Tim Swant brought four first timers to Sitka for a five-day fishing trip with Captain David. They just wrapped up their trip, and it’s safe to say that they’re hooked. During their trip, they fished for salmon at nearly every stop from the Cape to Khaz. Their best days of salmon fishing were at the Cape. Each day there, they found limits of silvers with many pushing the 20-pound mark. The first day, the group anchored on the gravel and found four kings, including one monster 38-pounder caught by Ned Horner. They also managed to catch their halibut in the same location.

The theme for the first four days was salmon at the Cape and halibut at the gravel or off shore – each was successful. A few highlights from those four days were Ned’s 20-pound silver and Dave DeFelice release of a 100-plus pound halibut.

The fifth day, the group had the flexibility to explore. They ventured to Khaz in search of kings. The didn’t find any kings at Khaz, but did find three slot lingcod. Then, they fished for halibut even further north in 300 feet of water. The bite was slow early, but once the halibut bite arrived, it was a chaotic flurry of bites, which filled the deck with their five in less than an hour. They finished the trip by fishing Galoi. John Hamill capped off the trip by catching the last fish of the trip – a beautiful king.

They saw the range of weather Sitka delivers this time of year from sunny and calm to bumpy and rainy. It didn’t effect the fishing, however. The seas never got big enough to push the fleet to flat water. The Cape was very fishable and continued its dependable production. 2014 was the summer of The Cape and it’s still going strong with a week left in the season. Stay tuned to see how September fishing finishes our season.