March Alaska update...7th consecutive month with a King

Been lurking and trying to pry the California secrets for salmon fishing out of you guys seeing the increase in salmon posts here.  I have a derby to win Saturday and I need all the help I can get.

Homer Winter King derby iMarch 21.  I've entered it two years running and have yet to land a fish.  Well heck, until this weekend, I have never caught a king in March...powerboat or a kayak in a dozen attempts.

But gave it a go.  Woke up and checked the weather in Homer.  Argh this sucks.


Marine weather calls for better weather in the afternoon so I decide to make the 220 mile drive down to Homer.  Holy cow, it was COLD!!!!  But for once the weather forecasters are right and I soon start sweating once the temps rise to 15 degrees with sun up and winds calm. 

I only fished four hours but went one for two trolling a green lable herring behind a fish flash flasher and 12oz of weight.  Sorry , no video.  Turned the video on. Didn't hear a beep.  Checked it and it had a frozen screen/  About that time, the fish is close, and I put the gopro down.  battle it all the way to the kayak and the hook pulls out!!!  NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!  But a split second later, I feel weight.  The second hook that I usually trail 8 to 12 inches behind the first hook (and a few inches behind the bait), is imbedd into the fish as well.  Decided a video wasn't worth it, and loosened the drag to virtually nothing and more "guided" the king to net versus battling it in any way.  LUCKY!

So make it 7 consecutive months I've caught a king salmon from a kayak.  Prior to the streak, I would have thought Jan-March were the hardest months.  Got those out of the way.  But now with the local river escapement predicted to be ultra low, I am really going to have a hard time catching a king during the "normal" summer months! 




They were feeding on sandlances...little tiny ones....

Nice! So you can fish year round?

Very Envious! 

Thanks for sharing! 

Nice! So you can fish year round?

Yup we are blessed here. The typical King season is May through July. But these kings are feeder kings much like the black mouths Near Seattle.

They feed in the area year round. The fishing has been great despite the super poor returns in the local streams because these fish originate in southeast AK down to Northern California and the southern half of the salmon population are doing much better than up North.

As a side note, this was an adipose clipped hatchery fish. I saved the head and unless it ends up in a big halibut, I'll send it off to fish and game and they will send back with a report they get off the wire tag. 

I gave a head to a friend a couple years back who turned it in on the only fish I've had checked and he said it was from the Quinault hatchery in WA.