Deckhand Hudson with Leslie Rubert
Work hard, fish well, and enjoy the beautiful weather.
We’ve seen nothing but gentle seas and dry weather for the past week. The ocean never gets calmer than what our guests have been treated to for the past 7 days. Most days have been sunny with temperatures approaching 70. Summer in Sitka.
The consistently inconsistent season of 2026 rolled onward this past week. It’s hard to look back over the years and see such variable results from day to day or boat to boat. It feels quite random regarding where the fish show up and which boats have success on any given day. The strategy is to grind on it and hope for a hot drift or two.
Silvers: As we approach mid-August, we expect coho (silver) fishing to have hit a high plateau and remain there into at least the first week of September. As of our last fishing report, we appeared to be on track, but the past 7 days have proven tougher for silvers. The action is taking place in deeper offshore water without much rhyme or reason. It’s a matter of putting in as much “rod time” as possible. Silver numbers have typically been between 10 to 15 per boat but the salmon are large in size. The expectation remains that we’ll see a big inshore push of silvers any day.
Jenny, Emma, Calleigh with a big silver salmon
Kaden Kendall of the Smith Party with a King salmon
Kings: Chinook numbers are waning which is typical for mid-August. Again, the random factor is playing a bigger role than usual. It’s possible to run into kings in the pursuit of silvers. By this time of the season, kings are the icing, not the cake.
Other salmon – The massive schools of chum salmon appear to have moved toward their spawning grounds with catches declining sharply over the past three or four days. Pink numbers are slowly on the wane, but the pinkies remain a bit of a nuisance. It’s hard to hook a king or coho with a pink on your line. If we get a shot of rain soon, most of the pinks should beat feet toward their home rivers.
Grommesch Party with 3 regulation halibut
Halibut – Very quick limits have been the rule and we’re catching them in the same locations that we’re finding silvers. The brief halibut detour opens up more time to keep after the silvers.
Rockfish – We’re finding large black rockfish while drifting for silvers. Though not quite as exciting as catching them in shallow water, the size of these rockers is extraordinary. Yelloweye remain open through August 25 and are relatively easy to find.
Alan Jackson with a yelloweye rockfish