Veteran's Day - Homer Spit kings

Couldn't resist the temptation of cooperating weather and waves so I trucked on down to Homer Friday. Didn't start trolling until 12:55pm. About six other boats, no kayakers. The afternoon was very slow. I didn't actually see any boat fight and land a fish but a couple times I noticed downrigger weights at the surface or someone reaching for the net on a boat far away. So a few were being taken around the Spit in the early afternoon.

I spoke with Shane and he said that the morning bite was very good. Everyone that was out there was DONE by noon and some had limited by 10am which is only an hour after sunrise. I guess I started after everyone had finished and come back in. Took me 2 hours to hit my first fish. I worked a Procure hooligan for the first hour without any takers although I haven't reviewed the camera footage to see if there were some fish interested but not buying it. Switched over to a Mike's fluorescent blue Gel scent in herring on a herring that produced the first fish.

Then tried a Mike's fluorescent orange Gel scent in sardine on my herring for my next bait trial. Picked up the second king around 3:35pm after all the remaining boats had gone back to the harbor. Fishing at 40 feet all day. First fish in 80 feet and second fish in 118 feet.

8.6# and 9.3# No hatchery fish this time. But still batting 1000. 3 trips, 3 limits + a halibut, on 10 herring/hooligan. I haven't opened their bellies yet or reviewed the downrigger cam footage yet so I may have something to tack onto this report later.

One fish was eating capelin, the other had a couple of 3 inch sandlance....and it was a she with a couple of immature skeins of eggs. So this was probably her last grow year before heading back to home waters.  Maybe she was an Oregon Springer.

The downrigger cam vid did show two salmon when I was running the hooligan. One trailed for a bit showing pretty good interest and short nips, the other came up from below and cruised right on by without a second look. Neither took a bite.

Turbidity in the water was crap. I ran the flasher only 5-6 feet from the camera and on some runs couldn't see the herring just 3 feet further back. I did notice that between red dyed bait and silver scales on the undyed herring, under those water conditions the "flash" of the silver sides showed at a longer distance.

For the two that took the scented herring the first was very persistent in wanting that meal and didn't give up until he was on the hook. That was the Mike's herring flavor. The second fish on Mike's sardine scent went straight to the bait from the side, slammed it and was on. No chasing with feeble attempts and short strikes.

Webcams show flat seas down there again today but RAIN. And can't see any boats at noon.   On a Saturday @ 42°F and no wind.

Great report KK!

Work and family has kept me off the water.  Not sure when I am going to get out next.  Argh!

Hopefully soon though!

Work and family has kept me off the water.  Not sure when I am going to get out next.  Argh!
Hopefully soon though!

Hey Rudy
Boy, you just dodged the big one!  I was about ready to have the authorities perform a "welfare check" on you to make sure you weren't decomposing somewhere. LOL  Totally untypical of your typical routine and activity schedule for sure. Glad to hear its just "business" keeping you off the water and not BURN OUT!

Am still keeping a temporary cover on the PB wanting to get back to Homer for more experimental trials before its time to switch to the kayak. I located the equivalent of a UV 10 watt spotlight that is blinding powerful to look straight at and can light up fluorescent items over 50 feet away. Its almost like a laser beam blacklight.  I'm thinking of rigging it to shine down in the water column at the same angle as my downrigger cable and hopefully light up my UV baits and lures and flashers if they are within the penetration depth for that frequency of light and water conditions.  The downrigger cam will confirm whether its reaching the target at 40 feet or shallower.

 Also working on modifying a swordfish fishing light to change out the LED to a UV LED fishing light to run inline to illuminate the flasher and bait/lure from only 6 feet away. I'll be doing some soldering this evening to see if the UV LED is electrically compatible with the circuit board of the UW fishing light. Colored LEDs are very finicky about specific voltages they run at compared to the other colors. Strange but true.

KK, I love the mad scientist thing you have going on.  Keep it up, buddy!