Another solid channel king!
It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of June already. And a rainy chilly month it has been. We've had some great fishing days and also some tough ones we had to battle through. All in all it has been a great fishing month and if the amount of people coming in the shop is an indicator, having some fish to chase has been a much needed distraction. Let's keep it going and finish strong!
This Saturday the 27th is the final day that Windfall Creek is open to sockeye fishing so if you want to give it one last go this is your chance. Last Saturday was a bust at Windall as the previous day's steady rain had pushed the creek up to unfishable levels by Saturday morning. By late afternoon the creek had dropped just enough to allow anglers to carefully wade out, but fish were hard to come by in the high water circumstances. Wednesday was considerably better since the creek had several days to drop back into shape again. Anglers reported that the fish numbers were significantly better as well. It appears that the big tides and rain last week encouraged a bunch of sockeye to jet up the Herbert and come into Windfall Creek. The top 3 flies on Wednesday were the Sockeye Lantern in Green, Mercer's Sockeye Fly in Orange and the Sockeye Lightning in Red. We are continuing with Sockeye Grab & Go's with these flies if you are in need of some!
King fishing took a bit of a turn this past week as the first batch of Gastineau Channel fish that were around for the opener eventually pushed over the bar and disappeared. Not many fish came in behind them and last weekend was slow with only a few fish being caught every tide. Both Fish Creek and the Bayview Channel area were slow overall. There were several sizable schools of kings in Lena Cove but getting them to open their mouths was quite a chore. A few photos came in from Lena but not a ton. Then a pod of orcas went through Lena and had a heyday tearing them up. It seems like Lena has settled back down and some fresh fish have moved back in.
25 Plus Pound King from the Channel.
Sheep Creek was the most consistent producer this past week. Nice fish were landed consistently on a variety of flies. The tide didn't seem to matter a ton either. Both low tide and high tide kicked out some nice chrome kings. On an encouraging note, just in the last day or two, a batch of fresh kings pushed into the Fish Creek/Bayview area. As well, the trollers out in Fritz Cove have been doing well. This indicates that more kings are still coming and this weekend is the time to go chase one down!
If you want to take a break from salmon fishing, Cowee Creek often will have very good Dolly fishing in late June. The Dollies move into the creek in advance of the arrival of the pink and chum salmon. Fishing AK Clousers in Pink/White, Pink/Cerise and Cerise/Orange, Honey Holes in a White or Orange and Mini Dolly Llamas in Pink/White all will turn up these fish. Additionally, Sheep Creek has had a lot of Dollies off the beach at the lower end of the tide. Make sure to have some Hot Pink AK Clousers on hand if you plan to chase these fish, too.
See you on the water.
