Ship Creek Kings July 5

So I came back early to avoid the madhouse drive.  Also I had to get back to watch the Women's World Cup Soccer.  USA vs Japan!  Go...uh...GO...uh..Soccer?  I usually like to root for the underdogs.  In this case it USA is ranked higher but Japan is the defending champion. Hmmm...  Well I can't lose so I'll just watch and hope there are some great plays and I don't curse the officiating.  But I digress.  All that doesn't mean I can't go fish!

Hit the water around 11am.  Tide was already falling.  Use roe under a bobber and managed two fish.  Both would be considered jacks here.  But on the other hand, they are both definitely chinooks.  So I have to count it.  I would draw the line at going to the local lakes that stock kings but they rarely get over 10 inches long.  These were nice chunky fish, smaller than even my June king.  

Still, these are legit ocean going fish so ok, if I counted my June king, these will count too!  But I'll still continue to try and catch a good one.  I think next year my goal will have to include a weight or size threshold.  Maybe 10 pounds and 24 inches or something like that.  Still, the point isn't that you catch big fish from kayaks, but that these kayaks put you in a position to catch a king salmon EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR...in ALASKA!!!!  INSANE!!!!

Pollock Fishing with Ryu - Homer, AK July 12

So Saturday I fished Whiskey Gulch with my son.  I managed to boat 2 halibut that might total 20 pounds.  Nice healthy fish.  He had a couple of strikes that burned drag off for a few seconds but still didn't manage to hook the fish.  Not sure what he is doing wrong.  It all looks ok.  Hmmm....

So I promised him that if we didn't hook any halibut, we would go "Catching" instead of fishing.  I hate doing it because I think it resets the patience clock a little bit, but I can remember when i was his age, loving to fish the tiny sculpins we had in the ditch behind our house.  

So we head to the Homer spit on Sunday where I knew he could catch a bunch of pollock.  The pollock were there and the fishing easy.  Used artificial at first and caught a bunch.  Last 30 minutes I stick him over to bait and it was non-stop.  

So a few observations:

1) A kid doesn't care anywhere near what an adult does in terms of species for the fight.  There is great truth to the saying "The tug is the drug".  For him, its all about getting the strikes.  

2) The pollock turned out to be awesome because on this day, by himself handled well over 25 fis.  I helped with what seemed like almost as many and by the end of the day, he was getting 90% of the fish off the hook, baited and back down fishing.  

3) These pollock around the spit are usually infested with round worms.  And normally you can just tell they are generally in bad shape with the sores and open wounds.  These fish looked amazingly clean and my dad loves pollock and cod so I kept the bunch you see at the end.  When I filleted them, they were amazingly clean.  maybe a couple of worms here and there but easily seen and not very many at all.  Fish looked really clean.  I did pull up a few that had some isopod alien looking thing attached to them.  I love marine biology but even I let out a squeal when I flipped the fish over and saw them.  They were like an inch long and looked like one of these but with hair or spines...I didn't touch them to find out.

July 4th Halibut Whiskey Gulch

So I try my luck. Raining and 5knt winds but very comfortable. Much more so than the blazing sun from yesterday.  

Hit 35 ft of water and start fishing. The bite was definitely on. Boated 8 or 9 fish in less than 2 hours. The problem was they were all in the 15 to 25 range with a couple of 5 pounders mixed in. Determined to bring back of at least a pair of forties I keep pitching them back with the bite being on. 

Then all of the sudden I'm caught in 15knt winds and super steep wind waves. Nothing crazy but it would have been if it had gotten any worse. 

Being a few miles offshore, I decide to high tail it back to the launch.  Fortunately for me I ran into two fish on the way back. The only bummer....I swear the instant I cut the second fishes gills, the wind stopped and it completely flattened out.  I could have, should have fished kings but I was drenched.  I wonder where the heck I'm going to catch a July King. 

At any rate, ended the day a little perturbed at Mother Nature despite two fish that should total close to 45 pounds but if I'm partially bumming about today, then I'm spoiled rotten.  LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!

Ship Creek King June 30

Ok, I even hate posting this.  But it is what it is.  Been desperate for my June king and I spent most of june chasing halibut with guests and my kid.  

So I did what any desperate kayaker would do.  I fished the "ditch" other wise known as Ship Creek in Downtown Anchorage.  Tried it two evenings with no results.  Then last night I ran into a local legend Yogee who used to post a lot on Alaska Outdoor Journal.  He showed me the spot and set up.

Launched at 6am, into the office at 8:30am.  

Notice I said I landed a CHinook for the tenth consecutive month.  Not sure most folks in Alaska would call it a king.  Its a pretty big Jack or a super tiny king.  Nice Chunky fish though.   Genetic analysis would confirm though that it is a Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, which as a simpleton, roughly translates into King salmon!  Might try later this evening to make feel a little better about a better sized one since I have a proxy.  

