Fishing Updates

August 6 , 2006

High tides mean strong currents and difficulty staying down while fishing for halibut.  Clouds and drizzle usually mean mild winds, with a few guests in the vicinity of squalls.  These generalities worked well during the week as it was difficult to stay on the bottom while fishing for halibut and the water occasionally got rough.  But when the week was over it turned into a good fishing experience.

We found more big halibut, or I should say they found us.  The catch was up about 25% over the previous week.  Six fish over 100 pounds with the largest weighing 196 pounds.  Late in the week there were some nice catches of mid-sized halibut.  Several boats reported hook-ups with big fish that ran so hard the boats had to untie from their anchors and chase them to keep from having all the line pulled off their reels.  They reported that the run was fast and hard.  Later we learned that some of the charter boats in the area have landed some large sharks weighing over 300 pounds.  Maybe our guests tangled with these seldom seen creatures from our waters.

Pink salmon fishing was wonderful.  The total catch jumped from 1255 the week before to 1331 this past week.  Catch-and-release was common and some of these fish weighed over 8 pounds.  Surprisingly, these fish are still bright and in good condition.  No signs of color changes which generally precede deterioration of the meat.

This is fun silver fishing time now.  The catch numbers continued to climb and the average size of the fish also jumped.  Lots of fish weighing between 12 and 16 pounds.  Our biggest of the week was 17.5 pounds.  They are so fun as they come leaping out of the water, then strip line as the tear away from the boat, and then turn and jump again.  One of these days we will probably be required to post signs saying "Catching Silvers in August is Addictive."

Bottom line: halibut fishing was more difficult but those who persisted made good catches.  Salmon fishing is great and just keeps getting better. 

— Doc

Previous Reports:

• July 30, 2006
• July 24, 2006
• July 16, 2006
• July 9, 2006
• July 2, 2006
• June 25, 2006
• June 19, 2006
• June 11, 2006
• June 4, 2006
• May 28, 2006
• May 8, 2006
• May 4, 2006
• 2005 Fishing Season