Fishing Updates

August 28-September 3, 2005

This was a tough week of fishing because of inconsistent silver runs and bad weather. We've been spoiled the past few years with fairly mild weather, especially winds, during this time of year. About three weeks ago the weather patterns changed and the fall storms began arriving. The biggest problem has been 20 to 25 knot winds (1 knot = 1.2 mph) in Icy Strait . Those winds can create waves up to 6 feet in height which are much too high for us to fish in. We lost most of our halibut fishing on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday due to rough water. Missing that much halibut fishing resulted in a much lower than normal amount of fish being taken home. The actual catch of halibut was good, but most of the fish were small because we were fishing in the areas frequented mostly by smaller fish.

The runs are over for kings, chum, and pinks.

Silver fishing was slow but we are not sure why. We had a photography crew at the lodge taking pictures to help us upgrade our DVD. When guests and commercial fishermen were having a tough time catching silvers we put a camera in the water to try and get pictures of fish taking the bait. We were surprised by the large number of fish that came up to the bait and looked at it but didn't strike. The fish apparently were there but were not feeding. Some of the boats did well and took limits on several days but others struggled to consistently catch fish.

The streams are full of spawning pink salmon. Silvers have begun to enter Neva Creek and a few have been caught by those fishing the stream. We'll do more fishing on the stream this coming week. I'm not sure how the smaller than usual silver run will affect the silver fishing on this creek.

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
• July 18-22
• July 24-30
• August 1-5
• August 8-12
• August 14-20
• August 21-27