Steve Bilben with the king crab he hooked and released
Strange Days/Strange Catches
Our time in Sitka goes back to 1993, yet the past week delivered two catches that we’ve never seen before. The first was a 3 foot long squid hooked on salmon gear by another charter on our dock. The other was a king crab hooked and released in Hoonah Sound. Another first was discovering a hot coho bite off the edge of the continental shelf in bottom depths ranging from 1200 to 3000 feet.
Craig Bilben with a beautiful silver salmon
Silvers – The ongoing pattern of highly variable silver catches from day to day and boat continued up until Friday the 14. On that day one of our groups was fishing blackcod in 1200 feet of water and put a salmon bait down and soon they were catching silvers hand over fist. The salmon were 200 to 300 feet down in bottom depths ranging from 1400 to 3000 feet. The rest of our fleet got the call and joined the action with boat limits landed in a matter of an hour or two. That action repeated on Saturday, then faded away on Sunday. A moderate blow on Monday impeded any chance of going way offshore and sent some boats fishing Hoonah. This returned us to the highly variable catches from boat to boat with the ones that toughed it out on a rough ocean doing better.
The big question: Where are the massive hordes of silvers that we found off the edge going and when will they move inshore? After a dry month, we finally got some rain on Monday which could motivate onshore migration as their biological clocks tick toward spawning time.
King salmon caught by Andrew Merit of the Trilogy party
Other Salmon – The kings continue to wane, but a few come in each day including a 25 pounder caught aboard 7th Sun by Andrew Merit of the Trilogy group on Monday the 17th. Chum catches have fallen off steeply and, thank heavens, the pinks aren’t disrupting our fishing like they were a few weeks ago.
The Puzel party enjoyed blackcod fishing on a beautiful sunny day!
Halibut – Our guests continue enjoying short runs to the halibut hot spots where the catching is fast and furious.
Rockfish – Another strange feature of the 2026 season is the occasional day when the nearly always obliging black rockfish don’t bite well. Most of the time it’s fast, but once in a while you have to work at it. Yelloweye remain open until August 25.
Blackcod – With the dead calm weather before the blow, a few groups opted for blackcod with good success. Blackcod are a major time commitment that generally take away from pursuing salmon. Last week, it was the blackcod boats that found the salmon. Strange days indeed.
Breathe-taking sunset photo captured by Stephen Vilke of the Castillo Party