Seward silvers

Seward silvers are in!

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/148872-Seward-silvers

Hmm -  a long paddle out to some of those locations listed, but encouraging to know they are coming in.

Those are some seriously fun fish when you can get into them.   

Ok y'all taught me how to get halibut at WG. What do we do at Seward and what gear and tackle do we need? Looking for info so I can be ready.


And Rudy don't tell me to pickup a barbie rod, ..... :wav:I want iron man.

Ok y'all taught me how to get halibut at WG. What do we do at Seward and what gear and tackle do we need? Looking for info so I can be ready.


And Rudy don't tell me to pickup a barbie rod, ..... :wav:I want iron man.

Iron man?  Really? Ok...that might work.

Silvers are typically the easiest of the salmon.  For derbies I like herring in the early season., Exact same set up as King at WG.  If you can find a school, mooching them up is a blast.  4 to 8 oz of weight and two spelled hooks spaced pretty close together.  Basically jig it.

They are outside and they are typically small right now so I wouldn't get too excited yet.  From here on out, the silvers can pack on more than a pound per week.  I've found them off Miller's Landing as early as Mid July.  But typically its middle of August.  Haven't fished them much the past few years but last year, they were ridiculously deep. 

You can usually hit them right on top with just a few ounces of weight.  But last year they were down 80 to 100 ft.  Sonar is definitely useful here as is a down rigger if it happens again.  But for the most part, we should be able to catch them with 2 to 8oz of weight.

It was late in the year last year when I got out to Seward, but this was my experience.

I put in at the Lowell Beach (Just south of Millers landing), basically same area.   Nice beach, limited parking, but can back the truck right down to the tide line to unload.   

I ran the area right off shore, and hit a couple, one of which was really tired and ratty looking.  BUT - when I ran south toward and past Tonsina Creek I was seeing pretty big schools from 20 to 60 feet.   They were moving pretty good, and with the south wind / tide mix I had a bit of trouble staying on top of them, but very visible on the sonar, so I could circle back.

I didn't have good conditions to go out to Caines Head either day I was there, but It's on my list as I have had good luck there and past there in my power boat after second week of July.

As K-84 mentions, either trolling or mooching will work.  I generally mooch with less weight, 2 to 4 ounces, especially with braid, and when I can fish above 60' depth.   My mooching rig is pretty standard - banana weight rigged in-line, heavy leader (40# for me) with two snelled 3/0 to 5/0 hooks spaced 2-3 inches apart, and about 20 to 30 inches from the weight.   I put hoochies on sometimes, depending on my bait supply    Have caught fish both with and without herring and the cool thing is you can watch them follow your bait up and sometimes pick on up right under the boat and then explode.

Mooching you can stretch your bait a bit farther - you dont use whole herring (or dont have to) you can take side filets or whole fish and cut them into pieces (depending on bait size) and hook through them to get spin on the bait.  You drop down and through the school slowly - you can and will get strikes dropping bait if you get a good spin - and then either jig your way up through the school, or just pull a med-fast retrieve through the school.  Sometimes a faster moving retrieve will turn them on.   As always if you see fish but aren't catching - change up a bit. 

Also - carry a couple of metal jigs / spoons / etc with a bit of weight to them or some skirts in case you run out of bait.

Hope that helps - I personally can't wait to get after Seward Silvers, and Tonsina (1.5 nautical miles) / Derby Cove (2NM)/ Caines head (6 NM) are in reach.   

Watch the wind forecast the south wind can get up a pretty good chop on the water in the afternoons/evenings.

Thanks for the input. I am set for the herring. Spoons and jigs? What size and pattern are you using? thin,wide? and length? Is Seward all herring or do the sandlance patterns work there?

Finished setting up the Yak last night and excited to get it in the water. My kids move back to GA next Friday so looking at 2 weeks before I make it out and want to be ready for what is biting.

Hmm.   If I am NOT trolling, I have used 1- 3oz (ish) rigs like Crocodiles and Kastmasters, have switched out the trebles for single siwash hooks on a couple.   Think baitfish imitations, and if you are on top of the fish, you need to get down to depth pretty quick.  I also lost a really good 3 oz herring imitation jig with a bunch of tooth marks on it - couldn't tell you the brand but not much was left of the pattern, just hints or blue or green in with the silver.

 You can troll the Coho Killer and similar thin-blade spoons behind flasher, you may have used these for the kings?   Versatile, but dont sink fast enough for me to work for deeper silvers.   From my power boat I used to run these Apex Hot Spot light weight 4 or 5" plastic spoons - good action but not sure I prefer them now and haven't tried from a Kayak yet. 

I always seem to carry one or two needlefish/candlefish jigs.  I think my box has mostly white in the 3-4" range, some may have some pink or other coloring on them.  Have used more for Rockfish but have picked up silvers on them before.

I jigged up a 50# halibut not far off the beach in front of Bear Glacier a couple years back, on my salmon rod, was a nice fun fight.   That is one area that I need to find out about water taxi's - and camping locations.  Might be fun to get dropped by the lagoon outlet for a night or two.    With the wrong weather there can be a wicked break onto shore, so I need to go check it out and see if I could run up the creek if the weather is up.

+1 on what AkRider says.  Of course I have to agree with him, we grew up together and graduated the same year from Kenai.

I'll add that a great "just in case bait " are the berkley gulp pogies.  Most days they work every bit as good as herring. 

The other method to stretch your bait out is to cut plug the herrings but cut the heads off a little on thre long side.  Then if you rig it like I rig whole herring onto the single hook, you get a herring head spinner.  I grab the head before I grab the cut plug in most cases.  Better action better results for me.  I don';t know why i don't try it on kings. 

I was looking at the gulps today. Do you rig on a jog head or a rolling trolling rig?

I was looking at the gulps today. Do you rig on a jog head or a rolling trolling rig?

For the gulp, I use mainly mooching.  Or I slice them thin and tip a spoon with them.  Too big and it impacts the action.  Just a small sniff for the fish seems to be enough.  I've caught enough fish with them so carry them as spare.  I still use herring when I am serious though. 

I was looking at the gulps today. Do you rig on a jog head or a rolling trolling rig?

Where are you seeing the herring or sardine gulps locally?  or online?

They got them at B & J's in Anchorage

Got gulp at Cabelas but I did not look at the flavor.

My understanding is that all the saltwater gulp varieties are the same "flavor" just different shapes.....