Homer Intel oct 11&12

So I took one for the team and stepped aboard a petroleum combustion propelled vessel. Not as productive as we had hoped but interesting things learned from a kayak perspective maybe.

A lot of this people probably already know but....

The spit area holds too many pollock and small kings to be enjoyable. But if you stick it out, 5 to 15 pound kings are there.

Green label herring caught much fewer pollock and small kings than did the needlefish hoochies or silver horde coho killer spoon.  But herring caught enough pollock that I'd use maybe a larger spoon or full size hoochies.

Fish are shallow. 30 to 60 ft of water. Gear running 15 to 30 ft down.  Consider using a large banana weight vs a diver. Much easier to deal with and you don't need to get down super deep. Still I like 10 to 16oz.

Larger fish on avg are farther out. Bluffs and Anchor Point.

New possible location is "main st hole". Launch from Bishops Beach. Line up with main st in Homer. My distance line is an extension of Main Street. 30 to 60 ft of water is 1.5 to 2 miles off shore. The appeal here was very few pollock. Shaker kings and fish up to 12 pounds.  But it's shallow near shore so surf might break more hazardously than say end of the spit.  The water must be clear. Usually you can go offshore enough but on big west winds it might stir up the water.



I would expect larger fish to move closer but it hasn't happened.

If weather is flat, I might try Main st hole. Otherwise I'll just battle the pollock at the end of the spit.  If you are looking for just one fish, WG might be a consideration. Seems further north you go, the bigger the fish. 

Here's a video I made for the guys. Be forewarned music selection is a bit head banging so turn the volume down if it's not your style. With only three onboard, this was the only real footage that came out. Lol.

Thanks Rudy! I may take a run down this coming weekend depending on weather. 

Go get'em. I'm busy on Sat with work. Maybe Sunday. If I was super ambitious Id hit WG then finish limit in Homer...but I doubt that is going to happen!

Very nice! Looks like you had an awesome time! Thanks for the info.

Ok.  Here's another tidbit of information I came across...

We all have heard the "early bird gets the worm".  For me it sure seems like its true for a lot of species.  But its King season so is there any evidence that what we take for granted is true?  Her's a paper on feeding habits of inshore and offshore chinook salmon off of Northern California. 

The word of the day is "diel":  involving a 24-hour period that usually includes a day and the adjoining night <diel fluctuations in temperature>  Found this report as I was researching diel planktona dn fish movements in Kachemak bay and other Alaska waters.....looking for some night fishing prospects.  haha...but found something scary instead...that's another post!

Its all pretty interesting to me, but for those more easily bored by academic papers, I think the relevant paragraph is...

"For chinook salmon from the offshore study, the weight of stomach contents was significantly greater in the morning hours than in the afternoon and evening (Fig. . Stomach fullness peaked at 11:00 hours, then decreased from early afternoon to a minimum around 02:00 hours"

Study can be found here:  http://people.oregonstate.edu/~brodeuri/webpage%20pdf%20and%20docs/dielfeeding.pdf