Here come the kings! Leave a reply

Each and every day we're seeing an improvement in the king salmon action here in Craig.  The key to success lately has been the "stick and stay" program and we've been sticking to a deep troll lane off of Baker Island that has been producing king salmon all day long.  We're mooching in anywhere from 200 to 240 feet of water and the bites are occurring anywhere from 30 feet deep to right on the bottom.  Paul's big 36 pound hawg was caught just off the bottom today in 210 feet of water and shortly after landing that one we doubled up on king salmon in the low 20's at 80 feet.  The beauty of mooching is that we can cover it all!

The silver salmon are also making an excellent early showing and with this many fish around now I can only imagine how the fishing will be in July.  Our cohos have been running anywhere from 4 to 8 pounds and I've heard of a couple of bigger fish already.  A nice bonus to the king salmon this time of year!

Trust me…I know how hard it can be to not set the hook immediately when a fish grabs your bait on the drop.  Click the reel into gear and reel, reel, reel like son of a gun until the line comes tight…then reel, reel, reel some more to get it even tighter…then set the hook once the fish is already on and peeling line.  Sounds easy doesn't it!  Fish that hit a mooched bait on the drop are the hottest fish in the ocean, yet they can be the toughest fish to hook because the insulation usually melts off the wires and the fuses blow the second the bait goes "thunk" and the brain says "SET THE HOOK DUMMY!" 

Paul's arms are about tuckered out after the fight on this 36 pound king salmon.  At one point the line counter read 360 feet…that's when we decided to chase it : )

The doctors, Barry, Bruce, Bon, and Paul with an early limit of 16 to 36 pound king salmon on a glassy Pacific Ocean.  Lot's of fun with these guys! 

Rob Endsley

Craig, Alaska Salmon and Halibut Charters

WWW.PRINCEOFWALESSPORTFISHING.COM