Homer Juevenile Black Cod - June 19

Tried homer. No kings. One 2 pound halibut I released. BUT at the end of the day, I found something even better!!!!!

It's rare but I found a school of juvenile black cod!!!! Yah baby!!!! I've never had the little ones but people tell me they are as good as the big ones...especially smoked. 

Managed 24 of them before I ran out of bait. We will see but if they are as good,  this is s huge score. Caught 20ft down in 100 ft of water. 

Ryu's first Halibut June 27

June 18 -22 Halibut

MAK and Akfishripper made some awesome fish and chips plus onion rings!!! Thanks!!!!

Took Nick from southern CA out today. Less than 8 hours after landing in ANC, he is hooked up!!!   Between us, I bet we landed 15 halibut. But none bigger than 20lbs. Argh. At one point we were 4.5 miles off shore and 11 miles from the launch. Way too far! Got carried away trying to get him on fish. I'm a terrible guide.

I broke off the biggest fish of the day. Idiot. I had a backlash that pinched the line.   Broke 50lvs braid 10ft from the pole tip. Argh!!! Unforgivable !!

I also hooked a red on my trailing red bare hook. Lost it at the yak. Hmmm.

Rainbow Trout with Ryu June 13

Friday was my birthday so I took the day off and drove down to Kenai with the kids who had just gotten back from Japan.  Interestingly enough, my son had gone semi deep drop fishing (250 ft or so with smaller electric reels)  with the ex-father in law and was ranting and raving about fishing as soon as he got back, so of course we had to fish.

He's been out in the ocean before but its been over a year so first we had to hit a lake.  A colleague of mine has a summer home in North Kenai so we stayed there.

Rainbows to 20 + inches and one fish after the other.  A really great time.  Its ultra cool having a son so excited about fishing.  It's even better when he wants to try a Barbie rod since I had caught fish with it.  Right after one of the rainbows jumps into the kayak, he immediately relates it to the video where a silver jumped in my kayak.  SUPER good feeling to have your son proudly compare his catch to mine and recall it the way he did.  

Video for the day.  At nearly 4 minutes its double the length I normally try to keep it.  But this video is frankly more for him than the public.  I had a BLAST!!!!  Thanks Ryu, my best buddy and fishing partner!!!!!!  I had one of the best birthdays ever!!!!!

June 6 & 7 Whiskey Gulch Halibut

Too tired... 90 minutes sleep since Saturday at 3am....

Halibut was good.  Saturday afternoon was windy and choppy.  Saturday night flat calm.  Sunday morning sort of calm.

Saturday maybe 5 or 6 landed.  Kept two in the 25 to 30 pound range.

Sunday, Kept a 15 pounder then a 49" (56.5lbs on chart).  

Here's my 49" fish...

Forgot harpoon shaft.  Finally tried a Shark hook due to circumstances totally within my control...actually lucky I had it...

I HATE SHARK HOOKS.  I am going to persistently and loudly MOCK anyone who thinks a shark hook is better than harpoon except in a specialized circumstance...whatever that might be.  Now a flying gaff with retainer like I saw Rawkfish use is a different story.  

4 halibut over the weekend.  One at 15lbs, two at 25 to 30lbs. one at 57lbs.  Not a bad weekend!

First still is sat fish. Second is Sunday. 

Did get one take down that was "King-esque" but didn't connect.  ARGH!!!  But who can complain!  

Older posts - May 31 N WKA 2015 Yak Classic

May 31

2015 NWKA Yak Classic

First of all, I want to thank every one that came out.  Great to see new faces!  

I think we had a dozen folks, maybe a couple more.  There were other folks that were surfcasting that had kayaks.  Not sure if they would have entered fish or not.  So Andy and I have made all three.  Mike made the last two.  Everyone else was new.  So its great to see new people all the time. But I hope I'm not scaring away the other folks who have come out in the past.  

The weather in terms of the water could have been better.  We had calm seas mixed with 3 ft chop on day one.  Day two was forecasted to be light and variable winds.  Turned into at least 15knts with 6 foot or better rollers coming through when you got off shore.

We had one incident where a Pro Angler capsized on Day 1.  Thanks to the guys who went out and helped him out.  I heard he filled with water do to an unsecured hatch?  Maybe some one could relay the story a little.  It might be embarrassing but its important to learn from mistakes.  How ridiculous would it be if someone got hurt next year doing the same thing?  

There was talk about having another get together.  Let's start another thread and do it up!  I had a great time!!! 

Oh.  The results.  Here are the fish entered.  A bunch more were caught but there were a lot of little chickens in the area.

Kardinal_84:  47"
kardinal_84:  44"
McLucky:       39.5"
Kardinal_84   38"
Kardinal_84   38" (not duplicate)
RDRASH        36"
AKFishRipper 32"
Memkis         32"
Memkis         30"
Nick              29"