I don’t want to wish time away, but I must be honest and share that I’ve been waiting for August like a child waiting for Santa and Christmas. Last December, I went fishing with Mike Cassidy for holdover stripers. While we were on the water, Mike mentioned that he and his wife rent their house for a month in summer and take a lovely vacation.
It took my brain all of two seconds to process that information as a brilliant idea. I asked Mike lots of questions. Within a week, I was listing my house and booking a two-plus week trip to Alaska. Most of the trip would be hiking, including quite a few trails at Denali, but vacation wouldn’t be vacation if I didn’t fish. Plus, I timed this trip so I could fish some of the Silver Salmon Derby, while still getting home in time to go to Illumination Night, the Ag Fair, and Oak Bluffs Fireworks with my family.
Monday, Aug. 5 was my first day fishing – my only halibut charter out of Homer. I boarded the Bella Vita at 6:30 am with my friend Maddie and four guys. Three of the guys were fishermen, and one gentleman was going out for the first time and didn’t speak English. Five of us had rain gear with a 90-percent chance of rain.
Captain Jim Craddock motored us about 20 miles outside Homer. The skies were cloudy, but the wind wasn’t bad, and the seas rolled gently. When we arrived at our first spot, Capt. Jim geared us up with two-pound weights and chunks of herring, told us to lower down 170 feet to hit bottom, then crank up so the bait was floating.
“Halibut are lazy. They don’t want to fight the current. When the tides are running, they just bury into the sand and don’t move. We’re going to drift our bait over them and put it right in front of them, so they’ll take it,” said Captain Jim, who arrived in Alaska in 1982 on a two-week unpaid vacation from cattle ranching, and never left.
We fished that first location for 30-45 minutes, but didn’t have a single hit. Captain Jim told us to reel in. We got to a new location, and I lowered my bait 210 feet to the bottom, then cranked up three revolutions. We only gave this biteless spot about twenty minutes before relocating.
The sky began to sprinkle, I put on my rain gear, and dropped some bait down. Within seconds I had a tap, then another, then a hit. Fish on. I reeled up the first halibut of the day. It was 27 inches, which was perfect.
Alaska has a halibut bag limit of two fish per day per angler. One fish must be under 28 inches. The other fish can be any size. I asked Capt. Jim about our chances of a hundred-plus pound halibut. “There should be lots of fish, but not big fish,” he said.
After I landed that first fish, everyone hooked up and I caught a second fish before the boat drifted into unproductive waters. We all caught our “small” halibut, and I caught Maddie’s since she was licensed but not fishing.
The rain, winds, and waves picked up a bit. The time came to stop drifting and move to a new fishing hole to drop anchor and pray for bigger halibut. We got busy reeling in quickly. The energy on the boat was fun with a capital “F”. We released quite a few smaller fish, got a couple of decent size ones, but no breath takers.
When our time was up, everyone had caught their quota and released a few. On the drive back, the sea was choppy, but the view was spectacular. We saw a bunch of birds working and then a spout. Soon, we were treated to a beautiful display of humpback whales feeding.
I caught the most fish, but not the biggest fish. Most importantly, when we got back to the dock, Capt. Jim’s deckhand Delta was waiting for us. She fileted mine and “Maddie’s” four keeper halibuts that are being processed and frozen for travel to M.V. as I type this column.
I’ll be targeting salmon next. The silver salmon, or coho, haven’t arrived yet in Homer, and the other four species are scattered or already gone. My hope, and my goal, is to fish for salmon alongside some bears in the Kenai River or down in Seward. We shall see what the next six days bring. I, for one, will be dreaming of silver.
If you’re on Island, I’m getting lots of reports of great bonito fishing. The boat fishermen are catching bones in abundance, stocking freezers for winter, while shore fishermen are starting to catch the speedy hardtails with some consistency.
I hope to see you on the beach when I’m back on M.V., and I hope we both have bonitos on the line.
Love 💕 that this made you so happy!
Your smile and enthusiasm is infectious! 🥰
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