3/11-3/12 Homer Report (not a good one)

I fished all day Saturday and for a couple hours Sunday morning.  I was trolling artificials for kings, and also spent some time jigging for halibut on Saturday.   No luck to be had anywhere.  I wasn't marking many fish with the plotter, and didn't see any power boats catching.  The weather Saturday was great and made for a great day of kayaking and whale watching.  There was a lone humpback whale and several sea lions off the end of the spit on Saturday.  Sunday was a little colder, with NE wind blowing.  There was even less activity on the plotter, and the water just seemed "dead" with fewer birds and animals around.  I had somewhere to be later in the day, so I called it quits early.  Water temps I observed were between 34 and 35 degrees. 

I also had no luck Friday evening and all day Saturday. I went out with Capt. Shane on Sunday. We had 6 people on the boat and only 5/6 kings were caught. He had to work hard to find them. We were on the water from 8:30 AM until 6:30 PM! We fished the bluffs, 4th of July Creek, and in an area between the bluffs and the spit.


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Daughter is in a diving group thru  UAF at the K-bay research station. I'm hoping for Intel. If u get any I will pass along to you. Bummer you did not hook up bu t you were out there and that counts. Good luck on next trip.

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Kat, if you had a slow day on the Huntress, it was just a slow day period. I don't feel so bad about my unsuccessful efforts now.


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Thanks for the report Low-sky.

It's typical this time of year.  But it only takes that one fish to really change your attitude!

I think Captain Shane has the Misty.  Josh Brooks runs the Huntress.  Both captains are fish catching machines. 

Thanks for the correction Rudy, I get my professional king slaying machines mixed up. One of the days I'm gonna pony up the cash for one of them to show me how to catch kings, but until then I'll keep throwing money away two tanks of gas at a time. $$$


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Tournament Strategies: ??

Digging through my past records on who's biting what around this king tournament time frame.
Of course the winter weather has ranged across extremes since 2013 and that includes the water temperatures. So this info may be taken with a grain of salt. 

On March 9, 2013 the kings were feeding on what appears to be some kind of a bleny or gobie in their bellies. Blunt nose.  That was a typical cold winter and water temps.




March 30, 2014 was another "normal" winter and water temps. On this date every king was loaded with hooligan in their bellies. Shane put 5 in the boat that were all feeding on this baitfish. The next day Denny landed a 35 pounder up at Anchor Point on a green herring.


On February 12, 2015 the kings were gorging on big herring. This was the start of the El Niño event and a warm winter and early spring. No doubt the herring spawning run was a bit early this year. Or at least they were staging in the area early.


March 10, 2017 Matt's king with small shrimp in its belly. Hmm, just had to buy a handful of these last night on ebay to try out later. I figure bottom bumping/jigging on the run might present another match the hatch offering. These shrimp are 3" long in body not counting the antenna and feelers. So they have a good size hook. Glow bead and the shank of the hook is coated with glow in the dark paint too. Give them a good "bath" in Mike's Krill or Shrimp Scent.   Of course this offering could result in a lot of AOTY "tiny fish" halibut and flounders. 



I would think with the frigid water temperatures this year the hooligan and herring may be delayed and in short supply at this time. If the salmon are having to switch to alternative food sources presenting smaller "bites" they very well might have a preference for big bait offerings if they can find them. The charters stick to bait once winter sets in with few fish on hardware until the weather and water warms.

Even though the fishing sucked, last weekend wasn't a total bust.  I did get to meet the whale that's been hanging out off the spit.

Even though the fishing sucked, last weekend wasn't a total bust.  I did get to meet the whale that's been hanging out off the spit.

That is so cool getting up close and personal in stealth mode. Thanks Low_Sky for capturing (and sharing) that. Looks like "he" (most likely) found dinner in the last frame.
 I'm hoping my kayaking memories will include some of those close encounters of the right kind and provide me a whale of a tale to tell. 

My best encounter to date was when 3 belugas swam right through my duck decoys in the tide water of the Kenai River while they were trying to corner a school of coho at the mouth of a small side slough just 20 feet off shore from where I stood. No camera phones or GoPros in those days. But I'm ready now!

Awesome footage, people pay big money to come up here and see one of those big beasts. I'd say it's worth a couple tanks of gas.


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That was ultra cool.  We have had encounters at about that distance but we weren't quite prepared and frankly was pedaling like crazy to get out of the way.  great footage!

I can attest to Rudy's statement.  Whale came up about 40-60ft to his bow went under and resurfaced right behind me as I was following the troll pattern. Ether the whale was in stelth mode or my FF was on the fritz  because I did nor get an image. That was an Elks Club Tourney moment not to be forgot.
The joy of being out there.
I'm still fishing vicariously but hope to see some of you after April 22nd.

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