Fox Island, Resurrection Bay AK May 25

One post out of order.  This trip was prior to my run down to Whiskey Gulch.

Michele and I decide to take a water taxi out to Fox Island Spit.  We get to Miller's landing only to run into a dreary super foggy day.  We get off to a late start with one boat having engine problems but we are delayed less than an hour. 

As we get dropped off, dall porpoises are everywhere.  But more importantly, it seemed like every cove we passed had jumping salmon in it.  Not crazy numbers but ones and two's every few minutes almost in every cove.  The sockeye are coming!!! 

I stuck to bottom fishing.  Maybe a half dozen quillback rockfish that I kept one.  One small dusky rockfish and one small yelloweye.   

So the fishing continues to be slow for me, but I love the fact that I am getting out!  There was a day not too many years ago that my Memorial Day would have signaled the start of my open water fishing.  Though I am not doing as much catching versus fishing, this has been a great way to extend the season via my Kayak. 

Having Michele around is like having your own personal photographer.  So once again the highlight of the trip is not the fish, but the pictures Michele was able to capture!  Even then, she missed a few great opportunities.  Sort of like fishing.  You can put yourself in the right spot with the right equipment but it still takes a LOT of luck and perseverance to get that one great shot!  One example was she had sealions within 10 yards of her but they insisted on following her so she could never get the shot behind her.  lol.

Whiskey Gulch Halibut...singular. But a great sunrise!

After sleeping most of the day on Sunday after our Fox Island trip, I was wide awake at 10pm so no choice but to make the run down to Whiskey Gulch after hearing the reports here and from friends. On the water at 4am.

The Inlet was glass calm. Well the fishing was slow. One halibut, one irish lord, and one flounder. Did see a humpback whale, and another whale that almost look like an Orca but I only saw the large dorsal fin...headed right at me. Never did see it again.

I will say I caught the most beautiful sunrise EVER this morning. The photos in the video are untouched taken 5 to 10 minutes apart with my iphone no less! It was crazy! It looked EXACTLY like it did in the picture. Well, at least the small halibut probably paid for the gas if I were to buy the fish retail here in town. Gotta do more catching and less fishing! The sequence below is in order.

Inaugural Whiskey Gulch Yak Classic!

First of all, thanks to everyone who came! I know the other thread was long and full of planning, so I thought I'd separate out the final report. I will keep adding pictures as I upload them. I hope others have pictures, vids or stories to share!

 A HUGE thank you to Ashore Water Taxi in Homer ( http://www.homerwatertaxi.com/) and Sweeney's Clothing (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweeneys-Clothing/448069055236528) in Soldotna for being one of our sponsors for this small get together.  It will grow quickly!!!

Day 1 was a blowout. 

Still, we are sitting on the beach and Kenai_guy and rimfirematt can't stand it anymore and they launch in super difficult conditions. Rimfire makes it look easy. Kenai_guy gets unlucky when a multiple set of waves hammers him. Still he hammers through!

Later that evening the conditions almost look better. So I'm going to give it a go. I get to the waters edge and it doesn't look so smooth.

But I'm committed! Probably not the smartest idea. The pics above look super bad but there was a 30 second lull in the sets every now and then. Two different attempts.

Hit a few decent crashing waves, miss a stroke or two and I'm toast. Just EPIC FAIL especially with fiancée holding a telephoto lens and the rest of the group staring.

I'm done after two tries. Only thing I lost was my harpoon stick. No big deal since I've NEVER used it since every halibut I've caught till now fits in my net...uh, no. Big deal.

So day one ends with Kenai_guys single Irish lord worth ZERO AOTY points, but the only fish caught leading the tourney.

Day 2 the weather is much improved. Everyone gets out. But the winds start gusting and it's a washing machine! The fishing is slow. Then I hear CopperRiverValley83 over the radio that she got one! Sweet!

I also talk to Xanfly39 and he says he has a 15 pound halibut on board as well!

I then hook a decent halibut. In fact the largest ever for me off the kayak, maybe 50 pounds. My leader is long, my sinker comes up, my nets in the water, its not fighting super hard. I lead whatever is under my yak to the net. I catch a glimpse and know its not going to fit. It jams about two thirds of the way in, turns around. My clip catches the net and its gone. Should have had the harpoon but I guess it would have had happened anyways.

With just a couple of hours left, I'm the last on the water so I decide to head in while trolling. Quarter mile from the take out my rod doubles over and its fish on. But it comes right to the yak without a fight. I see it's a king and I'm already fighting it with the sinker out of the water in the first 30 seconds. Almost netted it but in & out. But after a great battle I land it.

So the final results were:

First place : Rudy aka Kardinal_84 with a 32.5 inch king worth 165.5 AOTY points. Prize was the trophy. Ironically, I went to my parents house to clean and photo the fish but the filleted it before I photographed it. Argh. Hopefully I'll catch a bigger one.

Second place: Curtis aka xanfly39. 34.5 inch halibut worth 145.6 AOTY points. Prize was a halibut rod and reel combo courtesy of Kenai_Guy

Third place : Sarah AKA CopperRiverValley83. A 32.5 inch halibut worth 138.1 AOTY points. Prize was an Avet sx reel.

Kenai_guy takes day 1 honors and received a carhartt backpack and other goodies courtesy of Sweeney's clothing in Soldotna.

Rimfirematt received a lure kit and t-shirt courtesy of Sweeney's Clothing for his style points for a tough launch but also for his nice huli day one.

I have other certificates for those who participated. When I finalize, I will list here.

Thanks to all who participated!!!

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