2009 charter season goes out with a bang! 3

I skipped a fishing report post here on our website last week because, well, I just ran out of time on our last turn around day to post one. The last report is available over at www.theoutdoorline.com if you care to see some great fishing photos and a couple of humpback whale shots that might be better than seeing the
real thing.

The action on silver salmon was just starting to fizzle here a little bit the last few days when we got a report of some big hooknose coho a 40 mile run from our dock. With a fairly big swell and 20 knot winds forecast we thought about it for roughly, um, 5 seconds before deciding to make the run and we couldn't have been happier with the results.

It took roughly three minutes for coho chaos to descend upon the boat and all four rods lit up immediately with chromers jumping everywhere. Out of the four ballistic silvers hooked one ended up meeting Mr. Yamaha 250, another fish got snapped off with the weight making a big "Kaa-rang!" on the side of the boat, and the two others made it aboard the Polar Bear. Coho chaos…you betcha! The action yo-yo'd up and down for the next 4 hours as schools of fish moved thru until both boats were loaded up with fish and ten happy guests. A good majority of the silvers were between ten and fourteen pounds with the biggest hitting the scales at 17 pounds caught by Pete Rathwell of Phoenix.

Rusty Phillips was just here from Montgomery, Alabama with a group of friends and all he wanted was a big halibut. With 13.5 foot tides I knew it was going to be more than difficult and I was right. The guys cranked up more ling cod than you can shake a stick at, yelloweye rockfish, sea bass, and chicken halibut to 45 pounds, but we just couldn't find the barnie halibut we were looking for. Sooooo, at the end of first day we pull into a well known black sea bass area on the way home to grab the guys some white meat on the salmon rods and Rusty hooks the mother of all halibut in 240 feet of water…ON A SALMON ROD! The big mamma clamped onto a small quillback rockfish and towed us around the ocean for twenty minutes before thankfully coming unbuttoned. I have no doubt that this hefty grandma was anything less than 250 pounds and who actually knows how big it was. Sorry Rusty…maybe next time!

Now that the last group is outa he-ah I've got a few days to pack everything up, take inventory of the gear, tackle, and supplies for next year, winterize the boats and RV, and check in with all the people we do business with with here in Craig. We had a very succesful summer here in Southeast Alaska with good weather, good fishing, and a very busy schedule full of great customers. Thank you very much for fishing with us this summer and we look forward to seeing many of you back in 2010.

What's up next? I'm really looking forward to getting back into the 710 ESPN studio with Tom Nelson and Robbie Tobeck on Saturday mornings for "The Outdoor Line" radio show. In addition to being informative for our listeners it's a heckuva lot of fun for all three of us to agree, disagree, and take endless shots at each other over the subject of fishing, hunting, and other outdoor related topics. While I'll miss the August 29th show due to a marathon drive home from Alaska I'll be front and center for the September 5th show and very much look forward to it.        

Here's a few pics from the last part of our season here in Southeast Alaska.

Steve, Pat, Will, and Paul from Pennsylvania and Virginia had three days of great action for coho, chicken halibut, and ling cod. 

We had outstanding silver salmon fishing here in Craig, Alaska this summer. Here's Pete Rathwell from Phoenix with a big 17 pound coho he took with us the last day of the season. Nice work Pete!

Rodney “Dangerfield” Frederickson from another charter company here in town gives a customer some very detailed instructions on how to mooch up one’a them fiesty silver salmons.  Lots of fun having Rodney around out on the water!