Outside the normal Catch

Just starting a thread for species outside our normal stringer here in Alaska, talking about the types of fish, habitat and tactics for them.

A couple on my list are

Pacific Octopus, I want to give them a go mostly for bait for halibut, lings and black cod but would try them for the table also. Incidental catches happen here and there in the summer but late fall and winter they should be a sure thing in lower cook inlet.

Black Cod One of the reasons I want the Octi is for deep water bait. All I know is they are deep probably the deepest fish we would target up here. I know a couple guys in power boats that catch them out of Seward. I would probably catch a taxi out to Fox or Rugged Island and fish the opening out into the gulf as the drop off in Mary's bay has produced a couple 200 lb butts and nice ling cod at the 250' ledge.  There is also a for sure yellow eye and chicken spot between fox and hive island.

Shotraker Also a fish that typically gets bigger the deeper you go, the largest of the rockfish, I would like to bring up a good one

Herring I love eating hoolies, sardines, kipper snacks and the like so I am wanting to target the herring this year for both food and to brine up some of my own bait and make a paste for shrimp pots bait jars.

Have an oddball fish you catch, post it up! mentioning where you caught it and how would be great but not needed if you want to keep your secrets.  Freshwater fish welcome also Char, Lakers, Cusk, whitefish

Great topic!!!!

Octopus
So I have been doing some research on an octopus.  I had it as a goal in one of my early years and people kinda said "huh?" then was it Zee? A NWKA member catches one and it goes crazy!  lol.  But I would keep a part for bait..ya don't need much.  And I'd eat the rest.

F&G has a decent write up. Kinda let's ya know seasons and such.  I will say my shrimping buddies get the when these reports say it is slow.  Who knows, maybe if pots were down right now, Octopus would be going crazy. 

So here's a website:  http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=303

I made this for halibut but might attract octopus.

 Another thought is to scale down to more shrimp sized bait and try and catch even the little buggers.  A lot of octopus I See coming up in pots fit in our hands.  I may modify a squid jig.  they have a few that look a lot like prawns.  I think the key is to send something like a shrimp down that can survive hits from greenling, flounder, cod, etc.  Maybe the key is to do it at night.  If someone came along, I'd try Whiter at night.  I have LED underwater lights as well.  Might be fun.

Black Cod and Shortraker, Rougheye - Deep drop stuff.  Everything I have heard is still a water taxi out.  I would invest in a electric reel in a heart beat if I thought I could do it out of a port.

Herring:

the only reliable place I know of for herring in Kayak range around here is Whittier.  Go when the Commercial Salmon starts in PWS. Mid June maybe?  trying to remember.  The biggest problem here is avoiding the lead bombs thrown at you by the surfcasters.  They can be A$$ HATS.  Stay off to the side or far away and cast in.  Or find smaller pods of bait in the area with your sonar.  Watch out, the ferry comes in and out of there a bit.
Last July...I think off the kayak.  Yup July 6th.


You mentioned burbot.  Big Lake has them.  That's your best closes bet.  Ive tried for Lake Trout in Lake Louise twice on my way to Valdez and haven't caught a fish.

I'd love to find a little stream or lake where I could load up on whitefish.  Good eating and great bait. 

A mystery catch I have been researching to no avail is Berryteuthis magister...the armhook squid.  People catch them in PWS and I have no doubt they are in K-Bay.  I bet someone could find them in Whittier or out of Seward.

The Holy Grail of my desired "other" species is the Salmon Shark.  Josh from Brooks Alaska Adventures is advertising two shark trips this Sun and Mon.  I'm tempted to ask him what he'd charge to drop me off.  He landed one solo a few weeks back from his powerboat.  It's  a Jan-Mar fishery here.  From what i know, the summer fishery is much better towards Cordova.  the days of a million salmon sharks have been over since about 2009 if you look at by catch records. 

Ooooo....I gotta think about this some more!!!

A couple years ago I boated a 210 butt that had nine Dungies in her belly all big mature crab size my fishing partner and I found plastic crab dog squeak toys that were about 8" across we have yet to use them but my thought was to pull the squeaker out and use the hole to pack a paste bait into. I was going to run either herring or shrimp heads through my grinder to give the crabs some scent.

The kelp beds are not to far from Homer and have been on a trip that brought two fish one at 205 and another at 230 from less than 50 feet of water down inlet from the kelp when the tide starts to drop and up inlet when the flood starts. The flow of water just flushes everything out of the kelp beds and the older and smarter halibuts just swing back and forth inhaling food as they find it.

I think the kelp bed area would be good for the Octi in late fall also, I've read the younger ones keep to the flatter bottom until they are more mature. My father used to gig them in the Columbia at night using lights in shallow water I do not know if they are the same type though.