Sitka Fishing Report, June 24, 2022
During their trip, the Nechiporenko party of ten anglers caught big kings, lots of cohos, and witnessed rarely seen wildlife while fishing with Captain Chuck and Captain Spencer. With each passing day, the fishing ramped up with near limits of everything on day three. The weather was a mix of rain and sun, but that didn’t slow down this group from having a great time on the water.
The first day, Captain Chuck took the group north, stopping at the usual spots like the Shark Hole and Point Amelia in search for kings. They picked up some kings, but the highlight was their encounter with a huge pod of orcas who were making their way north. They slowly swam by the boat, allowing the group to snap a few photos and were close enough that it was easy to distinguish the bull, the mother, and calf.
Each day after they started to the south. Fishing near the gravel, they found many more salmon. Kings and cohos mixed in, which made for an exciting bite – not quite knowing what you hooked up until well into the fight. They caught limits of kings and near limits of cohos the last two days. Day three, they had their king limit by 7 a.m.
Offshore fishing was productive as well. The water was flat, so a trip to the deep was in store. They caught perfectly sized halibut just under the 42-inch mark and released a monster lingcod. Other boats in the fleet reported salmon shark hook-ups and sightings. None were landed, but it seemed they are patrolling everywhere, from Kalinin, to deep water offshore, to the salmon schools at the Cape. They are appearing with the arrival of more pinks, cohos, and chums.
Commercial Fishing Update:
The first commercial king salmon trolling session closed on July 8 and once again, we saw little impact from the fleet. The areas we fish and the areas they fish seem to overlap less and less. As ADF&G reported, the fleet was scattered up and down the coast, with most of the fleet fishing northern outside and central outside waters. Although final harvest statistics won’t be available until later this month, harvest rate data indicates that king catch rates during the first retention period were very good. With silvers and kings overlapping in such solid numbers, it should make for a busy July.
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