Fishing Update / Doc Warners - Alaska Fishing Adventures

Fishing Updates

August 21, 2006

I know the results but I don't know the cause. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the salmon went out on strike. A few boats had nice catches but most of the boats, including some very experienced fishermen, could not find salmon. It was so strange to have such good salmon fishing the previous couple weeks and then have the salmon catch per guest drop from 23.5 the previous week to just 9.4 this past week. The catch was slow enough that Fish and Game put a 5-day closure on the commercial fishing boats. Biologically it didn't make sense that the run would stop so abruptly. Males precede females in the spawning run and our catch the previous week was running about 4 males to each female. There is no way that only the females could be removed from a population since both sexes are feeding together in the open ocean.

On Thursday and Friday the rain continued, but the waves grew higher and the winds increased. Fishing locations were limited. However, the salmon didn't mind and they came back in good numbers. On these two days the catch was near normal for this time of year. (I'm writing this on the next Tuesday and 3 of us limited on silvers--18 fishing--in three hours yesterday). Again, there are now many silvers in the area and they are hungry. Interestingly, the catch is still predominantly males.

The pink salmon catch consists of just an occasional fish now. The catch dropped from 710 fish the previous week to just 223 pinks this week

Weather is still a big factor in halibut fishing. The rains continue to come. It rained every day this past week as it have most of the summer. We did start to pick up some bigger halibut along the shore and close to some of the streams. We tied our record for the biggest halibut caught by a Doc Warner's guest with a 276 pound fish taken near the cannery.

It's fall in Alaska now. Temperatures are noticeably cooler in the mornings and a yellow tinge is visible on the brush above the tree line on the mountains. What a beautiful and wonderful place to spend a short part of our lives.

— Doc

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