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Prince Rupert

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: Lakelse Lake

Prudhomme Lake

Prudhomme Lake seems like it was made for people on road trips.  It's 20 minutes east of Prince Rupert and tiny - 24 camp sites.  It's on a beautiful little lake but quite primitive - hand pumped water, no sani-station, no trails and beach access is quite tricky.  We met the camp attendant (employed by BC Parks) and apparently this is the wettest campsite in BC.  He is actually from Smithers and this was his summer job.  Like other BC Parks, there would normally be a lot of international tourists visiting and a lot of locals using this camp site as a summer camp.  This year, it was almost exclusively locals.  The job was pretty reasonable, but he was expected to take camp fees, keep the place tidy and enforce quite hours.  He did a superb job.

Parked At Prudhomme Lake

Across Prudhomme Lake

Bleached Log Over Lake PrudhommeCommon Carpet Moth
 

We had a few days planned for Prince Rupert.  Our first day was a fishing trip!  Our kids have talked about fishing lots before, but they haven't had much luck doing it.  We got a sports fishing charter for the day and met at the dock at 6am.  A five am start was available, but we didn't have a huge fridge so if we missed a few fish, we were okay with that.

We met up at the dock, reviewed our fishing licenses and safety procedures and then got underway.

Freighters At The Docks
Open Ocean Tug Boats

As we came out of prince Rupert we found it has many of the same ingredients as Vancouver or Seattle - docks and cranes for container ships, pilot vessels to help the freighters come in and a massive grain terminal.  Most of these products will leave by rail and they have thousands of km left to go before they hit markets.  The city quickly fell away as we went out to the outer islands for fishing.

I am the first to admit, fishing isn't easy.  We were using down riggers to get the hooks down and the hooks were setup for the intended fish - flasher and a plug.  We joined a slow cycle of other sporties trolling around a steep bank into the ocean.  We waited for the nibbles, but sometimes it was the line cutting a jellyfish and the whole thing had to come up so we could clean up and re-set.  I know how to do none of this.

Claira Driving The BoatWatching For Bites

Sure enough, we get a hit and it's time to reel it in. 

Nara Reeling In Fish
The fish pull hard enough that the kids can't hold them, but they can help reel in the fish.  We lost roughly half of the fish we pulled in and one of the fish we caught was too small to keep.  We caught (and kept) 3 spring and 1 Chinook.  Our 4 licenses would let us keep 16 fish, up to 8 of them Chinook but we had no place to keep that much fish.


The kids were interested in what the fish ate and how they were cleaned.  New to me - our guide cut their gills to help them bleed out quickly.  His boat was clearly setup for salmon fishing - the fish disappeared into fish holds and when they were cleaned, much of the waste was bound for crab traps.

Claira With FishFour Fish For The Freezer


After we fished our capacity, we moved to deeper water to try and catch a halibut.  Different gear, different hook and much deeper water, we had a fish on the line in minutes and it was time to haul it up 100 feet of water to the surface.  We took one halibut (85cm) because that was all we could fit in the RV.

After a bit of clean up, we decided to do a bit of sight seeing.

Triple Islands Lighthouse Harbour Seals Lined Up For Quick Exit

Lucy Islands LighthousePigeon Guillemot

 
Having just caught fish, we had fish heads without much purpose.  (The rest of the fish were used for crab traps).  The eagles know the sport fishermen have fish heads so they are attentive to things thrown overboard.
 
Eagle On ApproachEagle Nearly At WaterEagle Grabbed Eggs

Claira Measuring Male Crab
The guide had a few traps out from the night before and he kindly gave us two crabs to go with the rest of our haul. 


Crab For Dinner

 
We had another day in Prince Rupert so w decided to do a bit of site seeing.  We visited the museum (nice collection), watched the freighters and tried to find a place that solid ice cream (the magazine store was just setting up their ice cream counter and had a handful of flavors available. 
 
Freighters Outside Prince Rupert
 
Kids In Totem ParkPole With View Of Harbour


We drove out to see the Federally Cannery in Port Edward, but they weren't opening this year.

Pilings Slowing Deteriorating


The weather was getting wet and the prediction said wet for more days after that so we headed West.

Woman At Bottom Of Pole

Next
: 10 Mile Lake


Claira Driving The Boat
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Pilings Slowing Deteriorating
Altitude: 11m (36 feet)
Location: Go To...
Claira With Fish
Lucy Islands Lighthouse
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: lighthouse
Four Fish For The Freezer
Altitude: 11m (36 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: fish, salmon
Eagle Grabbed Eggs
Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald Eagle)
Altitude: 6m (19 feet)
Location: Go To...
Triple Islands Lighthouse
Altitude: 4m (13 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: lighthouse
Freighters Outside Prince Rupert
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: freighter
Woman At Bottom Of Pole
Altitude: 54m (177 feet)
Location: Go To...
Harbour Seals Lined Up For Quick Exit
Altitude: 5m (16 feet)
Location: Go To...
Crab For Dinner
Pole With View Of Harbour
Altitude: 62m (203 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: totem pole
Eagle On Approach
Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald Eagle)
Altitude: 4m (13 feet)
Location: Go To...
Watching For Bites
Altitude: 6m (19 feet)
Location: Go To...
Pigeon Guillemot
Species: Cepphus columba (Pigeon guillemot)
Altitude: 7m (22 feet)
Location: Go To...
Freighters At The Docks
Altitude: 4m (13 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: crane, dock, freighter
Nara Reeling In Fish
Across Prudhomme Lake
Altitude: 36m (118 feet)
Location: Go To...
Claira Measuring Male Crab
Altitude: 1m (3 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: crab
Bleached Log Over Lake Prudhomme
Altitude: 36m (118 feet)
Location: Go To...
Parked At Prudhomme Lake
Altitude: 34m (111 feet)
Location: Go To...
Kids In Totem Park
Altitude: 83m (272 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: totem pole
Common Carpet Moth
Species: Epirrhoe alternata (White-banded Toothed Carpet Moth, common carpet)
Altitude: 34m (111 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: insect, moth
Eagle Nearly At Water
Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Bald Eagle)
Altitude: 6m (19 feet)
Location: Go To...
Open Ocean Tug Boats
Altitude: 10m (32 feet)
Location: Go To...
Tags: dock, ship
Tags: freighter(2), dock(2), totem pole(2), lighthouse(2), crab(1), moth(1)
People: Claira(1), Helen(1), John(1), Nara(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > John's Overnight Page > Prince Rupert Road Trip > Prince Rupert
From: John Harvey Photo > John's Overnight Page > Prince Rupert

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Last Modified Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 21:05:03 Edit
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