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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Homer Kings - Saturday "Recap" 10-15  (Read 1910 times)

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Klondike Kid

  • Lingcod
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  • Alaska Outdoor Journal
  • Location: Kenai Peninsula, AK
  • Date Registered: Sep 2016
  • Posts: 488
Finally made it to Homer. Last minute priorities put me in the water at 2pm with the power boat, downrigger camera batteries charged and loaded and a tackle box full of experimental rigs and lures to give their day in the sun. Fairly good size fleet off the Spit when I arrived with 3 'yakers on the water too.

Turns out the early morning bite was good for most boats. Checking in with my contact he said radio chatter indicated 3 boats he knew out there had limited all on board in the morning. Speaking with a few boats back at the ramp Saturday evening as I was pulling out had mentioned the same thing. They hit fish in the morning, went halibut fishing, came back to fish the afternoon and zilch. In the 5 hours I was dragging my offerings I never saw a single boat with a net up from 2pm to 7pm. I may have been looking in the wrong direction at times but for the most part afternoon and evening was dead. Talked with one boat next to me who hit 3 and landed one in several hours. I see easyyakker's post confirming his success in the morning too and a dandy fish it was.  Captain Shane put 12 kings in his fishbox this day and was back at the harbor mouth at 3:22pm when I rendezvoused with him for some picture-taking of his boat on the water.  He got most of his fish on hardware with only a few on herring. He runs 4 downriggers with a cross-section of lures and bait all day as fish even change their preferences as the day wears on.

I marked lots of bait and many individual fish over the course of the day. Lots of bait along the rip on the outgoing tide with a few birds working them but no predators.

Although the water looked clean I decided to run an unusually shorter leader dropback from my downrigger cam but there was still way too much plankton and algae in the water for filming. I could barely see my flashers but not the lures or bait. Still need to wait until the winter chill and low light knocks the algae down for better camera viz.  I did see one king flash in the dim on my hootchie rig but never had a hookup all day.

Can't complain about a beautiful day on the water though, especially at this time of year. Here is some eye candy from the day.
[Sorry I didn't get shots of the two Papayas on the scene before they left. Haven't met anyone yet but figured out one guy. :) ]

BTW, It was 16°F this morning at first light in SOLDOTNA. Fat Lady is tuning up! Marine Forecast is for VERY NASTY weather from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday. Not a good forecast for the poly fleet.


UNKNOWN ASSAILANT SEEN STALKING INNOCENT KINGS



DRUM BEAT - Low_Sky HEADING OUT TO THE KILLING FIELDS


WORKING IT - GIVING THE CONDOS SOMETHING TO WATCH


RIDING INTO THE SUNSET ON A POLY PONY


LONESOME LOW_SKY


ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR CAPT. SHANE


CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T GIVE IT THE OL' COLLEGE TRY

(5 hours SPOT satellite tracking)
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Take a Kid Fishing and Hook'em For Life!  ~KK~


easyyakker

  • Lingcod
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  • Location: Soldotna, AK
  • Date Registered: May 2016
  • Posts: 229
Klondike-Kid

Thanks for that complete report. I have a friend who went down this morning in his power boat. He reports it was pretty nasty. The wind was blowing straight out of the Bay. He landed one and was frustrated by many strikes that didn't hook up. He limited fairly easily on Saturday. sounds like a good day to not have been trying the yak attack.

If nothing else, you got to enjoy a great day (could be the last for a while) and you got  some great photos.


Low_Sky

  • Salmon
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  • Location: Anchorage, AK
  • Date Registered: Oct 2015
  • Posts: 521
Thanks for sharing these pics, KK! I was fishing blind, so I'm glad to know I wasn't missing much without the fish finder. What a beautiful evening to be on the water, even if the fish weren't cooperating.

My white navigation light got its first mileage since I installed it last spring and it obviously did the trick since the few motor boats that were out after dark gave me a wide berth.


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2016 Hobie Revolution 16
2014 Perception Triumph 13


Klondike Kid

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  • Location: Kenai Peninsula, AK
  • Date Registered: Sep 2016
  • Posts: 488
Thanks for sharing these pics, KK! I was fishing blind, so I'm glad to know I wasn't missing much without the fish finder. What a beautiful evening to be on the water, even if the fish weren't cooperating.

