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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: The Great Alaska Salmon Shark Adventure  (Read 17885 times)

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polepole

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The cats out of the bag now, so I figured I'd share with you all the plans we have in Valdez, other than the trip I'm taking to Hinchinbrook island before this.  Here's a write up that Allen Bushnell put together.

-Allen

The Great Alaska Salmon Shark Adventure is almost upon us.  We've been keeping it sorta quiet, but looks like it's all a go. Thanks to Pole Pole for the idea and the initial footwork, and the contacts in Valdez.  All the guys are Ocean Kayak Fishing Crew guys on this trip.  The group of four Ocean Kayak Fishing Crew members participating are:

Allen Bushnell, Santa Cruz CA
Allen Sansano, Seattle WA
Howard McKim, Ketchikan, Ak
Chris Mautino, Seward Ak

We will be hosted by Captain Otto Kulm, from Pacific Mountain Guides in Valdez, Ak.  From July 23 through 26, we will be in Prince William Sound, AK, fishing from Prowler 13's.  We'll be mothershipped  on Capt. Otto's M/V Bold Eagle, a fast 34-foot live aboard.  Our targets include giant Pacific Halibut and Silver Salmon.  The main quarry , however, will be Salmon Shark.

Smaller cousins of the Great White and Mako Sharks, the Salmon Shark typically range between 250-500 pounds.  Capt Otto is a pioneer in the Salmon Shark sportfishery, and is the most experienced skipper for this exciting and dangerous game.  To our knowledge, no one has targeted this giant gamefish from a kayak, so we will be the pioneers with our effort.  Safety will be the prime factor in our hunt with pulse-pounding adrenalized excitement running a close second.  Salmon Shark are in the area in the thousands, and they are a very edible fish if taken care of properly.  Much like Thresher Shark, the meat is reminiscent of swordfish.

Who knows, we might decide it's too dangerous to target the Salmon Shark from the yaks, but we're going to give it a serious try.

Our goal is to establish a new record for the largest game fish ever caught from a kayak.

Of course, we will document the adventure prolifically.  We'll have tons of photos and probably even videos of the adventure.


boxofrain

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Godspeed to you Allen Sansano, and your brave idio... COHORTS!
 Beyond my thoughts!
 I would like a signed copy of a picture of you and a monster like that on my office wall !!!
the memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime.


ZeeHawk

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You guys F*&KIN ROCK!!! >:D Now if I was only sponsored by OK! :D Go get 'em Pole2. I'm really interested in seeing the results of this trip. Talk about an adventure! Banzai x3 for our fearless NWKA leader! BANZAI!!! BANZAI!!! BANZAI!!!  :D :D
And way to rep NWKA!!

Z
2010 Angler Of The Year
2008 Moutcha Bay Pro - Winner
Jackson kayaks, Kokatat, Daiwa, Werner Paddles, Orion, RinseKit, Kayak Academy


polepole

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Packing is a pain in the ass.  I'm trying to keep one bag under 50 pounds, in addition to carry on, and a rod case.

I did manage to get right under 50 pounds but had to remove 3 pounds of jigs.  I now have very little lead in my bag and will just have to buy when I'm up there.  I'm also bringing a PFD and a paddle (4 piece).  Last time I was in Ketchikan it really bugged me that I didn't have my own PFD and paddle.  It just didn't feel right.  I know ... sounds picky and spoiled.  Rod cases aren't counted as baggage on Alaska so I have room for one 50# box of fish on the way home.

So what am I bringing to fish with on this trip.  Well I was lucky to get some Lamiglas kayak series rods sent my way at a great deal.  So I'm going to give these a spin.  My big gun rod is the LK7640C rod ratet 20-40# line.  I'm slapping a TLD15 on it.  This same reel was my butt reel up in Ketchikan last year.  It's loaded with 30# spectra, and I'll use it primarily for deep jigging butts (10" Kalin glow worms) or live baiting lings.  The second rod I'm bringing is an LK7620S spinning rod rated 8-20.  This will pull double duty as I'm bringing both a spinning and a conventional reel for it.  I'll use the spinning real when tossing jigs to pinks, or spinners to SRC's and dollies.  Ideally I'd have brought something a step or 2 lighter, but I also wanted this rod to handled jigging for rockfish with a conventional reel.  I didn't want to bring 3 rods.  For the salmon shark, we'll rely on the boat gear, which is beefier than anything I'm bringing.

Sometimes you just got to roll with the punches.  the P13's got a late start heading up to Valdez and won't be up there in time for the Hinchenbrook part of the trip, but they will be there in time for the salmon shark part of the trip.  So we're going with Otto's WS Rides.  I don't think they'll be as flexible in the open water as the P13's would have been, but we'll work with them.

