Prince Of Wales Sport Fishing - Craig, Alaska Fishing Reports

June 28th Craig, Alaska King Salmon Report

King salmon fishing here in Craig, Alaska has been consistent for those willing to put in the time. A week and a half ago we were getting our limits of king salmon before noon and now we’re having to put in some long hours to come up with our fish every day.

There have been some monster king salmon out there, however, as you can see from the photo of Craig Kvam’s 44 pound king below he caught with us several days ago. We’ve had reports of at least one king salmon being caught over 60 pounds and several more in the 50 pound class. With fish like that swimming around out there it’s not hard to get motivated!

We’re seeing the numbers of silver salmon slowly pick up on the ocean and yesterday we ran into two very large schools of silvers on the way home at the end of the day. Many of us are thinking that July and August are going to be outstanding for silvers.

Most of our time lately has been spent chasing big king salmon and we really have devoted a lot of time to pursuing halibut. Chicken halibut between 15 and 25 pounds have been the norm for most of our king salmon fisherman this month, as well as a mixed bag of ling cod, yelloweye, and black seabass.

Here’s a smattering of fishing photos from the last couple of weeks of king salmon fishing here in Craig.

Rob Tobeck with the 30 pound king salmon he caught near Pineapple Rock

Eric Vanhofwegen hooked up on this 24 pound king after we marked a school of king salmon on the Lowrance broadband sonar

Eric Libolt and the Vanhofwegens with limits of king salmon and yelloweye from the ocean

Another great day for the Vanhofwegens, limiting on king salmon to 26 pounds

Bill, Deborah, and Scott with some Pacific chrome

Craig Kvam and the biggest king of his lifetime, a whopping 44 pounder

Slice and Dice comfirms that it’s a white king

Sally was MIA for a picture with her 27 pound king salmon, so good husband Craig jumped in there with Tim for quick photo

A little incentive for our last group here at Prince of Wales Sportfishing…prizes for the biggest king salmon and halibut of the trip. Craig Kvam went home with an Abu Garcia 6000 line counter reel for his 44 pound king salmon and Chuck Kaiser went back to Ohio with a Grunden’s Windjammer jacket for catching a 27 pound halibut on a salmon rod. He’s going to inform the folks back home that he’s now part of the Deadliest Catch television show!

Tags: Alaska, Charters, Craig, endsley, Fishing, king, lodge, reports, rob, Salmon, southeast.

A saltwater angling adventure in Southeast Alaska is perhaps is one of the most dynamic experiences one can enjoy in the outdoors. Five species of salmon, halibut, ling cod, and over 30 species of rockfish make the west side of Prince of Wales Island a very special place for wetting a line, but the experience doesn’t stop there. The fishing alone isn’t what makes this place so special, it’s the scenery, marine wildlife, the North Pacific’s rugged coastline, and the ever-changing tide and currents that swirl around hundreds of islands that really make Prince of Wales Island an exciting place to fish. Sharing this dynamic experience with close friends and family is what life in the outdoors is all about!

A picture is worth a thousand words! I can describe this experience a hundred different ways, but nothing highlights the saltwater experience better than a photo.  These photos and more are available on the Prince of Wales Sportfishing Photo Gallery page.

We’re hosting all of our Southeast Alaska fishing videos over on The Outdoor Line video page. Check’em out when you get a chance!

Preseason scouting turned up this mid-30’s Chinook for Jim “Bucket” Heins. A better king salmon run than 2008??? You bet it was!

The sweetest lady on Planet Earth, Diana Rumley, bags her first Chinook ever. After a 30 minute battle-royale she landed this 42 pound Chinook!

From the sweetest lady ever to salmon slayer extraordinaire. Tim Linderman with a mid-30’s King on one of those mornings at Cape Ulitka.

You’ve heard that women catch more fish. Well, they do! Bob Say snaps a few photos of Danielle’s 37 pound beauty over on Capt. Kims boat.

A double on a king and silver, both in the upper teens, made this rodeo-bite a memorable experience for all of us! Lots of fun with Al and Julie again this year.

Mac’n Cheese, Top Ramen, and king salmon with a side of halibut. Food for college! I just found this pic from 2008 and couldn’t resist.

