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