Well, my flight leaves first thing in the morning.  You all be good here on the site in my absence.  I'll check in between trips if I can and give a report or 2.

-Allen


Fishin-T

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Polepole,

As our clearly FEARLESS leader likes to say:  "Go get 'em!"

Fishin-T
If at first you don't succeed....  maybe skydiving is just not for you.


ZeeHawk

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HANA PA'A BRADDAH! >:D

Z
2010 Angler Of The Year
2008 Moutcha Bay Pro - Winner
Jackson kayaks, Kokatat, Daiwa, Werner Paddles, Orion, RinseKit, Kayak Academy


polepole

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Just getting set to head out for the sharks tomorrow.  Here's a few more details but I don't have a whole lot of time to post right now and I can't get pics up.

Got to Valdez and the boat was broken.  So we lost 3 days and were only out camping for 2 nights.  Oh well, that's how things roll some times.  There are 30M pink salmon returning to Valdez so we fished for them and were constantly hooked up until our arms were sore.  Floated the Robe river in kayaks a couple times and caught a 12 pound coho and lots of dolly varden up to 26 inches, all on the fly.  That's a beautiful little drift there.  Finally the boat was fixed and we got to go camping.  Fished hard for 2 days and had non stop action on lings (we had 4 at 39,40,43,44 inches on the first days and started releasing all others) and butts (all chickens, nothing larger than 17-18 pounds).  Let me tell you, a 44 inch ling is really big.  I deck handed on the boat the last couple days and we caught a 51 incher ... now that huge.  We also had butts to 90 pounds, loads of large blacks (have you ever seen an 8 pound black?), lots of yelloweyes, and some bonus silvers.

Anyways, I gotta go run some errands before the rest of the guys get into town.  I donated a pair of sunglasses to the sea and need to replace them.  Will post a full report upon my return.

-Allen


polepole

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We did it!!!  Within 5 minutes of hitting the water Howard McKim hooked up first.  As I turned to speed over to him, my line got slammed, then within a few minutes, both Allen Bushnell and Chris Mautino were hooked up.  Needless to say, it was pandemonium with all 4 of our kayaks getting towed around.  The support boat was busy zipping back and forth checking on us.  About an hour later Howard had his on the leader, then I did, and so did Allen.  We had sharks jumping all around us chasing salmon and at one point a humpback surfaced between Howard and I.  Lot's of life around.  Chris' popped off but he dropped a bait (whole salmon) back down and was slammed again.  We took 2 of the beast and released the other 2.  All the fish were estimated in the 400+ pound range.  Let me tell you, trying to deal with a large shark at the kayak gets your heart pumping.  We'll be having a shark eating party some time soon.  These fish are TASTY!  The 2 we kept taped out at 91 and 94 inches, and really fat.  These fish kicked our butts.  I couldn't straighten my right arm for a few hours as it cramped up in place.  I can't upload pics right now, but will get home late tonight and start in on a more detailed report with pics first thing tomorrow morning.  Allen B  is on his way to Ketchikan with Howard so maybe they will be able to upload some pics this evening.

-Allen


Fishin-T

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Polepole & Ocean Kayak Team,

Congrats to you, guys!

If this kind of excitement doesn't jump start kayak fishing in the great N.W., then nothing ever will.  Save a small chunck of that meat for me!  I need to know for myself "what does it taste like?"  Save me a seat on next years mission too... I'll start doing my curls first thing tonight.

Fishin-T
If at first you don't succeed....  maybe skydiving is just not for you.


ZeeHawk

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Like I said over on ncka... NCKA/NWKA represent!! Awesome!

Z
2010 Angler Of The Year
2008 Moutcha Bay Pro - Winner
Jackson kayaks, Kokatat, Daiwa, Werner Paddles, Orion, RinseKit, Kayak Academy


polepole

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Just a teaser pic as I'm on a slow connection right now.

-Allen


Fishin-T

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ALRIGHT!!!  Totally cool.

So now everybody here at work is asking: "So how did they get them dead?"

Fishin-T
If at first you don't succeed....  maybe skydiving is just not for you.


polepole

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Think buoy, harpoon, and bangstick.   ;)

-Allen


Pisco Sicko

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Must have been a hoot with all those hookups at once. Congratulations!

Nice flat water, too.


Pisco Sicko

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Quote
In Victoria right now ... off to Nootka shortly ...

-Allen


Rough, dude, real rough. ::)

I'm interested in hearing your report on Nootka. Moutcha's water taxi service sounds like a good deal.