Whittier Silver

Caught trolling a large herring mounted on a clear Pro-Troll e-chip helmet, at the head of Passage Canal at Whittier.  Caught between 35' and 45', trolled at 2.7 mph per GPS.  Sweet!  Only fish of the day though -- caught within the first half hour of a 3 hour outing.  No complaints here.

Thirty-Three Reds

The Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery was awesome this year. Still is -- there are two more days before it closes on the season.  But we were able to get our household limit, 35 fish, in two days on the river. The first day was a bust -- just two fish.  The second day was amazing -- 33 sockeyes. 

Just now I finished canning 66 pints in the pressure canner.  That's a lot of fish!  Lemon pepper. Lemon dill. Lemon capers. Jalapeno. Jalapeno spice. Hickory. We'll see soon whether that's a successful experiment in flavors.  This is a good way for us to use the fish -- no need to thaw something from the freezer. Perfect in salads, spreads and casseroles. Salmon tacos. Salmon patties. Let the feasting begin.

But that wasn't all. While I was canning fish, Dave was smoking fish. He's awesome at that. Light apple smoke with a honey glaze finish. And then, there's the frozen fillets: dozens ready for the quick thaw in a bath of cold water, a quick poach in white wine, a squeeze of lemon. Divine.

We're so lucky to live somewhere that the wild salmon stocks haven't been decimated. But that said, this year the king salmon return was abysmal. In fact, the AK Dept. of F&G closed the commercial set net fishery until April 1 in the Kenai District -- just to minimize chinook bycatch. Huge economic disruption for the Kenai commfish folks. The fact that they were off the nets, though, meant that there were many more sockeyes entering the river. They increased the fishery from 6 am to 11 pm, normal hours, to 24-hours. And they increased the hook-and-line limit from 3 per day to 6 per day. These are great inducements to bringing sports anglers to the river. Good for tourism. Bad for commercial fishers with set net permits. Like aquatic farmers who had a crop failure.

We got these fish on Friday, July 27, 2012.  Most years, we try to get to the river to dip around July 20. In fact, I took two friends along for a scouting trip on July 18 and found only 2 fish that day. We've had one 200,000+ fish day on July 16, and since then it's been steady but for a two day lull on the 17th and 18th. Both days I dipped it was sunny and pleasant. On the best day, it wasn't even crowded. Amazing.

First Silver!

I get to have all the fun.  Seriously.  Today, I spent at least 8 hours on the waters of Resurrection Bay, prospecting for an early silver salmon.  I mooched most of the day, and then my paddling partner tucked behind a point and I couldn't see him. So I reeled up a smidgeon and trolled my way over to the point to keep him in sight.

It was then that the silver hit. BAM. Line screaming off while I carefully pulled the rudder and worked to keep the line from tangling with another rod in a holder in the bow. I didn't even set the drag. I just kept tension on the line and rode along until the fish tired.  I grabbed the line then, and put him on my lap where I dispatched him with the bonker.

Ain't he a beauty?

Caught trolling in 35' - 45' at Derby Cove, on a large (blue tray) herring mounted on a clear Pro-Troll (#5) helmet, about 6' behind a 3 oz banana weight. No flasher. No scent.

Proof of Concept: I can do this.

Deep Creek, Alaska. May 12, 2012

Another brilliant day fishing!  I joined my friends, Butch and Billy, who along with their friend Rick rowed a drift boat off the beach south of Deep Creek and into shallow water halibut. I tagged along in my kayak.

First Blood on the Revo

 I launched from about 2 mi. south of the parking lot at 8:30 am, after my three friends launched their drift boat.  (South of the tower, not quite to the waterfalls.) We were out about half a mile, and there within five minutes of getting rigged one of the guys had a fish on.  Seemed like we’d found the spot, so we stayed there for the duration. They anchored, and I stayed within 100 ft more or less while they shouted encouragement in my direction. At least, I think that’s what they were shouting.

I had an 8 oz banana weight attached to a 10/0 circle hook on 200# mono, baited with some blue label herring I’d brined up two weeks ago. Nothing special.  I jigged that bait in 40 ft. of water for about 30 minutes before I got a bite from the bigger of the two fish on the day. 

This time, I was patient and remembered all the suggestions I received here after my ill-fated reverse sleigh ride of two weeks prior.  After setting the hook, I took the time to hold tension on the line while pulling up the rudder and keeping the rod forward to follow the fish.  SO much better than being pulled backward!  The fish pulled out quite a bit of line, dragging me along while I slowly set the drag. I could tell it was a fish I could land, so my mission was to tire the thing out.  I was able to bring him up to the surface beside the boat 3 times. Each time but the last, he hovered and then dove straight down before turning south and pulling me along. After the third time, the fish was tired and so I put down the rudder and started to pedal my way back to the other boat.

I held the fish about 10 ft. below the surface when I pulled alongside the friends.  All three guys were eager to help: gaff, gun, harpoon at the ready.  The fish wasn’t moving so I reminded them that this was the first fish I’d caught on this new kayak and I really wanted to boat it myself.  They guys said I’d never get it in the net. One of them leaned over and handed me a T-handled fish picker, and I gaffed the fish with that and hauled it onto my lap.  Just barely.  Another of the guys leaned over with his big gaff, and swung that fish off my boat and into the bottom of the drift boat.  That was it.  Later we put a tape on that fish, and it measured 45” so probably was 42 lbs.

