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Home Stretch Sprint

Captain Tom Ohaus — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:15:37 +0000

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.

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

As Good as It Gets

Captain Tom Ohaus — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:27:30 +0000

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.

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

The Beat Goes On

Captain Tom Ohaus — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:45:42 +0000

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.

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

Big Halibut

Captain Tom Ohaus — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:15:34 +0000

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.

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.

Big King

Captain Tom Ohaus — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:41:39 +0000

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.

Return to Normal?

Captain Tom Ohaus — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:09:21 +0000

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.

Angling Unlimited does a terrific job

Captain Chuck McNamee — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:05:53 +0000

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

This is my 2^nd year fishing with “Team Norm” and I can say that Angling Unlimited does a terrific job. I can’t think of a single thing that I would change. All of your employees are very friendly and helpful. I have enjoyed getting to know our captains Chuck/Tom and our deck hands Matt/Tony. And of course catching very large fish has been a blast for me.

Keep up the great job.

Jim Nall

We appreciate all you do to make us feel welcome and part of the AU family!

Captain Chuck McNamee — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:44:37 +0000

Judith Roos shows off a nice King salmon

We just arrived home and Dad is doing much better. The fish were in great shape and we just finished enjoying some grilled Chinook (we aren’t allowed to say King with Dad) and it was really, really good! We just looked at the online photos and the CD — all are great and apparently Mom has sent the link around to a bunch of folks! We can’t thank Linda Mae and Amanda and everyone else enough who went out of their way to care for Dad — I think things would have been so much worse had she not taken him to the Doctor! Please let Phil and Tyler know how much we appreciate everything they do, especially for Fred and Dad. They are so even-keeled and really enjoy our fishing successes! Obviously we appreciate everything that you all do, Phil to find the fish, Tyler to make all his efforts look effortless and everybody else to always make us feel welcome and a part of the AU family!

Judith Roos and Jack Buono

Missing Silver

Captain Tom Ohaus — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:38:42 +0000

Where did the silvers go? That’s the current mystery. After excellent fishing last week, the run seems to have nearly disappeared. Recent silver scores have been very low with the only saving grace that kings still show up enough to make for good action if you’re in the right place at the right time. Also, halibut fishing has been good to great. The Jim Barlow party fishing with Captain Ben Baumann had the banner day for the fleet on Friday landing 11 silvers, 3 kings, 4 montstrous yelloweye rockfish (red snapper) including one that was 23 pounds. To top it off, they brought in a limit of halibut with one that weighed in at 165 pounds. On Wednesday, after a catching a limitof halibut but struglling for silvers, the Gorstayn party made a sentimental stop in the Shark Hole only to hook four kings in the first five minutes there. It has rained hard at times for the past few days which should bring the local silvers onshore. We’re hoping this picks up the action which is normally lights out at this time in August.

King Season Part II?

Captain Tom Ohaus — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:10:48 +0000

Silvers made themselves somewhat scarce yesterday with most boats catching between 6 and 10. This isn’t normal for mid-August when silvers are typically very abundant. The abnormal quality of the season is added to by the number of kings around. All of the AU fleet caught king limits and released others. There is no explaining days like yesterday which fished more like late June than mid-August. One thing beyond description was the weather – crystal clear with the Fairweather Range – nearly 100 miles away – visible all day long. The ocean was dead calm, the temps in the 70′s and the air was unusually dry. The whale show continued with the Turpin party, fishing with Captain Chuck, enjoying the sites of feeding humpbacks after a day of great fishing that included the release of a 33 pound king.