BWAHAHA...Homer is virtually all ours!!!

Some SERIOUSLY negative news coming out of Homer for the winter King fishery...IF YOU DON'T OWN A KAYAK!!!! 

Check out this thread about the Homer boat ramp.  http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/149842-Homer-boat-ramp-closure

Homer boat ramps is closed 9/15 to 12/15.  Only commercial boats can put in.  Private boats can only take out.  They have already canceled the Homer Elk derby in October. 

It'll be lonely but there are going to be LOTS of jealous power boaters when we post up some nice kings!!!!!! 

LOVE LOVE LOVE the kayaks!!! 

Nice!  Rudy, would you mind putting on a winter-king fishing class out there one day?  Payment can be with your favorite brew

Nice!  Rudy, would you mind putting on a winter-king fishing class out there one day?  Payment can be with your favorite brew

You bet. I am trying to write an article on the upcoming winter king fishery and then we can put it into practice one day!  This is one fishery where I am starting to develop some confidence in so I am happy to share what I have learned so far!

In the mean time, I did write up a page on how to avoid the pollock.  Really there is not much skill other than time on water.  Other than patience, the only thing I had to battle through were the days I had to weed out 100 pollock for every king.  so here's an older write up:  https://sites.google.com/site/kayakfishingalaska/the-prey/king-chinook-salmon/homer-winter-feeder-king-fishery---how-to

But everything is pretty basic.  I am going to look at Valdez possibly Labor Day weekend, but I am going to focus the rest of my time off Whiskey Gulch and the Homer Spit looking for king.  I'll likely prefer WG to Homer until the halibut thin out in late September.  But the past few years, the action can be awseoms well into December.  it slows down January through March but there are fish to be caught!!!!

Whats the latest in season you've caught halibut at WG?  I'd like to finish filling the freezer...but I suppose I could start targeting kings as well to fill the void.

September 11th in 2011.  Never really tried after that.  I tend to fish kings or trout on the Kenai River after that. I have seen halibut caught by powerboats near the green can well into October but the action never seems hot enough to fish halibut vs kings then.

For me it starts mid September peaks in late October early November. But as the number of takedowns decreases, average size increases. So from a numbers game it peaks October. But I have the same expectations till at least early December.

The beauty of this fishery in Homer is that after Oct 1, that while annual limit thing goes away.   Get a proxy and you can harvest 4 per day from Oct 1 to mar 31!!!! 

I caught halibut/king combo 2nd week of September.  That same weekend bzuefishx and his brother caught 30lb butt each.  So they're there...when the food source is available.

I'm planning one more trip to WG this month and maybe one more mid September before I hang my cape for this year.

Cold and snow during AK winter scares me.  There, I said it.

Lol. I'm telling ya, it's so much nicer in October and November. No overheating. Less people. More fish.

But I will say the beginning of this fishery can be ultra scary...the drive down that is. Season for glare ice and unpredictable snow/ice storms. But if you survive the drive, the fishing is only second to the May fishery in my opinion.

1.  SWEET!   Looking forward to hitting a few kings this fall
2.  COUNT me in for an on-the-water tutorial.    Especially if it includes methods NOT including down riggers ... I dont much care for the added complexity, so would rather use planers etc. 

I'd rather make a long weekend of it - making the night run down for a day trip ... crazy thinking, but I know the Kardinal has gone both ways in a day.

I agree that a weekend trip would be smartest.  I don't use downrigger either...at least not yet.  I suppose if I get hooked on king fishing I might have to invest in some.

Yah!  Let's do it!

Down riggers for the most part during this season is a liability.  You think reeling in a hundred pollock sucks...wait till you do it with a down rigger. So we probably won't be using down riggers. 

My mainstay lately has been 12 oz of weight.  If the fish are deeper, I use a deep six.  It's more January through March the fish can be found 80 to 100 ft down.  Not true in the fall and spring. This time of year, I typically fish in less than 60ft of water about 20ft down. But who knows, with this warmer water, they could be deeper.  You won't need a down rigger but I'd carry a few 16 oz to 24 oz cannonballs maybe just in case. 

If there is no pollock and the fishing is good, I do plan to use my downrigger this year...hopefully.  It's because I want to ultra light them, not so much the line weight, but the action and equipment.  I am still trying to figure out the equipment.  I am thinking something like a 7 or 8 ft ultralight...just not sure whether to use a tiny spinning, bait casting, or fly reel. 

I will start a tackle section on my site and get the link up.

I'd like to join y'all when you're doing your 'Homer King Class' as well Rudy. Will keep an eye out for the date!

dan

I'll register for the Tsukada Higher Institute of Nabbing Kings (THINK).

So its getting about that time to start firing up Homer as a destination for the kings.  This past weekend I managed three cohos hooked of which two were on the coho killer spoons. 

We should start thinking about a  date for a Homer get together.  I am thinking Sept 26 or Oct 2.  Prefer the Sept date only since I don't have kid duty that weekend. 

Thought about this thread because I just got in the mail my two new lures that I hope to test under light line conditions.  Love these things for trout so I know the action is good.  Looks like sandlances to me.  Right now is a good time for me to try lures versus bait since I don't want to carry a whole tray of bait just in case I limit on halibut becasue often times I don't limit on halibut. 


Really any tutorial I can give is going to be just an elongated version of "Drive to Homer.  Put bait in the water.  Troll till ya drop." 

You WILL catch one if you follow that simple advice.  Herring with a pound of weight.  A naked spoon.  Hoochies with a dodger.  Really anything.  They are SUPER easy.  It's really a cool kind of fishing.  Unlike the freshwater salmon fishing which many of us are used to, these fish are out to kill other fish to eat and evolution has turned them into eating machines. 

Obviously weather dependent but I will commit to fishing in Homer Sept 26 unless otherwise noted in this or another planning thread. I also think a get together amongst the group to hash over the season and plan the coming king fishery might be in order.  Who is in for a mid week pizza or something get together let's say next week to swap stories?  Frankly it might be easier for a BYOB and food get together at someones place.  My place is too small.  That way we can breal out gear and such and even tie up rigs to prepare.   

 I laugh when I hear of folks putting their fishing gear away and even starting to talk about ice fishing.  The season BEGINS at the end of this month!  LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!

I've got a big back yard and deck we can use as a link up. I can even break out the fryer and halibut.