My white navigation light got its first mileage since I installed it last spring and it obviously did the trick since the few motor boats that were out after dark gave me a wide berth.

Hmm, I thought your fish finder head was back from the mother ship. 

BTW, after watching 3.68 hours of downrigger cam footage (I got an accurate runtime on the rig this trip) I can see that some of the "fish" that are marking on the FF are those big dark rusty brown jellyfish that are dense enough to mark as a decent fish.  :D  Because the algae was obscuring my view of the lure or bait there may have been a few followers that didn't show. The only salmon that did appear on the footage was one or two that came in on my hootchie rig that made several rushed passes without a bite. Couldn't tell if it was two; one came from above down to the lure and the other seemed to rush up from lower so it might have been a small school.  Also some of the "baitfish" I was marking appear to be underwater "cyclones" of salt grass strands in swirling "clouds" coming off the rip line at the end of the spit. Always something to learn from UW video even if you don't get a bite.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Take a Kid Fishing and Hook'em For Life!  ~KK~


jmbx2ditto

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  • Date Registered: Jun 2015
  • Posts: 193
Jellyfish--that great intel. Those days you mark fish but can't catch a bite, I can blame Jellyfish instead of ...#@&*!! Who brought the banana to a fishing trip.


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Low_Sky

  • Salmon
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  • Location: Anchorage, AK
  • Date Registered: Oct 2015
  • Posts: 521
The head unit did return, and it even made it into the truck. I forgot to reinstall it on my custom Ram ball mount. Doh!


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2016 Hobie Revolution 16
2014 Perception Triumph 13


Klondike Kid

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  • Alaska Outdoor Journal
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  • Date Registered: Sep 2016
  • Posts: 488
Jellyfish--that great intel. Those days you mark fish but can't catch a bite, I can blame Jellyfish instead of ...#@&*!! Who brought the banana to a fishing trip.

I used to make a mean banana nut bread for snacks on fishing trips but after I learned about the banana jinx while fishing on a Seward charter back in the 70's I switched to making a mean zucchini nut bread. Ate half a loaf Saturday out in the boat = No Bites.  Hmm, might have to make some adjustments and go with Blueberry Muffins next time.  ;D
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Take a Kid Fishing and Hook'em For Life!  ~KK~


kardinal_84

  • Sturgeon
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  • Perseverance Pays!
  • Kayak Fishing Southcentral Alaska
  • Location: Anchorage, AK
  • Date Registered: Mar 2011
  • Posts: 4216
Some great pics KK!

Hopefully I will be down there soon!
Personal Chauffeur for Kokatat & Hobie Fishing Team member, Ryu .

Personal fishing sites of Alaska Kayak Angling adventures of my son and I. I am NOT a guide.
guidesak.blogspot.com
AlaskaKayakFisher.com


Klondike Kid

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  • Date Registered: Sep 2016
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Some great pics KK!

Hopefully I will be down there soon!


Well I see some snow on the Spit beach this morning and white on the ground here at HQ so my power boat downrigger cam experimental trips are winding down. Can't beat FREE launch at the harbor now that the money booth is closed for the winter.  Maybe one more before letting the PB go into hibernation for the winter. I still have some experimental lures and lights in transit from China I want to try with the UW cam to see what the fish think.   Then it will have to be kayak time for the winter.  MUCH to learn so you will probably have a shadow on any day we might match up trips. I did learn one very "disturbing" fact about a new UV E Chip flasher I was trying (and filming) for the first time. No wonder a salmon could not grab my bait. Was trolling at their recommended range of speeds and it was so erratic with such a wide area it moved in (both vertically and horizontally) there is no way any salmon could grab the bait on a 3 foot leader. Might have to use that one for target practice. Worthless unless you run an 8 foot leader back to the bait or lure to dampen the action on the hook end. They recommend only a 2 foot leader.

On an aside, am thinking of one or more lake trips to Kenai Lake this winter with the kayak for those lake trout in the Bait Allowed zone 1/4 mile out from the hiway bridge. Very productive in the winter once the ice is safe but until the lake freezes those lakers are within easy reach past the ADFG marker designating bait use. 20-30 feet of water. They love salmon roe. Boat launch is only $5 at the State ramp by the bridge. And the limit is 10 per day for any <20" which most are.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Take a Kid Fishing and Hook'em For Life!  ~KK~