2009 FISHING REPORT
Mt. Redoubt continues to remind us it is there with its activity. So far, not causing any problems, just giving us a nice display of natural wonder.
May 12 and 13th
Sue, Weston and I had the entire town of Nolan, Alaska (population 2) visiting us for a few days. Jeff and Sharion drove the 800 miles to come say hello. We were able to get out on some great weather days and catch some halibut. We tried for salmon but the bite has been real slow so far. Thanks to the town of Nolan for helping us get our fishing season started.
May 18,19,20,21
I have been fishing for the last 4 days with Lou from New York. We have had some decent luck on halibut and have worked hard for salmon. Jim from Ninilchik fished with us on the 21st and we had some great luck. First, we finally boated a salmon--Lou got a 18 pound king after 3 days of trolling hard for them. The king bite has been on the very slow side--we are thinking and hoping the bigger tides that started on the 21st will begin bringing the bulk of the run in. Jim brought in a real nice 85 pound halibut along with some other nice fish. Back at it again with Lou tomorrow....
May 22 Today the weather kept us from getting out.
May 23-26 I did not have the boat out over the last few days. The Memorial Day weekend crowds were big. Lots of razor clam digging with big minus tides. Wes and I will be getting out to dig some of our own tomorrow. The salmon bite picked quite a bit from what it was with a good flurry on Sunday and Monday--a 60 pounder was taken--the big tides brought some in. The diminishing tide cycle should provide some even better action into this weekend and next week. We had a bonus occurrence on Sunday as a truck got stuck on Deep Creek bar and we watched it get covered by the tide. (The occupants got out o.k.). I will get some photos of it for you to see in a day or so. I will be fishing pretty hard over the next ten days so hopefully we will have some new salmon tales to tell....
Here is a look through our spotting scope from the house at the truck getting covered by the tide over Memorial Day weekend.
May 27, 28--Did not fish. Made a trip to Anchorage and the weather was not the best on the 28. Sounds like I did not miss much as far as the salt water king fishing went. Still a bit slow but a few fish are being taken.
May 29--I spent a day on the water with Greg, Larry and Danny from Ninilchik. We had a great day. The water was very nice and we managed 3 kings and a batch of halibut--nothing big but some nice fish. The kings were all on trolled herring. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the king fishing.
May 30, 31-- Weston and I went down to Deep Creek on both days this weekend. We tried up river a ways on Saturday with no luck for a couple hours. We tried down at the mouth of the river on Sunday and ended up with Wes getting a nice 23 pound king on bobber and eggs. There were about a dozen fish taken on the incoming tide.
June 1--I fished with Milt (Utah), Jeff (Kansas), Jim (Seattle) and Del (Portland) today. King fishing was fair and Milt got a nice king. Halibut was pretty good and we ended up with a decent batch of fish. It was a fun day. Thanks!
June 2--I fished with Jim, Del and Abbey today. We ended up with Jim getting a king and Abbey put a nice 60 pound halibut in the boat on the salmon troll. It took a few minutes to get it in but we got it. Our halibut bite was not bad. We did not finish our limit but were looking for some better fish we just did not find before the day was up. Thanks for a great day guys.
June 3--No fishing today but will be back after the kings tomorrow. Today will most likely be the best bite of the season so far since I am not out there. As I write this, I am looking out at glass calm water and a nice incoming tide.
June 4--I got out for a few hours with Greg and Larry from Ninilchik on the salmon troll. Only saw one or two other boats. No salmon for us nor did we see any caught. The return numbers on the Kenai are very poor so far and it does not look real promising for rest of first run of kings. We will still be trying over the next week or so but it has been some real tough salmon fishing.
June 5--I fished with Chris from Fairbanks and Weston today. We managed a limit on halibut with some pretty good action going on. Nothing real big but still getting a bunch of nice healthy fish. We trolled for a little while for salmon with no luck.
June 6--Did not fish today.
June 7,8-- I fished with Brian from Washington both days. Weston joined us on the 7th and Larry from Ninilchik joined us on the 8th. We trolled both days with no luck on kings both days. Conditions were less than perfect both days but the salmon fishing remains real tough. We did have some good action on halibut both days and brought back some nice fish.
June 15--I fished with my dad, Walt and Larry today. We tried for kings--again with no luck. We did get out for halibut and had some real good action and brought back a nice batch of quality fish. At least I know dad will have some halibut to take back home.
June 16,17 and 19--I fished with Mike, Matt, Brad (aka Donny), Margaret, Debbie and Heidi from California for 3 days. Weston came along on the 17 and 19 to try to keep "Donny" under control. We tried for salmon on a very limited basis with no luck. We got some pretty nice weather and the small tides combined for some real good halibut fishing. We did not bring anything bigger than 34 pounds back but we sure did end up with some nice limits. I had a great time and I know Wes did as well. You guys were great. Thanks!
Wes broke out the jig rod and showed Mike and the crew how we get them on the Shimano Lucanus jigs. We picked up a few on the slack and had some fun on the light rods. Nice to see the jigs working again this season.
