Category Archives: The Captain’s Blog

Home Stretch Sprint

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: September 3, 2010

Most charter services are already done for the season. The fishing grounds are delightfully vacant of boats and wonderfully fishy. The Earl Parrish group fishing with Captain Chuck McNamee landed 22 silvers up to 16 pounds, two kings in over 20 pounds, and a limit of halibut including a 155 pounder on September 2. They also released a halibut estimated to weigh 250 pounds. The 155 pound and 250 pound halibut bit at the same time making what was the biggest halibut double header in Angling Unlimited’s 16 year history. The Tim Thompson groups, fishing with yours truly Captain Tom, came back from a slow start due to a little mal de mer and landed 16 silvers plus two kings in the last three hours of the day. Almost all the silvers are over 10 pounds and 15 pounders are getting to be relatively common. The past week has delivered some of the best action of the season for big silvers and big halibut, plus kings. Weather has been good except for a short blow yesterday morning, but by afternoon the seas were calm again. Outlook for the Labor Day weekend is good weather and great fishing. We wrap up fishing operations on Sunday, but stay tuned for Captain’s blogs throughout the off season updating you on what’s happening at AU, what to expect for 2011, and how you might help get involved in helping the cause of sportfishing in Alaska.

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The Parrish party from left, Allen Thomack, Stan Callender, Earl Parrish and Lee Parrish

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As Good as It Gets

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 30, 2010

Fishing on Sunday produced limits and near limits of the biggest silvers of the year. Average size was well over 10 pounds and a number of coho between 15 and 17 pounds hit the dock. These a big, full bodied coho that run line, jump wildly and really put on a show.  Added to the silvers, Erika Sheffiled-Stull, of the Ferguson/Kohler group and fishing with Captain Ryan Refshaw, landed a 32 pound king.  Also with Ferguson/Kohler, Matt Slate fishing with Captain Phil Carlson landed a 115 pound halibut. The ocean was dead calm again and late August is continuing to fish as well as any time during our season. We have one more week to go before the end of our season and it looks like we’ll be fininishing on a major high note.

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Erika Sheffield-Stull and her 32lb king salmon with Gary Colf and his king salmon for the day

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The Beat Goes On

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 29, 2010

Not much about the second half of season 2010 has been “normal”. The silvers have come and gone more than a few times. The needlefish seem to have disappeared from many of their usual haunts and a lot of our salmon fishing has taken place offshore in deeper water where a krill bloom of enormous proportion continues. With the krill come whales by the dozens – humpbacks driving their heads down and beating the surface with their tales. This behavior appears to create a whirlpool that concentrates the krill and the whales then come up to the surface, mouth wide open, and take a belly full. We’ve observed these whale shows many days, sometimes quite close to the boats. We’ve also found consistent (finally) silver action amidst the krill bloom for over a week now. Oddly, given the late August date, we’ve found quite a few kings mixed in with the silvers. Some of these kings are immature – not going to spawn this year, but a fair number are this year’s fish – plump, strong, and over 20 pounds. Add to that some very good halibut fishing and late August has been as good as it gets in Sitka. We have about a week more to fish and it looks like the home stretch will be a good one.

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The Melaleuca party of 10 poses with the days catch on August 27th

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Big Halibut

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 25, 2010

Long time AU angler Roy Tuschhoff, fishing with Captain Chuck McNamee, hooked a big one on this Tuesday and after a long battle a 255 pound halibut hit the deck. His party also landed 15 silvers and a nice late season king. Jack Martin, fishing with Captain Ryan Refshaw, added a 32 pound king to their catch of silvers up to 16 pounds. Finally, 10 year old Anna Terrano, fishing with yours truly, Captain Tom Ohaus, landed her third limit of silvers in three days of fishing, plus the second king salmon of her young fishing career, a beautiful 25 pounder. All in all, fishing was excellent on Tuesday for a nice mix of silvers, kings, and halibut. Add to that a spectacular whale show with dozens of humpbacks feeding on a massive krill bloom and a rare sighting of a sperm whale by the Roy Reed group fishing with Captain Phil Carlson, and it was quite a day.

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From left Tom Tate, Mark Tuschhoff, Roy Tuschhoff, deckhand Matt, Capt. Chuck and Shawn Utz aboard the 7th Sun, with Roy Tuschhoff's 255lb halibut, and a few salmon from the day.