Tim “Slice and Dice” Koentopp prepares to slice and dice a thousand pounds of halibut. If you’re into halibut check out these great halibut fishing vids, “Al Sloka’s Halibut” & “Pipe Jig Hammers Halibut”

Those big halibut aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Deb Adams lifts this great-eating chicken halibut for a quick photo off St. Johns Island. We catch plenty of these halibut throughout the summer!

The Marshall gang shows us how to have some fun back at the pier. Chris Miles, owner of Cookin’ on Wood in Phoenix, Arizona (and a POW Sportfishing pro-staffer) whips up a mean mess of grub every night on the dock.

Just another day in paradise! Robert Aguilera lands another fat coho while a humpback whale breaches in the background.

“Quck, everybody grab a fish for a picture before the rain hits!” The Hine gang from Bakersfield with a very quick dock shot before heading for cover. Yes, it rains in Southeast Alaska!

Pete Rathwell with our biggest silver of the summer on the last trip of the summer. A 17 pound brute from Black Rock near Warren Island.

Rick shows some variety with a yelloweye rockfish from an offshore ocean pinnacle.

Ling cod numbers continue to build off the coast providing some pretty wide-open action in 2009. Here’s Robert with a keeper-sized ling caught on a pipe jig. A couple of ling cod videos worth checking out, “No Mas!” & “Ling bites it’s own tail”

A massive school of baitfish slides under the Polar Bear with a wide open coho bite following shortly thereafter.

Capt. Troy hauls a nice halibut aboard the Makai for the Preddy gang from Texas.

A little silver chaos for the Beaudry gang over on Capt. Kims boat. These guys brought 30 pounds of Kobe beef for our evening barbecues on the pier!

One bite of burrito, one chug of salsa! Nothing like a little hair of the dog in the morning.

It wouldn’t be a Southeast Alaskan experience without the humpback whales. A few photos from Rob Endsley’s collection.

From Capt. Rob Endsley, Nicole Huggins, and the great people we work with in Craig, Alaska we sincerely hope you’ll join Prince of Wales Sportfishing for another great summer of fishing and adventure in 2010!

Tags: Alaska, alaskan, blog, Charters, chinook, cod, coho, Craig, endsley, fish, Fishing, Halibut, humpback, island, king, line, ling, lodge, outdoor, photos, pictures, prince, report, rob, Salmon, saltwater, silver, southeast, videos, wales, whale, whales.

Each and every day we’re seeing an improvement in the king salmon action here in Craig.  The key to success lately has been the “stick and stay” program and we’ve been sticking to a deep troll lane off of Baker Island that has been producing king salmon all day long.  We’re mooching in anywhere from 200 to 240 feet of water and the bites are occurring anywhere from 30 feet deep to right on the bottom.  Paul’s big 36 pound hawg was caught just off the bottom today in 210 feet of water and shortly after landing that one we doubled up on king salmon in the low 20’s at 80 feet.  The beauty of mooching is that we can cover it all!

The silver salmon are also making an excellent early showing and with this many fish around now I can only imagine how the fishing will be in July.  Our cohos have been running anywhere from 4 to 8 pounds and I’ve heard of a couple of bigger fish already.  A nice bonus to the king salmon this time of year!

Trust me…I know how hard it can be to not set the hook immediately when a fish grabs your bait on the drop.  Click the reel into gear and reel, reel, reel like son of a gun until the line comes tight…then reel, reel, reel some more to get it even tighter…then set the hook once the fish is already on and peeling line.  Sounds easy doesn’t it!  Fish that hit a mooched bait on the drop are the hottest fish in the ocean, yet they can be the toughest fish to hook because the insulation usually melts off the wires and the fuses blow the second the bait goes “thunk” and the brain says “SET THE HOOK DUMMY!” 

Paul’s arms are about tuckered out after the fight on this 36 pound king salmon.  At one point the line counter read 360 feet…that’s when we decided to chase it : )

The doctors, Barry, Bruce, Bon, and Paul with an early limit of 16 to 36 pound king salmon on a glassy Pacific Ocean. 

Rob Endsley

WWW.PRINCEOFWALESSPORTFISHING.COM

Tags: Alaska, Charters, Craig, cut plug, endsley, Fishing, herring, island, ketchikan, king salmon, lodge, mooching, prince of wales, report, rob, Salmon, silver, southeast alaska fishing report.