Sitka Fishing Report: July 30, 2020

Fishing Report:

Chinook (king) fishing in 2020 has been like the good old days and has gotten nothing but better as we end July. After finding a good number of kings going “north, north”, we turned our attention to Cape Edgecumbe during the past week with great king success. The Cape action was interrupted by a blow on July 25 but came back with a vegeance afterward with the two king limit per angler, had limits met by 8 or 9 in the morning. This year’s kings are bigger than recent seasons with most in the 18 to 25-pound range, plus a few up to 30. The limit will be 2 per day, 6 per season through August 15 when it goes to 1 per day and 4 per season until the finish.

Silvers are a little late in fully establishing themselves, kind of a here today, gone tomorrow thing. On any given day, the catches can reach near limits, but the next day we’ll be in scratch mode. This will change any day as we get deeper into the heart of silver time. August will deliver more and bigger silvers, including the big hooknose that push 20 pounds. Fishing for plus-sized silvers is about as fun as it gets. They have the power to take long runs and make spectacular leaps.

Halibut action has been excellent, delightfully near to the salmon grounds, and in relatively shallow water compared to recent years. The change to a 45-inch maximum size limit, the best we’ve seen in years, has allowed our anglers to keep halibut that we’ve turned back in recent years. We expect halibut action to remain exceptionally good right through the end of the season.

Travel Experience:

We continue to get feedback from our clients who have made the trip this year. The requirement to have a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of your flight to Alaska has been well met by the Strataclear option available through Angling Unlimited. Some clients are finding local testing that produces a quick result. In either case – you’re covered. The actual travel is reported to be exceptionally smooth with the airports less crowded and the flights less cramped.

“Captain Tom organized testing with StrataClear, and that worked perfectly, with results arriving 24 hours after we submitted the samples…Angling Unlimited did extremely well in Covid-19 precautions.” – Brantigan Party

You can learn more about our sanitation procedures and safety precautions here.

Dates Available:

We have some prime dates remaining in the 2020 season. If you feel comfortable traveling and meeting Alaska’s testing requirement, we’re ready to take care of you and the fishing has been about as good as it gets most of this season.