Sitka, AK report

Yo,

My posts are rare since I moved to Montana, but I thought you might like to know about my recent trip to Alaska.

I went to Sitka with a group of friends last week.  The purpose of the trip was not necessarily fishing, but I managed to get some fish in the kayak I rented.

The first day, two buddies and myself rented kayaks in Sitka and trolled for salmon with no luck.  We did catch a nice stringer of rockfish once we gave up salmon fishing.  We found out later that we were probably not deep enough for salmon.

We then headed off to a Forest Service-owned cabin up north of Sitka.  We had to charter a boat to get to this cabin, so we loaded three kayaks on board in addition to the beer and other necessities.

My first day out at the cabin resulted in another nice stringer of rockfish.

The next day I decided it was time to go big, so I fished for halibut.  I caught two, the largest being 35", which is 17-19 pounds according to this website: http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/halibutcharts.htm.

My last day fishing I managed to get another halibut on board.

Some of my friends tried fishing as well and succeeded in roping in a few rockfish, but no halibut or salmon.

Below are some pictures ... I did not take any rockfish pictures since, quite honestly, the rockfish I used to catch in California were more impressive.

Side note # 1 - I just read about Chef and am saddened by his death.  He was a really cool dude who was willing to share his knowledge and passion for kayak fishing.  He will be missed.

Side note # 2 - I just read the extremely long thread about the GWS attack on Dan.    I am glad to hear that Dan is safe and hope all is well with him.

Side note # 3 - we also picked a large number of chanterelle mushrooms, which were quite tasty (see pic).

Side note # 4 - I also included a pic of KY Jelly wrestling that I was lucky enough to see at a bar in Juneau.

General SE Alaska kayak fishing comments:
1. It was fun
2. I will do it again
3. It would be best to try to get better/different kayaks.  We rented sit inside kayaks and I like the SOT kayaks.  This may be problematic considering water temperature, but I kept losing fish and pliers and knives under the seat.  I was also concerned about swamping the kayak, sinking and dying.  But I could not find a SOT kayak to rent, so maybe this does not matter.
4. Next time I will find bigger and better rockfish.
5. next time I want salmon, damn it. 
6. I hear it is difficult to find lings on the "inside", which is a bummer.  Also a bummer is that non-residents can only keep one ling per year and it must be between 30 and 35".
7. I need a better system for dealing with halibut in case I get a large one.

Later, Sean

After another Alaska report, I know where I'm going next year for vacation!!
Maybe I should just move up there, i wonder if...  never mind   

Sean

nice to hear from you.  Looks like you had a great time in AK.  I gotta get up there sometime. 

JIm

You ARE alive!!!!
I just erroneously told someone you were in Idaho. Ooops. My bad.
Glad to see you you are still yakin'. Better to see where you are doing it.

Nice to hear fom you Sean

.....now tell me MORE about this.......

Side note # 4 - I also included a pic of KY Jelly wrestling that I was lucky enough to see at a bar in Juneau.

Nice to hear fom you Sean

.....now tell me about this.......

Side note # 4 - I also included a pic of KY Jelly wrestling that I was lucky enough to see at a bar in Juneau.

I knew you wouldn't let me down, Joel!