Fishing Updates

July 18-22, 2005

It seems remarkable how consistent the harvest has been this summer.  Average weight of fillets per guest has stayed in the 80's most weeks.  We just finished a week with higher tides and that usually slows halibut fishing.  However, with so many pinks and silvers available now guests sometimes have trouble deciding whether to fish for salmon or halibut.  Thus, it is doubtful that the tides had much impact of the fishing success.

We had a small run of late kings go past and picked up 4 this past week.  They were small fish ranging in size from 14 to 22 pounds.  The Juneau fish hatchery reports that the king return there is much smaller than usual but they will still have enough fish to get their required eggs.

The 22 chums for the week is still below the average catch for the past few years.

The pink run is enormous.  After dinner recreation now consists of a fly rod and spinning rod toting army flailing the waters in front of the lodge.  The catching is great.  The year 2000 was the last time we had this many pinks.  Those schooling in front of the stream are turning color now so we aren't keeping them, but the action after the hook-up is great.  Pinks migrating in saltwater are still in excellent condition.

The silver catch doubled from the previous week.  We had one 14-pounder and an 11-pounder this past week.  Mostly however the silvers seem to be a little smaller in average weight this summer.  It will take a few more weeks to determine if this trend will hold.  With so many pinks in the water it has been difficult to catch silvers because the pinks hit the bait so quickly.  In typical fashion, the silvers are abundant and in waves.  You catch them for a while, then nothing for a few hours, then the bite comes on again.

There are still plenty of halibut in the smaller sizes, and we did take three over 100 pounds.  Discussions with Fish and Game revealed that the number of small halibut is high all over northern southeast Alaska.  This is resulting in more catches of smaller fish both in the self-guided and charter boat fisheries.  It may be the same situation we are seeing between pinks and silvers--the little ones get the bait before the big ones get a chance. 

While I was writing this report one of the residents from the head of Excursion Inlet brought in a large halibut for us to process and freeze that they had caught on a long-line.  It was 88 inches long and exceed the limits of our 250 pound scale.  The length-weight chart said the average weight of a fish this large is 387 pounds.  I don't think this fish weighed that much, but it was well over 300 pounds.

The wind, rain, tides, and fishing combined for a delightful and productive week.

Doc

Previous Reports:

• May 29 - June 3
• June 5 - 11
• June 12 - 17
• June 20-24
• June 27-July 1
• July 4 - 8
• July 11-15