AKFISHER
2012-06-23 00:16:07
Figured I would take a general census on how everyone thought the King fishery has been so far since April 1st. Anyone catching Coho's in any number yet?
Abundance
2012-06-23 05:23:16
I haven't really tried very hard this June, as I am mostly just puttering on the boat until July or the next bite that I hear about. May was fair to me, but I had the worst March and April that I have ever seen for fishing. It was better in January than in April for fish on Prince of Wales shore. And it wasnt good in January. It doesnt sound like the charter boats are doing well out there right now either. As far as I can tell, the reports from the Yukon on south are the worst on record for kings. Chums and sockeyes seem to be alright though. I have certainly been seeing a lot of sockeys jumping in Clarence Strait. I cant seem to catch any though. There are a few chums and cohos around, but not in good numbers yet.
Salty
2012-06-24 14:59:16
I think Garrett has it right on. Chinook abundance is way down for some reason. In SE it might be due to an unusually cold spring and now a huge run-off from the big snow pac.
The troll chum experiment in Icy Strait is not producing this year. Three of the best chummers in the business just pulled the plug on it yesterday.
The bright side is that the price is still at $6.50 at SPC.
A couple of areas I usually fish are just not producing at all this year, Salisbury and Western Channel.
The Charter fleet is running to Snipe and Slocum from Sitka to get their kings, which is almost unbelievable considering the price of fuel and that there should be plenty closer to town. The Charter fleet is saying the Sea Lions are the worst they have ever seen off of Kruzof, and bad off of Khaz too.
When you do find a fish this spring it is one at a time in tiny little spots that one boat might be able to work. This morning there are 8 boats trying to work a tiny spot with a few fish that would be crowded for two. A good week here is anything over 20. I didn't fish the last two days but a friend did and was skunked both days in Eastern Channel.
I see that Friday's report showed only 18,000 or so Chinook in the spring harvest. I remember when we agreed to the treaty and got several million to invest in Chinook hatcheries which were supposed to produce 100,000 troll harvest of Alaska Hatchery Kings a year. I advised the troll representatives at the time that the long term record for Chinook hatcheries was dismal.
I think that is the word for the spring trolling here in SE....."dismal."
Abundance
2012-06-24 17:00:50
I think that you are dead on target, Mr Jordan. With the coldest winter and spring in along time, you can expect everything from bird migrations to plant growth to be delayed. I know that the Yukon report I read said that the ice melt was very late up there. But the chums seem to be coming in juost fine up there, and Icy Strait aside, the seiners did well for them in Clarence mid-June, and the gillnetters in Wrangel and Juneau seem to be doing the ten year average on chums. I worry about just how late these kings can get before they become noshows. Troll harvest is 65% of normal this spring. The good price all that saving us right now.