Every year of our annual sojourn to southeast Alaska, I seek a pattern, a clue or a theme to the location and distribution of fish that may lead to an understanding or “edge”, eventually guiding us to a successful season. We’ve all read -with varying degrees of interest and concern- of the changes in sea…
This year’s edition of The Outdoor Line’s annual Sitka trip was a very special one. We had some Alaska “first-timers”, (I was going to say “Greenhorns” but…) some of our wives made the trip for the first time in several years and 2014 marked the Alaskan arrival of the 710 ESPN flagship, the Weldcraft 280…
The ability to quickly, effectively and safely anchor your boat is a fundamental aspect of seamanship that will help you catch more fish, enjoy a restful time on your vessel and most importantly, keep all aboard safe and sound in the event of a grounding or complete power failure. My main focus for this project…
Our annual Sitka “sojourn” took on a decidedly competitive theme this year. Why?…Well, when you have a Husky and a Cougar on the boat, despite the fact they were Seattle Seahawk teammates… you’re going to have issues but, ..we’ll get back to that later. Fortunately, catching fish would not be an issue this time. After…
Sol Duc Picking Up for Springers Bill Myer from Anglers Guide Service in Forks says he’s been hooking a few nice spring Chinook on the Sol Duc river every day and the fishing appears to be picking up. Myer said most of his springers have been in the 8 to 14 pound range, but he’s…
Kokanee Bite Taking off on Lake Samish Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington says the kokanee bite on Lake Samish has been heating up the last few days. He’s talked to several anglers who have been limits of kokanee up to 17 inches on the lake. The hot rig has been a Sling Blade…
Opening Day Catches Good Despite Weather Despite cool and windy weather in many parts of the state, anglers had a lot of success reeling in large trout on the trout opener last weekend. From creel checks conducted at 98 lakes around the state WDFW estimates that anglers caught an average of 4.6 trout apiece on…
Lake Chelan Still Tops for Kokanee Mike Campbell from Lowrance Electronics lives in Chelan and says the kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan is the best he’s seen in over 30 years. He described the fishing as “wide open” on the lake right now. Campbell says the kokanee are averaging between 16 and 18 inches and …
Banks Heating up for the Anacortes Derby Anacortes Derby chairman Jay Field says the banks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca have been putting out good numbers of fish lately. Anglers have been scoring blackmouth on the banks the last couple of weeks on whole and cut plug herring. He also recommended hitting the…
One of the regulations that’s been looming for a while for sportfishing charters in Southeast Alaska is the requirement to use rockfish descenders for all rockfish caught that aren’t going to be kept. These devices will be required on all charter vessels for the summer of 2013. That’s me…I’m a charter guy in the summer!…