Kachemak Bay Bonanza

I got a call this past week from my friend Boo Kandas of Tall Tale Charters and was asked if Jane and I wanted to help him take his saltwater boat out for the season. For those of you not immersed in fishing slang, "taking out the boat" is code for one last fishing trip. Considering neither one of us has had the time to visit Homer, and that our freezer was devoid of halibut fillets, we couldn't say no to an offer like this.

We left the Homer dock at 8:00 am. A little bit of maritime fog greeted us, but it would soon give way to a sunny day.

As you can see, the seas were calm...a perfect day for a guy like me who isn't fond of waves. And the fishing, well, it was incredible.

I've always been told if you fish for halibut in the fall all you're going to catch are small ones. Last year was my first time fishing in the fall and Boo put us on a nice mess of fish. I thought maybe we just got lucky because, you know, you only get small halibut in the fall. This year the quality of fish was even better with the largest topping 100lbs. That's proof enough for me to know it's not about luck. It's about having the right captain who knows where to fish in the fall. 

Thanks again Boo, for a wonderful day, and for cleaning all the fish. I hope you call us again next year to help you take your boat out...






Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 10/9/16

The mornings are starting to get cold. This is a view of the middle Kenai River at 10am.  The temperature at the time of the photo was in the low 30's. This is considerably warmer than when we started the day....22 degrees.

How was the week of fishing? The lower Kenai was not good. I tried it several times and had no luck. On the other hand, I made it to the middle Kenai a couple of times and the fishing was pretty good. I was with Boo Kandas and a couple of his friends on Wednesday. We caught 12 silvers and kept three of them.

On Saturday, Todd Laflamme, Boo, and I spent the day chasing silvers in the middle Kenai. The fishing started slow but as soon as the temperatures started to climb, so did our hook up rate.

Did I mention that the mornings have been cool?

Here's Boo with a nice, bright silver salmon.

At the end of the day we released 6 silvers and kept these. It was nice to be able to sock a way a few extra fillets for the winter.

I'm not sure, but this could have been my last day fishing on the Kenai. If that's the case, it ended on a pretty good note. Thanks Boo and Todd for making it such a memorable day.



Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/10/16

In the beginning of the week the king salmon fishing was slow for me. A few boats did well, but I just couldn't seem to find any pattern at all.  I worked a lot of water. At the end of the week that all changed. Friday night the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced they would allow the use of bait on the river and bait is a difference maker. All I can say is the fishing on Saturday was EPIC. First fish of the morning, and the largest of the day, fell to Bob Laflamme.

Janet Laflamme did well too, but Bob is quick to remind her he did just a little bit better.

Todd Laflamme kept this nice fish.  He is now officially limited out for the season on the Kenai for king salmon.  I only point this out because Todd has fished with me for many years and this is the first time he has done this.

Another first on Saturday morning.  Dan Meyer has never caught a legal Kenai king with me. I can now officially cross him off of my bucket list.  Hey Dan, your first summer in retirement is looking pretty good.

Here's Chase Crawford. After releasing a king, he decided to keep this one.

Nikki, "all I do is catch big fish" Crawford continued her mastery of the Kenai king.

Gary Crawford let a small king go and when he hooked this one he decided it was a good time to end our trip.  Nice job, guys.

I usually post fish pictures chronologically and I apologize that this fish is out of sequence (kings trump reds). Earlier in the week Lisa caught this red salmon while we were bactrolling for king salmon. Now your friends can believe you when you said you caught a salmon while vacationing in Alaska.

In related fishing news, my friend Boo Kandas of Tall Tale Charters called me this week and said he had a couple of seats open for a saltwater trip in Homer. I couldn't make it but Jane and our friend Renee could. Boy, did I miss out on a terrific day.  Jane is pictured above with a huge yellow eye rock fish.

Here she is with the big halibut for the day.

And, Renee had the honor of catching the largest ling cod on the trip. Way to go ladies!

On to the forecast for the week ahead. The red salmon fishing has been steady this past week and I expect it to get better.  As far as king salmon fishing is concerned, I think we'll have moments of good fishing during every day, but not steady all day. This is because we are dependent on what fish are coming up with the tides. We're just not at the stage of the run where king salmon are pooling up in the holes (I'm not sure I should call that a forecast or not because that actually sounds like king fishing in general....patiently waiting for a monster bite!).

See you next week.



Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service  

Fishing Report Week Ending 6/1/14

Jane and I had an opportunity to fish out of Homer with Boo Kandas of Tall Tale Charters this past week. All I can say is the halibut and black bass bite was non stop; not so much for king salmon fishing. Boo said the king fishing has been hit and miss so far this season and we were going to give it a couple of hours.   I'm glad we did give it a try.  Even though we never had a king bite it was nice to place our rods in a rod holder giving our arms and backs a much needed break from reeling in fish all morning.

Here's Jane kneeling by a small portion of the total haul.  Overall, the size of the halibut were typical for May: nothing large but perfect size for eating.   The black bass were in the 2-7lb range.

One of the most interesting and unusual fish caught on this trip was a wolf eel.   The photo above was not the fish we caught but it looked exactly the same.   How rare is this in Kachemak Bay?  No one on the boat had ever seen a wolf eel in the flesh before and that included Captain Boo and deckhand Kevin.  It just goes to show that you never know what can happen when you're on the water.

Jane and I had a great day fishing but the highlight of the trip was seeing humpback whales up close and personal. I may be repeating something you already know, but humpback whales migrate back and forth between Alaska and Hawaii.   They spend their summer here and then when it's winter they swim off to Hawaii. This is not so different than a lot of my neighbors, by the way.   Definitely a lot of fun watching these massive creatures swim and feed around us while we were catching fish.

Since the Kenai is still closed to king fishing, I'll close this fishing report by using a line that John Gillespie, host of John Gillespie's Waters and Woods television program uses.  "I don't know where we'll be fishing next week, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun."   See you then.

Oops, almost forgot about the Funny River fire.  As of Saturday, 193,243 acres have burned with 54% containment.   The fire personnel are continuing to mop up and herd the fire away from structures.   Kudos to them for a job well done.