The Selfie Whale Pass Fishing Report

A plethora of illness has struck the Lodge this week. Both staff and guests have been bitten by an unpleasant bug, which so far I have managed to avoid. I can only hope my luck continues.

The pink salmon are thick at Neck Lake Outlet and in the 108 Creek. Small, flashy pink flies work really well. It’s almost stupid fishing, it’s so easy.

Two days this week found me in the bus driver mode, ferrying passengers to or from the  AnAn Bear Observation Area. With nice weather it’s a little over two hours each way in the North River boats we use here. The first trip gave me no passengers and all afternoon to fish my way back. Of course advantage was taken of this.

JK driving the “bus.”

I had seen charter boats fishing the south end of the Seward Passage on earlier trips. They were there again. I decided to join them.

It was deep, 320 feet. The halibut I caught had to be pulled up a long way. Perhaps greedily I was hoping for a lingcod too, but that did not happen.

The halibut I selfied.

I stopped at Onslow Point, hoping for a lingcod or another halibut there. In 300 feet of water I got a bite. I pulled up a bright orange rockfish that weighed eight pounds, a Yelloweye. Sadly but predictably it was bloated from the pressure change, and there was no way to release it.

A yellow eye rockfish, all bloated up.

After crossing the Clarence Strait some trolling was tried in the vicinity of Ratz Harbor, which produced one undersized king salmon. There were lots of salmon jumping, so a jig on a light spinning rod was tried. I hooked but lost a fish. It felt like a nice one. I would like to think it was a silver, but it was probably a pink.

The water was slick calm and you could see the schools of salmon pushing wakes as they came out of the strait heading into the harbor. It was quite an exciting sight!

I got my seven-weight out, then tried to intercept them coming in. The first few schools did not give me the time of day, but then a fat buck pink struck. It was a decent fish, six or seven pounds, big for a pink. The release was successful.

I could have stayed and done that for a long time but it was late. I ran the rest of the way back to the lodge, wondering if I would ever experience that awesome spot again.

The halibut bite remains strong. Lots of cod and rockfish are being caught, too.

Whales will distract the angler fishing the Triplets.

Mooching and trolling around the Triplets is still producing pink, silver, and king salmon. The whale shows have been awesome, too. Thirteen year old Aaron from New York got a 33 inch, 14 pound king salmon while mooching on Friday afternoon, the first salmon he’d ever caught. Good way to kick off a fishing career!

Aaron started his fishing career with this king salmon.

Seals bask on a tiny gravel beach at the Triplets.

And that is this week’s Whale Pass Fishing Report from the Lodge at Whale Pass.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.