. That was truly something else.

But to say it’s any one of those things would diminish it. It’s all of those things that make this our second home.

Author: Rick Groman

A Seattle native, Rick Groman’s been fishing at Blackfish Lodge for more than 25 years. He and his lovely wife, Bronwyn, remain captivated by its remote beauty and intimacy. So too, do their daughters Rachel, Kinsey and Emily.

The entire family regularly fishes together and when they do, Rick can’t be without potato chips. They’re his go-to fishing snack.