I have come to the remote central British Columbia coast near Bella Bella for the sashimi, but I’ll settle for
colourful displays of human emotion stripped bare. On day one, that comes courtesy of Grant Buday, mild-mannered novelist from the Gulf Islands, a man who, up until this moment, never caught a fish in his life. But what a way to start: not a hog, perhaps, but certainly a big ’un. The deep-bellied salmon fights Buday for the better part of a half-hour amid outbursts of jubilation from his four boatmates, convinced that the bite is finally on after a slow start.

"Is this guy a tyee?" I ask guide Cam Leamy, by which I mean the coastal native term-"the chief"-for a spring salmon thatweighs more than 30 pounds. But Leamy has no truck with frivolous guesstimations. "Fishermen lie," he notes laconically. "Scales don’t." It also seems that fishermen can get intensely envious. Ten minutes after Leamy re-baits his line, Buday has another fish on. Though a smaller coho, it’s a keeper by any standard, except Buday’s newfound one. "Let him go," he bids Leamy, while the rest of us simmer in abject jealousy.

Fellow angler Frank Pabst, the award-winning executive chef at one of Vancouver’s premier seafood restaurants, Blue Water Café, is a regular Grim Reaper to the undersea world. Except for today-he hasn’t caught a thing. And he really, really wants to. So Pabst adopts the Buddhist spirit of non-attachment. "Look at Grant. He plays it cool, he gets fish, " he says. "I want it too much."

Pabst’s newfound Zen aside, its near impossible not to catch fish in the pristine honey holes of the Inside Passage, the wild ocean where Adventure West Resorts likes to anchor its summer fish camp, the 35-metre, nine-stateroom beauty known as the Ocean Explorer 1. With its hot tub and helipad, its flash-freezer and four gourmet meals per day, the OE is a delightful form of soft adventure that begins with turbo-prop transfer from Vancouver to Bella Bella, then continues with a bone-rattling hop aboard a vintage Grumman Goose.

Once here, anglers only abandon creature comforts to board state-of-the-art fishing skiffs and motor to the hot spot du jour, where we play species roulette using barbless hooks baited with frozen herring. Besides the five handsome types of B.C. salmon, lesser beauties like rockfish and ling cod are also caught by a technique called mooching, in which guides conduct low-speed passes through the heaving, kelpy waters next to granite headlands. Or, if clients are up for some rougher open-water sport, they can switch to deep-water jigging for halibut and sole. Either way, you’re geared and garbed like a pro. All you need to bring is calculated indifference.

Eventually, I stop wanting it enough that I hook into not one but two 11-pound coho-fated to later come off my barbecue as the best salmon I will likely ever eat-and a supremely ugly arrow-toothed flounder that mercifully falls off my line as I haul it in ("Horrible eating," Leamy assures me.) Even Pabst scores a couple, though smaller. And Buday, our novice fisherman? A solid freezerful. Lesson learned. wl

Getting Your Line Wet
King Pacific Lodge With 17 luxe rooms nestled in northern B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest, this resort offers all-inclusive floating fishing lodge packages, plus kayaking, hiking and a spa.
May to October. Pacific Royal Island, B.C., 604-987-5452, kingpacific
lodge.com

Sonora Resort Expert guides lead you to the best ocean salmon fishing, and your catches of the day can be boxed and transported home to ensure freshness. Room, suite and villa accommodations plus golf, tennis, wilderness tours, a wellness centre and delicious cuisine from chef Matt Stowe.
Accommodations year-round; seasonal fishing. Sonora Island, 604-233-0460, sonoraresort.com

April Point Resort & Spa This resort, a free 10-minute ferry ride from Campbell River, has a 17-foot whaler that takes you out to fish in Discovery Passage, which has the backwaters, islands, eddies and inlet tidal currents salmon are drawn to. Use the nearby swimming pool, hot tub and tennis courts at Painter’s Lodge via the complimentary water taxi. Room, cabin, suite or fully furnished accommodations.
Quadra Island, B.C., 800-663-7090, aprilpoint.com

Langara Fishing Lodge Located in the Queen Charlotte Islands, this floating lodge accommodates 65 guests, with dock access only steps away. The lodge outfits guests with full equipment and marine gear to catch chinook and coho salmon, halibut and more. Other activities include whale watching, bird watching and Haida cultural tours.
May to September. Langara Island, 604-232-5532,
langara.com wl