Planning: Homer Jan 17 Saturday

So for a variety of reasons...like I need one...I plan to fish Homer Saturday.  It's actually a convergence of positives that gives me confidence that this weekend will be as good of time as any to catch a nice king out of Homer. 

Sunrise is at 9:47am meaning you can hit the water at 9:15ish.  High tide is at 11:39am. l Sunset is at 4:45am.  So in a nutshell you have the good early morning bite that isn't crazy early.  You have high tide at a reasonable hour.  Then you can fish the good bite as it gets darker.  ALL in one 8 hour day!!!

Ok, not sure I am in shape to pull off 8 hours of trolling.  So I plan to at least leave Anchorage by 7amam so I can be on the water fishing prior to noon.  Fish till 5pm.  ANytime prior to noon would be a bonus. 

No pollock last time so I plan to run bait with downriggers.  temp has been fairly consistent so I plan to run gear about 15 to 25 ft down.  Not very far.

Here's the tide table:


Marine weather looks wet but good for wind.  East 10knts means flat cal off the spit.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=59.5984701384202&lon=-151.43630979582667&site=afc&unit=0&lg=en&FcstType=marine

As always, no guarantees I am going but as of right now, that is the plan!!!!

OK Rudy, I believe I'll hit the beach in Homer on Saturday and Sunday, God Willing. Lands End has rooms for $75 bucks and gas is cheap. Life is short so you got to grab all the fishing you can before it's done.

OK Rudy, I believe I'll hit the beach in Homer on Saturday and Sunday, God Willing. Lands End has rooms for $75 bucks and gas is cheap. Life is short so you got to grab all the fishing you can before it's done.

THis freezing rain has me worried.  But the weather is a bit of tease...  You don't see 1ft very often...in JANUARY!  I have every plan to be there Saturday.  two days might be pushing it with the boss!

PKZ141-160415-
KACHEMAK BAY-
645 AM AKST THU JAN 15 2015
.TODAY...NE WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT. RAIN.
.TONIGHT...SE WIND 15 KT. SEAS 2 FT. RAIN.
.FRI...SE WIND 20 KT. SEAS 3 FT. RAIN.
.FRI NIGHT...E WIND 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT.
.SAT...SE WIND 10 KT. SEAS 1 FT.

Sure looked fishy. One cod. One pollock. First time in a long time I didn't even get a good strike. Decent amount of bait I. The water. Hmmm. 

I just wasn't feelin it for the long drive so I slept in. Rudy, if you didn't catch anything I would have surely been skunked. The fish chart said it should have been good. I may try Matanuska lake if I can get out on the ice, I see that they planted some huge Char last month. I may try Homer next weekend.

Rudy you are still my hero, lol. Speaking of, I just bought a HERO 4. I got it for Christmas so now I officially have every kayak toy I don't truly need. I think I will go to Whittier on Monday and cruise around mapping the bottom and maybe pick up a few rockfish as well. Anyone else interested?

I don't care much for the winter drive to Homer, especially if you haven't caught anything worth bragging about.

What kind of down rigger do you use? I have a manual one from Cabelas that I'm not impressed with at all.

Derrick

Derrick, give me a call between games. I'm 75% in for a Whittier run.

Hey Rod,
I didn't get an auto notification so I didn't realize you'd replied. I went out and launched around 11 (late start). The purpose of the trip was to test out my side scan sonar, boot warmers, and an anchor retriever that I made. I was happy with everything except the boot warmers I picked up at Cabela's. Wasted a lot of $ on those. What do you guys use in the winter to keep your feet warm?

As far as fishing, I went over to the big waterfall/rookery and caught a few rockfish by jigging. Saw huge schools of some unknown fish that loitered in the area for a while. I'm guessing it was a big baitfish ball but I haven't been doing this long enough to know. It was nice to be out on the water.

Hey Rod,
I didn't get an auto notification so I didn't realize you'd replied. I went out and launched around 11 (late start). The purpose of the trip was to test out my side scan sonar, boot warmers, and an anchor retriever that I made. I was happy with everything except the boot warmers I picked up at Cabela's. Wasted a lot of $ on those. What do you guys use in the winter to keep your feet warm?

As far as fishing, I went over to the big waterfall/rookery and caught a few rockfish by jigging. Saw huge schools of some unknown fish that loitered in the area for a while. I'm guessing it was a big baitfish ball but I haven't been doing this long enough to know. It was nice to be out on the water.

Awesome you that you got out and even managed a few rockfish.  Were they copper rockfish or quillbacks?  Maybe something else.

That bait ball is intriguing.  How did you know it was there?  Sonar?  Working birds?  physicallly seeing them?  Although I am interested in the herring and other baitfish I am particularly interested in reports of juvenile black cod coming up shallow in during certian times of the year.  My intel says these small black cod 10 to 14 inches or so are every bit as good as the large black cod. 

Although its a major PITA, whenever I go to Whittier, I always carry a set of sabiki hooks to lower down into big clouds of bait.  Sometimes its herring.  Sometimes its pollock.  Sometimes its salmon smolts.  Always interesting.  Especially this time of year when no one is around. 

About the cold feet.  I wear two layers of outdoor polypro or wool sock.  The only issue I have is when you go overboard and you have to squeeze your feet into them.  The constriction I think cuts circulation and warmth to your feet.  I double up on heavy socks and then wear my step kids wading boots that are much larger than my normal pair. 


Great report.  Worthy of its own post!

Derrick, sounds like you had a decent day on the water. I went to Memory Lake (I can walk there)  to try for some whatever would bite but got skunked. I did have a pike shoot up through the hole for some reason,  it was curled around in a coil so it was about 18'. Cold feet are hard to take, I have diabetes so my feet are cold on a good day. I have put a wool pad in the bottom of the booty and  wear two pairs of socks and I am good for a few hours. Next time the weather looks good I am up for a Whittier run. 

The rockfish were Yellowtail and Quillbacks.

As far as the ball of fish, I have a Lowrance HDS 7 with side scan (pricey gadget but my yak is my only Alaska toy). I could see the mass on the screen and I dropped the jig down that I was using for the rockfish. I came up with scales so I did hit something on the way back up. I've never caught herring or fished for them but I did go purchase some Sabiki rigs just in case I run into that next time. Is there anything special to preparing them to be used as bait for trolling? Halibut?

Rod, I'll p/m my number to you. Just let me know when you are thinking of heading down and I'll head down if I'm available. I'd love to go out when there is more light because I want to try out a spot the ladies at the boat launch told me about for halibut. So far they have been my nemesis on the yak but I did manage one small one just off Miller's Landing in Seward last year.