Since that rig worked so well, I just rebaited the same hook and sent it back down again.  Missed one. It was about an hour before the next fish bit – still in the same general area.  The second fish was the smaller of the two, later taped at 43”, so estimated at 37 lbs.  It only ran on me twice, and didn’t take me as far from the drift boat that was still at anchor. I was whooping and hollering from the sheer thrill of the ride.  After I got that fish up to the surface the second time, it didn’t sound again and so I dropped the rudder and peddled over to my friends.  That took less than 10 minutes. On the second fish, I didn’t have any qualms about just letting the other guy gaff the fish and put it in the tub. 

Great fun!  Plus, I managed to avoid impaling myself on the fish picker. On reflection, that was probably a bad decision on my part – but all’s well that ends well. I think I need a harpoon though.  Open to suggestions, that’s for sure.

Incredible Start

This is the first season that I can devote to kayak fishing in Alaska. I want to make sure to collect reports from all of my excursions, so that I can capture this wonderful pastime in a meaningful way. I started in this endeavor last year, with two guided trips and a solo launch from Whittier late in the year. But this year, 2012, is really the first year. 

I did a shakedown cruise on April 14 out of Seward into Resurrection Bay.  I thought I could pedal over to Tonsina Creek, and cast for Dollies at the mouth of the creek.  But it was so early in the season that the river wasn't even flowing above a trickle.  No feeders at the mouth, not yet. 

The second trip occurred on April 25 -- and it was an incredible one.  I tied into a big fish -- most likely halibut given the feel of the bite and the way the fish ran.  Here's the report I filed with Northwest Kayak Anglers:

We didn't go out today, too tired out by yesterday's exploits.  Kenai_guy and I had quite the adventure out of Deep Creek, though.  When we launched around 4:30, the skies were clear, the seas were gentle with a 2 ft. swell, the wind was less than 10 kts.  We pointed the bows toward Illiamna looming from the opposite side of the Inlet and peddled out toward adventure. We found it.

Kenai_guy has some video that he'll try to post, to offer veracity to this tale. Let me say up front -- the fishing wasn't red hot. I only had one bite. But oh, baby, what a bite. I'd been trolling cut plug herring behind a green and silver flasher, with an 8 oz banana weight. Hoping for a King.  I hadn't had any action for about 3 hours. I reeled up on last time to check my bait, make sure it was rolling.  Everything looked fine, so I sent it back down through four color changes on my line.  Didn't have it down five minutes when the familiar pulls of a halibut bite were telegraphed back up the line.  I waited, then set the hook hard --- and line started just screaming off my reel. 

Here's where I made a critical error -- maybe the first of many I suppose. I'll leave that to the experts to point out.  But my mistake was that I set the drag pretty fast to slow that fish.  I didn't know how big the fish was, but I wanted to start to get a handle on it.  What I failed to realize was that the fish had turned and was swimming fast against the current and directly behind me in the opposite direction than I was pointed.  Line was still screaming off the reel, and it was everything I could do to hold onto the rod.  I was twisted at the waist pointing the rod in the direction of the fish, occasionally getting the kayak turned perpendicular to the fish.  But mostly, it just towed me backwards showing me who was boss.

The first five minutes or so of this was exhilarating.  Then I noticed that Kenai_Guy was getting smaller and peddling like mad to keep within range, and I began to understand just how fast I was going. And while that fish was heading in the direction we'd eventually want to go, I figured it was about time for us to part company.  So I pretty much pointed my rod tip straight at the fish, and thought he'd break it off.  He just picked up more speed. I hung on for the ride. 

Against the current. Going backward.  Throwing off a considerable wake from the crazy speed of it.

Luckily, after about five more minutes of this my new hero, Kenai_Guy who had been peddling like Lance Armstrong caught up.  I asked him to grab onto my boat.  I needed to cut the line to end the ride.  He grabbed the boat, and the additional drag was just the thing.  A few moments later, the monster broke off.  I think it was about twenty minutes later when my heart rate returned to normal.

So that counts as my first encounter with a big fish from the kayak.  And I thought those rockfish last season were a thrill?  Oh my.  For the record, all of my knots held -- the line broke and the point of the leading hook on the 40# mono leader I'd bought because it was already rigged up for two hooks to troll herring.  All that was missing were the hooks and the herring.

So that's the part of the adventure we could call Close Encounters of the Fish Kind.  We still had about 2.5 hours peddling to get back to beach, and then there were the 2.5 hours to get to the truck, and then the 2 hours to get the truck loaded and off the beach, and ... well, you get the idea. 

I'll add more in a bit, if only to extoll the virtues Kenai_guy who has a knack for making smart choices and putting his formidable shoulder to the wheel as many times as necessary.  I knew you'd want the fish report above all else.

My companion, Andy, posted the video to the same forum.  It was a thrill ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKamlqQBj6w&list=FLPQ3ZE6m-i4uZiTlwD0s6ig&feature=mh_lolz