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Big King

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 23, 2010

Doug Charles, son-in-law of long time AU angler Roy Reed, got a big surprise on Sunday. After his party landed three kings and a bunch of silvers, they decided to anchor up for rockfish. Doug’s bait hit the bottom, he got a hit and the next thing he knew the fish ripped 325 feet of line off his reel. Chasing the fish was out of the question on anchor and thoughts of a salmon shark went through Captain Phil Carlson’s head. But, Doug announced that he had the fish turned and twenty minutes later a 48 pound king went into the net – the biggest boated by an AU angler this year. We continue to see lots of kings, especially for this late in the season. The silver fishing remained spotty for most anglers, except 10 year old Anna Terrano who caught a limit of six silvers for the second day in a row and added the first king of her life. A big blow was forecast for Monday, but as of mid-afternoon it had yet to really materialize. Weather, as in lighter winds, looks good for the rest of the week. We’re expecting at a big push of the late season hook-nose silvers that typically show in late August and early September. These fish often weigh in the teens and some hit the magic 20 pound mark.

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Return to Normal?

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 21, 2010
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Amanda Vey and Kelli Conley with their catch of the day

Friday saw salmon fishing begin a return to near normal for late August. Amanda Vey and her sister Kelli Conley, fishing with Captain Chuck McNamee, brought in a limit of silvers up to 17 pounds and kings in the mid-20’s. While limits weren’t quite the rule aboard all the boats, everyone landed a good number of silvers and the average size was above 10 pounds with a decent scattering of fish in the teens. Add to that the presence of late season kings and things are looking up. The seas were calm and getting calmer. We appear set for big silvers in good numbers for the final weeks of the season.

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The Action Continues

By Captain Chuck McNamee | Published: August 15, 2010

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Jim Nall with his 44 lb King salmon, along with Deckhand Matt and Capt. Chuck

Fishing lit up well for the AU fleet in the past three days with kings (yes, still kings in mid-August), lots of silvers and some great halibut catches. Limits and near limits of silvers were landed by Congressman Norm Dicks’ group on Thursday and Friday. Jim Nall  boated a 44 pound king on Friday. Norm and former staffer Tom Luce finished the day on Friday with a pair of 27 pound kings – one boated and one released. The silvers have been very large including 17 pounders landed by Denny Miller and Tim Thompson. Denny also landed 15 and 13 pound silvers on a single action Islander reel. The wind blew hard from the northwest on Saturday which made fishing more challenging but the DeCamp party fishing with Captain Greg Mohs still managed 18 silvers and 2 kings before 8 AM. The wind died off overnight, the stars are out in Sitka and Sunday looks like a great day.

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Fickle Silvers

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 10, 2010
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Brian and Joey Lemmon and Shannon Davis and Ken Anderson with Capt. DJ

Quick limits of silvers were the rule on Sunday with the entire AU fleet getting limits by mid-morning. Brian Lemmon, fishing with Captain David Gross also landed a 140 pound halibut as their group went for a tri-fecta of limits of silvers, kings, and halibut. Monday produced a different story with silvers. While most of our boats tallied decent scores, no one limited, but king limits were had by the Ernie Saurland party fishing with Captain Ben Baumann and the John Harris party fishing with yours truly. At the end of the day a major movement of whales inshore indicated a push of bait and krill. The weather has been a bit wet but the seas have been calm enough for comfortable ocean fishing. One thing remains certain – sooner or later something good seems to happen every day on the waters off Sitka.

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Big Halibut

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 8, 2010
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Steve and Sherry Vincent with Mike and Lucy Vincent and the 250 lb halibut

Mike Vincent from Salt Lake City landed a 250 pound halibut on Saturday fishing with Captain Greg Mohs. Mike has fished all over Alaska and this fish fulfilled a decades long quest for a barn door. Fishing otherwise for the past three days has been sort of up and down. Thursday saw limits of  limits of silvers for the AU fleet and Captain Chuck McNamee found four lovely kings up to 33 pounds for the Dan Hayes party plus an 80 pound halibut. Friday fishing was a bit scratchy for silvers, but Rick Lawton managed to make the day right with a 34 pound king and a 100 pound halibut fishing with yours truly, Captain Tom. Saturday we found good numbers of silvers with scattered kings, plus halibut for the boats that tried, including the big 250 pounder. All in all, early August fishing remains as exciting as always with a chance to catch nearly everything that swims in these waters. We’ve even had a few salmon shark hook-ups, but no landings yet. Stay tuned.

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Rough Water Great Fishing

By Captain Tom Ohaus | Published: August 3, 2010
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The Bishop Party with some nice halibut

A strong northwest wind kicked in on Monday making the seas bouncy. We’re not talking dangerous, just a short, tight, whitecaps and a bit of rolling around. On the plus side, the silvers and kings seemed to like the weather with limits of both species the rule for the AU fleet. The kings ranged from the high teens to Floyd Bishop’s 35 pounder, a perfect way to finish a three day trip included a 110 pound halibut he caught on day one. Floyd has fished with AU for 15 years and I can only pray that I’ll fish that well as I approach age 90.

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