June 20 to 29 We got blown off the water 4 days during this period. Seems we have been in the wind tunnel vortex for the last week and a half. I did get out a few days on some salmon tides when the wind laid down. We did not have the greatest water conditions (murky) but my dad, Walt, Larry, Sue and Weston all cam out with me in a stubborn attempt to get kings. "Lucky Larry" finally picked on up on the 27th on the half brass/half rainbow spinner. Probably the best day we had as far as conditions during this whole period. We firgured that we saw and/or heard of 2 other kings caught in our area during this time. Not many boats out trying until the day Larry picked one up. I am hoping the weather and king fishing will change for the better as we enter July.
June 30, July 1,2 I fished 3 days with Rita and Mike from Colorado. They were celebrating thier 25th wedding anniversary in Alaska. We had some pretty good halibut fishing over the 3 days and trolled for kings with not much luck. We still have some wind turning things up a bit but we were able to find some nice halibut fishing. Thanks Rita and Mike for fishing hard. I enjoyed having you in the boat.
July 4- I fished with Ramel, Joe, Joe and Wes today. Ramel got himself a nice 85 pound halibut. He had the first line in and before I could get another bait in, his rod was doubled over. Not a bad fish for his first ever halibut. We had a slower bit today on halibut but ended up with a couple other nice fish. Joe got a nice king on the silver/chartreuse back spinner. We also hit a jack king as well. It was a lot of fun. Thanks guys!
July 8,9 and 10-- I fished for 3 days with Clarance, George, Jeff and Jim for 3 days. Clarance once again impressed me with his halibut techniques. We had some real good halibut fishing over the 3 days. These guys caught a lot of fish, the biggest came in at 45 pounds . George picked up our only king over the 3 days at 46 pounds. The fish hit the pearl yellow tip with pink skirt. Not much happening still with the king fishing. It was great to fish with Clarance and George again this year. I hope we can do it again next year. Thanks!
July 11 and 12-- I fished with Steve from Colorado over the last two days. Larry and Greg from Ninilchik joined us on the 12. No kings after a couple days of trolling hard. The boys put the hurt on some nice halibut in one of my inside spots. Patience payed off pretty good. Looks like 2010 should be a good year for Steve and kings. Thanks guys.
July 13,14 and 15--I fished with Gene, Gary, Mark and Nick for 3 days. Weston tagged along and he and nick did a pretty good job on showing us "older" guys how to fish. We had some good halibut fishing--mostly average fish with a few that were in the 40 pound range. Like we have been, we trolled hard for kings and Mark and Gene each picked up a fish over the 3 days. King fishing has remained slow and we still have not had the best water conditions (murky) this July. Another fun adventure with you guys this year. Hope we do it again next year--Thanks!
July 16,17 and 18 --I fished for a few days with my friend Rod his wife Cindy and their son Stan. They made it up from Oregon and we hit the water hard. We had some good halibut fishing--never got Stan that 100 pounder but we definitely got some. Kings are still frustrating. We did not have the cleanest water and we did not hit any kings over the 3 days and did not see more than 3-4 fish hooked. I guess we have to hope they are still coming....
August 3--I fished with Joe, Matt and Gus today. It was a pretty good bite on halibut with Gus getting the biggest at about 45 pounds. We trolled a couple hours looking for one of the elusive kings with no luck. Lots of fun guys, thanks!
Between August 4 and 8 Wes and I made a couple trips to Deep Creek looking for silvers. I hooked a silver and lost it and Wes caught a few pinks. The water is still a bit low compared to where it was last year at this time and we hit them real good. We'll hit it again after we get a bit of rain.
August 8,9 and 10th--I fished with Bob and his son Tom from Washington for the 3 days. We had no trouble getting halibut--all average fish with Bob bringing in the biggest at 43 pounds on our last day. We trolled for silvers with no luck. Seems like the silvers are starting out poor like the kings ended up. I guess we'll hope they show up...I had a great time fishing with you guys. Thanks and thanks for letting Weston tag along. I know he enjoyed the time with "big brother " Tom.
August 12-16--We had Ty and Rachel from Washington with us for a week. Larry from Ninilchik and Travis and Steve from California joined us on the water throughout the week and Wes deck handed a couple of days as well. We had the best and worst weather of the year, some pretty good halibut fishing--we ended up getting a pretty consistent limit on nice fat fish.
Rachel, who is 6 months pregnant put a real hurt on the halibut. Like I told Weston, do not mess with an "irritable pregnant woman". Never been more impressed with a fisherman(person) in my life. Rachel had some real good results fishing the Shimano Lucanus jigs on the lighter rod. We trolled pretty hard for silvers and only managed 2 fish over the days. The silver bite was real slow. Steve and Travis did get a few nice silvers on Deep Creek over the few days they were in the area but overall not a stellar silver season so far.
I had a great week fishing with you guys. It is great to fish with good people. Best of luck with your new baby girl. I will keep in touch to see how things go with "Hali" (I am going to keep saying that name until you decide that is the one to go with). Thanks so much for a great week.
I will be tearing down the boat and putting away the rods for the season this week. I want to thank all my great guests for making the 2009 season a blast. Although the kings and silvers did not treat us like usual, we did have a pretty nice season for halibut. I appreciate all of you for putting up with me during some of the worst king fishing I have ever seen here. Thanks for having patience and sticking it out with me. I always say that persistence pays off and we needed that persistence this year to get the kings we did get. Here's to a great 2009 season and to the hope of a greater 2010. Sue, Weston and I want to Thank all our guests for giving us the opportunity to show and share with you, our little piece of paradise.
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