5/16/05 Halibut and King Salmon fishing.

Finally, after the long winter, I got to go fishing again! Some friends and I hired a sea charter boat down on the Kenai Peninsula and went fishing out in Cook Inlet.

The halibut fishing was very active, and most times our bait didn’t sit on the bottom for more than a few seconds before we got a hit. I’d like to say I got a chance to use my fly rod, but hooking up with a 35 lb. fish that’s flat as a board, lives on the bottom in 175 feet of water and really has strong objections to coming to the surface would have done it in. The rods we used bore a closer resemblance to a base ball bat, with reels the size of a small ham.

After pulling up several fish in the 20-35 lb. range, along with the 5 lb. weight used to get the bait to the bottom, I must admit my arms were getting tired. That’s a lot of reeling! We all caught our limit (2), though, and in fact threw several back each. Much different from last year, when I only caught 2 the whole day!

We then switched over to king salmon fishing. This involved rods slightly smaller than a base ball bat, but not much. The largest king ever caught sport fishing was 96 lbs., but this time of year, most are in the 15 to 30 lb. range. They haven’t started their trip up the rivers yet, but are cruising the Inlet.

On the CB, we had heard that some of the charter boats had been fishing for 2 hours and had yet to see their first king. Our captain had the first rod in the water and was baiting up the second when we hooked onto our first one! We got two more in quick succession, lost a few more, and then had a half hour lull. We got back into another school of them and picked up our last two, getting both on at the same time. You’re allowed one fish each.

And so, instead of fishing all afternoon, we were headed back to shore by 12:45 PM, the boat having limited out. My arms are sore, I’ve got a big grin, and about 32 lbs. of fish fillets cut up and in the freezer (not too shabby for 3 fish!). A very auspicious start to the fishing season. Can’t wait to get out again (with a fly rod this time) for some rainbows, dollys and grayling!

Spring is finally here, with morning temps in the low 30’s to 40’s, and highs into the 60’s. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset is 10:45. Long days = more time to go fishing!!