Here's what I might call a photo re-cap of our summer charter season in Craig, Alaska. We put in long days for three months and getting the time post reports here is almost impossible.
I captured a ton, and I mean a ton of great video this summer that I'll be crunching thru it all this fall and winter in preparation for the Anacortes Derby film festival in March.
In the meantime here's a bunch of pics that might give ya'all a view of what goes on in Las Craigas, Alaska in the summer time. It's a saltwater fishing paradise...that's why I'm there
The big reason I'm there, however, is because on any given drop on any given day of the summer you can hook into a king like Bill Vernon's 46 pounder. There were a lot of BIG kings caught this summer around Craig. When I say big I mean 50 plus pounds and a few of them over 60 pounds. Hopefully some of the guys that work at the other lodges will post their HAWG KING pics here...just to do the Craig area some justice. It's in unbelievable place to fish and to be honest there aren't too darned many places like it.
Bill's 46 pound king took us back into the rocks and kelp and eventually into 13 feet of water before heading back out to sea. At one point I looked down and saw the bottom heaving up and thought..."hmmm, this is gonna get interesting." He hung out in there just long enough to get us all puckered up before heading for deeper water, running thru many strands of bull kelp in the process. Luckily we were right on top of him and I could steer the 10,000 pound Polar Bear along behind him and keep the line from grabbing too much kelp. A couple of the Waterfall guys (Devin and John) were kind enough to crank their gear up and we charged after the big fish, netting it after a 45 minute dawg fight. What a beauty

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Bill didn't waste any time applying his new makeup...king blood

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Here's Bob Keller's big August coho. We had some nice sized coho's this summer. In Craig they are called coho's...not silvers

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The docs Bruce and Barry with a nice June king salmon

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Chef Chris Miles bagged this 30 pound king in early August on Capt. Troy's boat

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Yes...we have plenty of sea lion fur bags in Las Craigas. World renowned magician John Walton with a king salmon head

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Sally Kvam and a nice 24 pound June king she caught trolling. We slammed the kings trolling in early June. Catching fish is fun even if you have to...ahem...troll

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Craig and Sally visited again in August just in time to schwack the silvers. Here's Craig with a deckload of silvers

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Mike Hutton, Jim Coe, Jeff June, Phil Stephens, and Bob DeLong got to experience Hammer Time in early July

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Fisherlady and husband Ron joined my dad and "Uncle Frank" for a silver, halibut, black sea bass schwack fest in late July. Good times

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Dwight-ster dropped a hard earned May king salmon overboard while unloading at the dock. Tim MacGyver Koentopp quickly put together a 16 foot long harpoon stick and oila...Dwight got his king salmon back.

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Parker, Stam,Canyonman, and Bucket helped me get my troll on in early June. Where's the nearest Trollers Anonymous clinic

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Stam and brother Joe were back in July. They bagged these mid 30 kings on Capt Troys boat

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Mike Coleman went to King Town with this 34 pound beauty

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Kim DeWeese went down to King Town also bagging up this 44 pounder the end of June. Nice Wooldridge lid Kim

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Tom Scherting's king in front of the caves at East Addington

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Bring back the Sonics dammit

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The Aguilera's with Hannahs 15 pound August coho

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Pat King from Wenatchee with his low 30's king caught in 22 feet of water

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Sometimes they let me hold one up for a photo. I love my J.O.B.

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To Be Continued
