Alaska Salmon Fishing

[hammerhead]

What I am wondering Is anchor point good salmon trolling grounds in early July? Or anywhere in the Cook inlet Near Homer? How many lb. lead do you guys use up there on your riggers? Type and size of release clips? Gear? Bait? Lure? Methods of fishing?

My son and I will be up there from June 30th to July 9th this year. Will be staying in Soldotna and my friend has a 180 to fly back and forth to Homer. If one of you guys or gals would help us out, we would surly be willing to take you out with us. I would even be willing to pay for an onboard saltwater salmon fishing trolling, mooching, catching lesson. Or Maybe you could recommend a guide we could book with for a day of Salmon Fishing in the Salt?


Another post to our friends up north for advice. I get up to Alaska once every year or so, and will probably become a summertime resident one day. I have fished the Kenai Peninsula and I do have a friend building a cabin on the Kenai river as well as having a Boat in Homer. He has spent many summers up there and has yet to figure out how, where and when to catch salmon in the salt water. We have caught plenty of salmon in the rivers. He is also very good a t locating and landing plenty of Halibut.

Catching a 60 or 70+ lb King to mount is a dream I am sure we will both realize one day soon on the Kenai. However there is nothing like fresh caught ocean salmon for grilling and smoking. I know they catch them out in the cook inlet, but we are amateurs when it comes to using downriggers and Catching fresh Salmon in the Salt in Alaska. Last year we tried and I did manage to land a nice fresh king by free lining a herring while drifting trying to get the downriggers set up.
( Everybodys gets lucky once in awhile ).


Any Takers? Any Advice?

 

[rogerbum]

What I am wondering Is anchor point good salmon trolling grounds in early July? Or anywhere in the Cook inlet Near Homer? How many lb. lead do you guys use up there on your riggers? Type and size of release clips? Gear? Bait? Lure? Methods of fishing?
<stuff clipped>
Any Takers? Any Advice?

I can't help with info about the area but a few of the others things I can help with as I can't imagine there's a huge difference in what works between Wa and Alaska (probably lots of difference in local preference but....)

Lead - 12lb's are a good size for most uses, you can get by with less but with typical currents, it's better to go with 12. IMHO, buy the cheapest rigger balls you can find as it's easy to lose them to the bottom, crab pot with buoys below the water, etc..

The concensus choice on clips round here are the Scotty ones - get the heavier clip releases if you plan on using firewire or similar. With big flashers, the std. ones may not hold the line. After learning from Gary Johnson (gflr), I use 60" leads that clip onto the cable. Set the stoppers for the riggers so that the automatic stop leaves the balls just under the water (that way they don't bang around - you can nudge them up when the fish gets close). The 60" leads then get clipped 1/2 between the boom an the ball. The long leads allow you to reach out with a de-hooker (a 3-5' stick with a cup hook on the end) to retrieve them and they can be flipped over the gunnel while you're messing with other stuff. This makes it considerably easier/safer as you don't have to lean over or lift up on the riggers to set the line again).

For terminal gear there's lots of options but the top 3 choices are

1) Cut plug herring with or without a flasher. When fish are in, it's hard to beat fresh bait and a cut plug will generally catch more fish than anything else.

2) Flasher/hootchy combo - I usually use a green/glow or red/glow flasher with a green/glow hootchy and "twinkle skirt" (an insert for the hootchie - not something I wear - figured I'd get this in before B.C. asked for a photo of me in the twinkle skirt!). A herring strip or other scent helps a lot.

3) Flasher/coyote spoon (or similar combo).

For flashers, we use 11" ones most often and most often green/glow.
Distance from flasher to whatever is behind is 18" - 36" with about 24-30" being most common. Used 40-50lb mono behind the flasher to impart the most action to the terminal bait.

IMHO - fresh bait is hard to beat. If you are around schools of bait, take the time to jig up a few dozen. When fish are in (especially coho), a cut plug or whole bait trolled behind on a simple banana weigh wiill often outfish all of the 100's of $'s of other stuff in my boat and is MUCH quicker to get back in the water. If I am running more than 2 poles, I don't bother to stack them on the riggers but rather run the 3rd with a banana weight (usually 4-8oz). I find it's a lot more fun to fight fish on this set-up (relative to a flasher).

Coho are generally within the top 50' of water when feeding and I usually troll at around 25-35' for coho regardless of where I'm at. Kings, are a different story and are usually lower in the water column 50' to much deeper depending on the area.

 

[tpbrady]

I've worked with a fishing charter operation out of Ninilchik the past 12 years and for salmon in July, we are generally trolling just off the beach in relatively shallow water. Most of the time we are using divers or banana weights with plug cut herring and flashers. For the most part we are targeting kings heading into the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers (the majority are Kenai Kings). Sometimes they are running right up on the beach and sometimes they are quite a ways out. I don't believe it is nearly as consistent as fishing in the rivers themselves since the fish can be all over. Just below our campground, are the first set net sites on the east side (owned by the Lt Governor). Some year they do well and some years they don't even break even as the fish swing in and out from the beach. I generally fish 25 lb line and just hope I can follow a fish if he tries to spool me.

As you get closer to Homer, you are mainly hitting feeder kings and not the spawners you see further north.

I'd say look for kings and that failing go for the halibut.

 

[hammerhead]

Thank you guys, I like the banana weight idea, and will try to get my friend lined up for trolling with downriggers as well.

Doug

 

[akdeweyj]

What I am wondering Is anchor point good salmon trolling grounds in early July? Or anywhere in the Cook inlet Near Homer? How many lb. lead do you guys use up there on your riggers? Type and size of release clips? Gear? Bait? Lure? Methods of fishing?
Maybe you could recommend a guide we could book with for a day of Salmon Fishing in the Salt?
Any Takers? Any Advice?

Anchor Point to Deep Creek is a very good place to catch salmon, but early July is not the best time to fish for them. The bulk of the kings headed for the Kenai have passed thru the area prior to then. To catch alot of kings or to have a better chance to catch a king, you want to be fishing these areas from mid May to mid June.

I have not seen anyone salmon fishing with downriggers in the area - the tidal currents do not favor downriggers. Most troll caught fish are caught in less than 50 feet of water on 2-4 ounce trolling weights & if you get into alot of kings, you can stop the boat & mooch with the same setup.

For a guide, try Mark or Mike at Chihuly's Charters in Ninilchik at 907 567-3374 ~ they helped to pioneer the sport fishery off Deep Creek in 1984 & are one of the best charter outfits operating in lower Cook Inlet.

Most charter outfits launch out of Deep Creek & head south toward Anchor Point or launch from Homer & head north to Anchor Point. The best fishing for salmon is between Deep Creek & Anchor Point ~ As a bonus in this area, you can fish for salmon on the incoming tide & then head out deep to halibut fish the high & outgoing tide.