End of Season Review: 2021
The last three days of fishing have been full of big catches.
The first day of fishing for the Bullis party with Captain Bo was a memorable one. They went to a spot west of the gravel that has been extremely “sharky” lately. Many anglers have experienced heavy bites, only to reel up frayed leaders without hooks. Our 40-pound monofilament leaders don’t stand a chance to a shark’s sharp teeth and rough skin. With that in mind, when Captain Bo and the Bullis’ decided to halibut fish, they swapped one of their four halibut rods for a shark rod. Rigged with a cable leader, heavy circle hook, and a bloody pink salmon, the soak began. After three hours of chumming, the rod came alive. The clicker started to scream. Ian Bullis took the rod and played the fish for 15 minutes. During the fight, the shark never made huge runs, but used its strength to hold position. Ian slowly reeled it in as it hung underneath the boat. When it got close enough, Bo harpooned it and the fight was over. They boated the 75-pound shark and the celebration began. High fives, beers, and lots of photos cemented this moment as the best ever for this returning group.
The following day, Captain David was fishing the Weathers party at a shallow salmon spot near the Cape. Tony Weathers hooked into what everyone thought was an average king, until it jumped. Once David saw it, he knew it was big. Then it dove deep, hanging underneath the boat and around the anchor line. It did everything it could to pop off the hooks. Slowly, Tony gained ground and when it was close enough to the boat, Ryan netted it. David removed the fish from the net and weighed it. The largest client king of the season – a 50-pounder. To top it off, the following day, another group from the Weathers party was fishing with Captain Spencer at David’s spot from the day before. Tom and Jerry caught a 35-pound and 38-pound king from that same area – what a double!
In the last few days, we’ve seen big kings and limits of silvers. If groups are able to catch their halibut while salmon fishing, they get close if not to a limit of cohos. If they choose to go offshore for halibut and other fish, it reduces their coho catch. But, in three days or more of fishing, groups are having no trouble finding ample amounts of fish. The weather has varied lately, so if the Cape area is fishable, it’s where the best fishing has been. There’s a lot of life in the ocean right now – lots of fish and more orca sightings than were accustomed to seeing. It’s a great time to be fishing Sitka!
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