We hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day. Only a week remains in our 2023 season. The past 7 days provided excellent silver action with lots of them over 10 pounds plus enough kings to nicely spice the action. Halibut continue to please in the same area where we find the silvers. The weather provided a challenge for the first three days of September. The ocean was what we call doable but rough on most days, except September 2 when most of our fleet headed inland and found coho in decent numbers plus halibut, rockfish, and some pacific cod. A few of our boats continued fishing inland on September 3 and 4 to avoid the somewhat unsettled ocean with decent results while those who hit the high seas found fast silver action still sprinkled with the odd king. We have been plagued recently with blue sharks. They eat our herring baits and make for quite a fight that impedes the salmon pursuit.
The most extraordinary catch of the week was a small thresher shark landed by Jeremy Shaia from Atlanta. It hit his herring and took him for a ride around the boat before we were able to land it. This is only the second thresher we’ve seen in over 30 years of operating in Sitka.
Stay tuned for the final report of 2023 and a roundup of the season coming next week.