Last week, Allan and I finished eating the last of our Halibut fillets from last year’s fishing trip in Tofino. It reminded me I hadn’t put up any pictures of our fun fishing trip.

Warning: If you don’t like seeing where your food comes from, then this probably isn’t the most appealing post for you to read.

Last summer, a group of us got together for a fishing charter with Jay’s Clayoquot Ventures in Tofino.

Halibut is one of my all-time favourite foods, and Allan and I eat it just about every time we go camping in Tofino, so it seemed appropriate that we learned how to catch what we eat out there… and have a supply of our own, since Halibut is quite expensive to buy.

I put “fishing” in quotes because it really isn’t fishing when you go with a charter. Our guide was absolutely awesome, but I’ll be honest with you… he did pretty much all the work for us. All we had to do was reel in the fish. So it’s pretty much lazy man’s “fishing”. That being said, it was a super fun day to spend with friends out in the sun and the ocean, and try it out!

Allan’s sister Jessica came out to Tofino with us, all the way from Alberta! I think she had a blast. The boat was really nice, and fast! It still took us about an hour to get out of the marina in Tofino into the deep ocean. It was choppy and there were definitely one or two people feeling quite sick *cough* Allan *cough*.

Our guide was amazing. He would see a rod twitch and then got the rod started so the fish couldn’t get away. Here’s a picture of Trevor reeling in a fish.

A huge Halibut! I think Trev’s was the biggest (and first) catch of the day.

Allan reels one in…

Good catch!

Jess catches some too.

We caught our limit that day! 2 Halibut each for a total of 8 Halibut. Here I am looking very fish-like.

Our guide also cleaned and filleted all the fish in front of us on the dock. We had two whole coolers full of fish. Allan was a happy Birthday boy.

It was definitely a fish feast when we got back to camp that night!

I’d highly recommend it if you love to eat fish and are curious about fishing. Allan and I got our fish vacuum-packed at Trilogy Fish Store in Tofino, and we’ve basically been eating fish for the entire year! Delicious, Pacific Halibut… mmmmm!

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Plans for the weekend:

Time Traveler’s Wife tonight with Amy and Alissa… Golf Saturday morning with Allan, and then off to the Horse Races on Sunday with a big group of people with box seats, and getting ridiculously overdressed for the occasion with big hats and fancy dresses! Woohoo!

What are your plans for the weekend?

My life has been a whirlwind lately. So much to do and so little time. But it’s always like that, isn’t it?

A long weekend in Tofino was just what I needed. Fresh salty ocean air, surfing till my body hurts, sleeping in a tent close to the ground, nature walks, sleeping in, and cooking over the camp stove.

I haven’t been that relaxed in a long time. Probably not since the last time I was in Tofino

We took the ferry early Saturday morning (don’t even get me started about the ferries) and set up our campsite in the afternoon.

We headed immediately to Long Beach for a perfect glassy sunset surf session. It was the best session of the weekend. Quiet, deserted… the only two people in the water. Pink sky, looooooooong long longboard rides on the waist-shoulder waves, and a family of 3 HUGE sea lions that came out to say hi. We rode waves for about 2 and a half hours until we couldn’t see anymore, and till we were frozen.

Our campsite setup isn’t the bare minimal that it could be, but it’s definitely not the big hullabaloo that I’ve seen is possible.

We’ve got a TARN 3 MEC tent, surfboards on the car, a camping stove, head lamps, a cooler, and lots of food. We sleep on foam mats and thin MEC mats with our sleeping bags. I actually like being close to the ground and being so flat. Feels great on the back. Our biggest luxury is definitely the heavy cast iron grill we put on the camp stove. Despite the weight, it’s totally worth bringing it… we wouldn’t be able to hike with it but I looooove cooking on it when we can bring the car!

Grass along the path to Wickaninnish Beach.

We lay in the tent most of the day Sunday and listened to the rain, the wind, and the ocean for hours. So relaxing.

At night we headed to Long Beach again for another sunset surf session. Not as glassy, and there were way more people in the water (maybe about 20?)… but it was still awesome. I caught my best wave of the weekend… a shoulder high steep wave that I rode left for ages… it just kept reforming. Loved it. We surfed again till we were freezing and it was dark…

Despite our 5 mil suits, booties and gloves… the frigid waters of the Pacific always manage to wear us down at the end of a surf session. It’s not like Costa Rica where I could surf all day in the warm water. But Tofino and the Pacific will always have their charms…

I love how green and alive everything seems to grow around Tofino…

We definitely like our cooking and camping. I love to use lots of garlic and shallots to keep the immune system going out in the cold… here we are prepping our breakfast.

A true breakfast for surfers! Lots of bacon and protein… tons of carbs with the crispy fried Yukon Gold potatoes… topped with garlic, shallots and peppers.

For dinner we had Wild Pacific Halibut (from last year’s fishing trip in Tofino), panko breaded and grilled over the cast iron, topped with peppers and bacon… with pesto pasta.

Loved the water droplets on the pine surrounding these yellow flowers.

On the way out of Tofino we stopped by the Wick to see if anything was happening at that beach… didn’t look too bad for a low tide session, and there were about 20 people in the water. Wish we could have stayed and surfed but it was time to make it back to the ferries.

Ah the end of a long weekend… always so sad. It was cold and rainy heading back. Whenever we come back from Tofino I wish that Tofino was home. I could see myself living there for the rest of my days.

Well, back to work.