Fishing Update / Doc Warners - Alaska Fishing Adventures

Fishing Updates

Final Fishing Report: 2007

I’ve rolled the last two weeks of fishing, September 3-7 and September 10-14, into this report. I was trying to get home and write this report several weeks ago. When you have 30 minutes I can tell you about putting gold back into the Yukon and will try to get your sympathy. We had planned on taking 8-10 days to drive home and ended up taking 19 days, having the motor home towed over 600 miles, spending many days sitting in Whitehorse waiting for a fuel pump for the motor home, and finally driving home through a snow storm that ranged over 300 miles of our drive and dropped as much as 24 inches in some areas.

The weather was delightful for most of the summer. We didn’t have the rains that were so frequent in 2006. The only real ‘blow’ that we got came the evening of September 14. The forecast was for 6-8 foot seas in Lynn Canal so we had our guests leave the lodge on Friday afternoon to make sure the catamaran could safely get them back to Juneau. By Saturday morning the waves were almost 5 feet high and crashing over the dock. Fortunately we were able to get most of the boats out of the water Friday night and the damage was limited to several boats, tied to the dock, that were swamped by the big waves.

During the last two weeks we caught three kings and most of them were under sized. They were next year’s fish and they spend much of the winter in Icy Strait. For the season the catch was about the same at 2006 and about 50% of our biggest year in 2004. The low numbers result from both the smaller size of the king runs and the fact that most of our guests fish most of the time for halibut during June when the kings are running.

Pink Salmon were still showing in September though the numbers were small. We caught 31 the first week of September and 16 the second week. For the season this was the biggest pink year we have ever had. Last year, 2006 had been our biggest year with 6857 pinks caught, but 2007 eclipsed this mark with a record 8230 fish. You can predict that every year some species will have strong runs, other species will be moderate, and some will be small. Our problem is that we don’t know which species will be in which category until we start fishing. Obviously, this year the pinks were off the charts in large numbers. Our guests are also finding that Pink Salmon are excellent table fare.

Chum Salmon continued to be a significant part of the catch even in September. Our guest caught 57 the first week of September and 11 the second week. For the year the Chum harvest was over 50% higher than our highest previous year. Guests took 1290 Chums.

The weather made halibut fishing more difficult in early September but the numbers still stayed strong the first week (182 halibut), then dropped off the second week (59 halibut). The catch remained strong from mid-June until near the first of August, then the numbers began do drop. By summer’s end we had caught 4746 halibut, our third best harvest on record. Early in the season we didn’t see many halibut in the 30- to 80-pound range but later in the season we saw more of them. We haven’t heard any more rumblings about bag limit changes for next year but the regulatory bodies don’t meet again until this fall and winter.

Silver fishing turned out to be our disappointment for the season. Early in the season the run seemed strong but by early August it was obvious that numbers were off. Since all the other runs had been late in coming we anticipated that would also be the case with the Silvers. It never happened. By mid-August the catches were getting streaky with one good week followed by a poor week. By the last week of August the run was essentially over. Reports from all over southeast Alaska were similar. Even some lodge owners in the Cook Inlet area we talked with reported a poor Silver showing. We took 722 silvers the first week in September and only 179 the second week. For the season our guests harvested 3600 Silvers in 2007 compared with 5226 the previous year.

We are busy doing budgets and making plans for 2008. We will be bringing in several new boats to replace older ones, finding a new chef as Bruce has decided not to return next year, replacing Sue as our Accounts Receivable person, and working on other upgrades to make lodge-life more comfortable. The number of guests registering for next year is strong as are those for 2009. Throughout the summer the guest comments have been very complimentary for those things which we can control (food, housing, equipment, etc.) and understanding of our inability to control the weather and manufacturer fish.

We look forward to seeing you at the shows this winter and talking to you on the phones.

— Doc

Previous Reports: