Novice Ontario angler catches record-breaking salmon in B.C.

Talk about beginner’s luck. Neophyte angler Deborah Whitman-Perry of Newmarket, Ontario, caught a record-breaking salmon off B.C.’s central coast last weekend—an 83.3-pound chinook.

She caught the monster salmon in Rivers Inlet, south of Bella Coola, on Sunday, August 19, when on a guided fishing trip with the Good Hope Cannery resort. It’s reportedly the largest chinook salmon taken for sport in the inlet in the last ten years.

Her fishing guide, Tyler Mills, says he knew it was a big fish as soon as she saw Whitman-Perry’s fishing rod buckle down hard. It took her an hour to land the fish, upon which Mills got it aboard, took a few photographs and then successfully released the fish.

On the same morning another Good Hope Cannery guest caught and released a 72-pound salmon.

“Over the past five years, Good Hope Sport Fishing has been promoting the enormous chinook salmon in the region as an exceptional trophy species,” says George Cuthbert, vice president of Good Hope Cannery. “While anglers are legally allowed to retain these fish, we take leadership in educating and celebrating the benefits of catch-and-release, a special approach to fishing and experiencing these magnificent salmon.”

Each season, chinook salmon of 70 pounds and more return to Rivers Inlet and specifically the Wannock River. They are, on average, the largest strain on the B.C. coast and some of the biggest in the Pacific.  The resort runs a catch-and-release tournament each summer. Needless to say, Whitman-Perry is now the angler to beat for 2012.