Summer Fishing Part 1

Summer Fishing

It has been a slow start to the 2014 fishing season.  Last week marked our first fishing trip out on the boat and I have some new stories to tell.  We went out on June 27th, and the skies were clear, water calm, or so we thought.  we hit some pretty large wind swept waves as soon as we left the harbor. The days crew consisted of: Brian, Eli, Jenny, and Doug.  All the gear was packed up and ready to go by the time we got the boat in the water.  It was around 10:30 by the time we left harbor and headed out to the south side of Shelter Island for some halibut fishing.  

Halibut Fishing

Halibut fishing is pretty straight forward.  You drop a weight with 2 hooks about 1-2 feet apart with bait on them and let it sink to the bottom.  We usually like to fish in the 250-280 foot depth as you can get some rather large Halibut but not so large that you can't eat them.  This picture is facing west toward the Chilkat mountain range and the island in the foreground is Shelter Island.  We chose this spot first because it was out of the wind and was relatively flat calm. We caught 2 small sized halibut before we pulled anchor and moved to another spot.

Salmon Fishing

The time of year to catch summer kings is here, so we decided to drop a troll line and see if we caught anything.  We did not :(

Secret Spot

We got to our secret spot and dropped anchor and began dropping the lines.  Here is Brian dropping a halibut line with some bait on a down rigger.  It only took about 10 minutes before we had our first fish on the line.  The only thing exciting about pulling a halibut up from 300 feet of water is when you see the poll jerk downward and you know you have a fish on the line.  Otherwise it is a lot of hard work and persistence you will find that they like to dive back down and become dead weight.  However with a bit of persistence you can tire them out and have yourself a nice fish on the deck.  The largest halibut we caught that day was around 30 pounds which is fairly small but the amount of edible meat on them is pretty decent so everyone that went fishing that day went home with about 10 pounds of fish each.

The Catch:

Fishing was great that last Friday of June and we look forward to many more sunny days on the water this summer in Southeast Alaska.

And as always, thank you for reading and please like and subscribe!

Fishing Recap 2013

Juneau May 1-31st

Last year was a very fruitful year for fishing in Alaska. We had an early king salmon run as well as a strong dolly varden run.  The limit for any given day was around 12 dolly and 3 kings.  During my first real week out on breaks and lunch I caught 6 dolly and saw only a few kings being pulled from around the fishing area.  

Dolly varden

Using a spoon lure as pictured below, the red dangle next to the hook really appeals to the dolly.  I highly recommend using a Krocodile no bigger than a 1/2oz lure and a fishing ling that is strong but light, such as a 5lb test line.  You may use up to a 10lb test but I would not recommend it for dolly fishing as you will most likely be using a large trout rod.  The reel size really depends on how fast you want to bring in your lure.  Last year I was using a Shakespeare Crusader which you can find on my previous post.

Krocadile Luhr Jensen

Fresh Water Fishing: May-July

Although dolly can be caught in streams and lakes, it is not often that you can easily get to them, as they like to go into cracks and crevasses where the salmon go to lay their eggs.  Trout on the other hand are more readily available.   In Southeast Alaska, you can catch the following trout: Steelhead/Rainbow, Cutthroat, and Lake Trout.  Rainbow are most likely the most common trout available but Lake Trout tend to be the largest.

Juneau

Cowee Creek (June-July)

Pink Salmon (July)

Coho salmon (August)

Cowee creek is a very interesting place to fish.  There are a few species that run through there in the early summer.  You can catch anything from a dolly varden to coho salmon.  On many of our trips out there Brian and I would limit out on our pink salmon catch in roughly an hour.  The dolly varden are a lot harder to spot and don't bite as aggressively as the pinks.  The larger salmon in this picture are all male and have a leaner meat with less taste.  The smaller fish on the right side of the picture are all female.  These are the ones you really want to catch if you are looking for some decent early season steaks and fillets.  They are not the most coveted salmon in Southeast Alaska but man are they tasty.  The pink salmon run is from early June to mid July and the runs really depend on the location.  

     My favorite early season fish though has to be the dolly varden.  If you are lucky enough to catch some of these their meat is tender, juicy, and full of flavor.  My favorite recipe for this fish has to be a basic blackened seasoning with a flour, egg, salt, and pepper batter.  They don't take long to cook so be careful not to overcook them.  The size of the dolly varies greatly and you can catch anything from a few pounds to well over six or seven pounds.  Below is a prime example of a female (top) and a male (bottom).  They can also vary widely in coloration.  The ones in Southeast Alaska are mainly a greenish silver color with spots.  If you manage to catch one on a small setup they are a lot of fun to reel in.  Be careful though as they like to run to hiding places which can get your line stuck under some nasty logs or rocks.

North Douglas (June-September)

North Douglas in Juneau, Alaska has to be one of my favorite places to go bank fishing.  It is wide open with lots of shoreline.  You can basically catch all of the species of salmon that run through the area and most of them will be fresh and not spawned out.  The false outer point location is an excellent spot to get an early season king but be careful as there are a lots of locals that like to sit out there all day and they are not the friendliest of people.  If you go out to false outer point make sure it is at low tide as there are lots of rocks to get your gear caught on.  Intermediate and high tides are probably the worst times to go out there.  Fish Creek, which is also located on North Douglas, is a great spot to fish King Salmon in this small lagoon which is just off of the main river, but this location is also heavily fished so it is best to go very early in the morning or just before dusk.  Later in the season around August you can sometimes find people fly fishing the river for Coho Salmon.  

Catch of the day

Harvey Family Fishing!