November in Kachemak Bay

[Dave Collett-Paule]

Hey all, we're having a great run of weather, warm temperatures (above freezing) and no snow here in Alaska (sorry lower 48).  We took advantage of it today and hooked this 20 lb white king off Yukon Island.  The Pau Hana can fish!

Dave in Homer

[Brian.Dixon]

Excellent!  You're making me hungry ...I didn't go salmon fishing this year, so my freezer just has a bunch of frost-bitten salmon from last year ...I'm thinking it's going into the compost bin...

Brian

PS: Tried your wife's pizza dough recipe this weekend ...turned out great!  (Except perhaps for our hodge-podge selection of toppings ... )

[Dave Collett-Paule]

Glad the pizza dough worked.  That was the first white king I've caught.  The meat seems to have more fat,  now I know what they mean by "buttery."  Delicious.  Here's a pic of the white (ivory colored) next to last week's king.

[Brian.Dixon]

Need any help getting that boat bloodied up?   

I'd like to catch a white sometime... And now that we're going to go ahead and stay in Alaska indefinitely, maybe I will?  I need to sell my car, buy a truck, and somehow get a boat ...

bd

[Dave Collett-Paule]

You need to build a GA!

[Brian.Dixon]

You need to build a GA!

Your boat was/is so addictive ...don't think that I haven't considered it.  Not sure I want to commit the hours though ...at this point, money's easier to come up with than time.  Not that I would wish you any ill will at all ...but you DO have me in your will, right?  Ha ha ...LOL  (Just kidding, bro...)

Brian

[Dave Collett-Paule]

I hear you.  I've got a ton of respect for the guys who build these boats and have full time occupations. Huge commitment.

[Brian.Dixon]

I hear you.  I've got a ton of respect for the guys who build these boats and have full time occupations. Huge commitment.

...I've seen more than one boat builder start out with a wife and no boat, and end up with a boat and no wife after spending all their time building the boat.  Of course, that's not always a bad thing 

Brian

[Ed Snyder]

Some of us call the boat the wife.........

[Dave Collett-Paule]

Continuing with the winter King Salmon fishery, we have caught Kings in each month since October.  The latest pair were nearly twins, one was 15 and one was 16 lbs.  Yesterday, off the bluffs west of Homer, aboard the Pau Hana.

[Cannon]

Some of us down here in the lower 48 have to wait for the season opener
Sometimes life is just not fair!

[Dave Collett-Paule]

Cannon, this is a unique sport fishery.  Years ago, once the biologists determined that these kings are not local fish, but rather "feeders" in their normal winter range, they decided that in Kachemak Bay we could catch two a day throughout the winter.  The fish come from all over, southeast Alaska, B.C., even some WA and OR fish.  We caught a hatchery king a few weeks ago (missing adipose fin) and turned in the head to Fish and Game.  We will eventually get the data from the coded wire in the head to tell us where that fish came from.

[Cannon]

They have a black mouth fishery in Peuget Sound for a little winter action up in Washington. I have always wanted to give it a shot, but it is quite a haul from here. I have been hitting the Lingcod, out of Depoe Bay weather permitting just to keep from getting cabin fever...

[Saxe Point]

We can fish for springs [kings, chinook salmon] in the ocean year-round, although there are restrictions on how many you can keep, hatchery, slot limits etc. that vary from time to time. The Winter Springs are excellent eating.

[Dave Collett-Paule]

The winter king fishery is over, which means that here in Kachemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet from April 1 to September 30 we have a 5-fish limit and each King has to be recorded on your harvest card.  But that doesn't mean the fishing has slowed down.  Went to the head of the Bay on Good Friday and caught a couple of slabs 12 and 15 lbs.  The bigger one was a White King.  Later I caught a 10-pounder.  If you look ate the fish I'm holding you'll see it has no adipose fin.  That means it is a hatchery fish, so we have to take its head into Fish and Game and fill out a report stating date and place of catch, length and weight.  They send it off to a lab where the encoded wire tag embedded in the skull can be extracted and read under a microscope. Got one of these a few months ago and got the report back that it had been released at the Chelan falls hatchery in WA.

We've caught Kings in each of the months since September.  Life is good on the Bay and the Pau Hana is working great.  It's really interesting learning the ins and outs of trolling.  I'm still a novice and the learning curve is steep but its a lot of fun.

Cheers from Homer for Easter.