1 King crossed the dock...

[CanCanCase]

The spring/summer kings are coming! At least that's what I can assume from being on the boat at the dock all day...

Popeye and Brody were out for a single 4-hour morning trip. I didn't see any fish being off-loaded, so I get to assume their production was nil.

Rum Runner went out with a very light load (it looked like just him on board.) I saw Chris on the dock a few hours later filleting about a 32" king. The fish looked like it was starting to turn just a shade dark, so it's definately a spring/spawner fish.

Alaskan Marine Adventures is taking the Can Can out tomorrow (5/1) for the opening day of the Spring King Salmon Derby. We'll report what worked, what didn't, and who had the most fun!

-Case

[Capt. Fred]

I've read that the salmon off of California are real spotty this year. Do you guys have a different stock of fish that come up your way?

[CanCanCase]

Heh... I had 2 pages written just now, but it felt a bit too political, and I could feel my blood pressure creeping every time I wrote "commercial fishing"...! "Time to delete and simplify your answer," says my wife.

Short answer: yes, we have different runs. Since salmon are "terminal" in nature, returning to the river or stream in which they were born to spawn and die, we're not affected by the big hydro projects on the Klamath or Columbia (or Sacramento) rivers...

It is a "down year" all over, so we're limited to 1 fish per day instead of the 3 or 4 we had last year, but it's still great fun to get out and play...! Besides, when we're talking about 40-50# king salmon and 100-200# halibut, who needs more than one? ;-)

-Case

[Capt. Fred]

Ahh I got it. That makes sense. Good for your wife for protecting your blood pressure! A 200 lb flounder. Good God that must be a heck of a fight.

[floatnfly]

>A 200 pound flouder. Good God that must be a heck of a fight.<

Well...yes and no.

Imagine if your 14' skiff sunk in 250' of water. A diver goes down and attaches a four point harness at each corner of the skiff and the center point of the harness to the Fireline of your Penn meatstick. Now start pumping and reeling.

It's a forearm burner, for sure. However, it's more gratifying when you release that behemoth, since she's a breeding female and her meat is full of worms and mercury.

Don't even get me started on the whole spawner king thing. Makes my blood boil, too, especially since I'm already fuming about the halibut mess we're in. I've also typed and edited several times and decided to stick with this short repy.

Tight lines,
Mikey

[Garett]

.......but have the Japanese slowed down?

[CanCanCase]

Originally Posted by floatnfly

...Makes my blood boil, too, especially since I'm already fuming about the halibut mess we're in. I've also typed and edited several times and decided to stick with this short repy.

Tight lines,
Mikey

(emphasis added above)

Wow... someone in 3A using the term "we" to take ownership of a problem that, thus far, is only being locked down in 2C. How refreshing!

Mikey, you'll have a great year. I just wrote $7500 in refund checks yesterday when that NMFS thing came out... all of my better clients are cancelling and heading to Homer instead.

After all, last I checked, 3A has higher rock-fish limits compared to our 1 yelloweye per year in 2C, you can keep bigger ling cod compared to our 30"-35" slot limit and 1 or 2 annual, you've got regular king salmon limits, not this effective closure for July-Sept, your boat can fish more than 6 if set up properly, and your clients can still take 2 chickens instead of the 1 monster mine are forced to look for... (Can anyone say "release mortality of immature fish?")

Oops, there goes my wife shaking her finger at me... time to go relax! ;-)

-Case