My dad,2 brothers, and I booked a trip with Joel and we had a great time.
On the 25'th we flew from Seattle to Ketchikan

Then we took this little plane to Klawock



Joel put us in a cabin overlooking the marina

On the boat at 4:30 and the first boat to the fishing grounds.
The first day limit 4 kings, 24 coho, and 4 halibut.

The second day again put us the first boat out there
We caught our 24 coho, ran outside and caught our halibut, on the way back in we stopped and fished for lings and sea bass at a few rock piles


my dad caught a big lingcod
[img]https://i.ibb.co/1fb690n/ling.jpg[/img]


on the 3'rd day we already had a bunch of fish so we told Joel we only wanted a 1/2 limit of coho so we stopped at 16,the headed out and got our halibut, and again fished rock piles on our way in.

We were tired when we got to the dock and didn't even lay the days catch out
[img]https://i.ibb.co/mv9B5qz/day-3.jpg[/img]
One last picture, me with a halibut
[img]https://i.ibb.co/xDh0TKg/halibut.jpg[/img]
I cant thank Joel enough.
The entire trip was way more than we expected and if it is ever in the budget then I'll be back up there.
we flew back to Seattle on Mon. the 29'th.

I don't know why the last few pictures didn't show up

my dad caught a big lingcod



on the 3'rd day we already had a bunch of fish so we told Joel we only wanted a 1/2 limit of coho so we stopped at 16,the headed out and got our halibut, and again fished rock piles on our way in.

We were tired when we got to the dock and didn't even lay the days catch out

One last picture, me with a halibut

I cant thank Joel enough.
The entire trip was way more than we expected and if it is ever in the budget then I'll be back up there.
we flew back to Seattle on Mon. the 29'th.

Theres the rest of it

Nice trip, looks like Joel has stuff dialled in pretty good

He got it figured out

Glad you had a good trip. I know I sure had a great time fishing with him and meeting his family.

Thanks Jamie. The folks you met coming in lit me up pretty good too. First day we had 4 kings and 24 coho in an hour. Mayhem.

that lingcod had me a bit anxious when the fish lady put a tape to it. Right under 45 inches.

Slot limit?

30-45 inches. 45 inch ling is a nice sized ling, and getting it to play nice while putting a tape to it is a fun experience. I can eyeball most but this one had the short/fat going on.

Joel knows his fishing! Great guy to boot! Guy to go fishing with if you want to have a good time, and catch fish.

I am trying to line up a trip for Aug 2020 with Joel and my two brothers, looking forward to it. I miss Kodiak, have been gone for 8 years

And "Kodiak" has been gone for at least five...

I even miss the "Rose"!

Did it capsize like Guam did?

No but most of the fishing is a mere shadow of a decade ago...

And get that hank of line off my Johnson!

Poor ocean conditions? Commercial overfishing? Cyclical salmon cycles? What do you think are the biggest contributions to the decline?

All salmon except kings are okay... too many humpies, especially the hatchery-produced billions in excess of natural production competing for food.

Cod have completely collapsed as a direct result of commercial over-fishing, period.

Halibut are coming back from a serious dive in production. As the biomass dove the commercial harvest was cut-back a little bit, but nowhere near the rate of decline. Numbers in the decline were always given as a function of the biomass high whereas the harvest cuts were always given in cumulative form. It looked like they were cutting heavily but they were way behind the curve and never came close to catching up.

Rockfish stocks are way down and they still have large quotas and continue to allow them to target yelloweye. Yelloweye are very slow-growing and non-pelagic. They can wipe out an area in no time. One boat with focus can completely wipe out a breeding colony in a season.

Lingcod are a mere shadow of their former stocks. At one point in time they could not sell them commercially due to a lack of market. They are fantastic fish and the numbers are now way, way down.

With the depletion of the cod stock the shrimp have been given a serious reprieve and the stocks are great.

Arrow-tooth flounder are thought to be the largest biomass in the entire Gulf of Alaska and they do nothing to encourage their exploitation. That could easily take much pressure off many other species. Being the ugly girl at the dance is paying off for ATF and rendering fat chicks for surimi just seems to make poetic sense.

Anyone involved with commercial fish allocation in Kodiak that has not either gotten away from it or committed suicide should be hunted down and killed for their own good. As well as the good of everyone else.

It is disgusting what they have done.

Did not address ocean conditions...

There is a natural flux in ocean temps in the GOA and it is called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.

Normally I would do a cut and paste of this page, but it is huge and goes a long way. If you are interested (and you should be) it is worth pulling up by itself and reading.

Anyway, PDO is real and has a huge effect on fish populations, especially salmon and halibut. Using it the decline in halibut stocks could be predicted as well as the increase in salmon. While salmon fisheries managers are increasingly visiting their orthopedic surgeons for repairs to shoulders thrown out of spec by patting themselves on the back, halibut managers are coaching them based on their experiences during the last flux. The ocean is doing it and the idiots are claiming the good news parts while disowning the rest.

But in short, sports fishermen, and Alaskans are getting seriously fluxed right up the ass.

overnight in the brine and a couple of hours in the smoker

Nice.... I discovered long ago, chrome was the only fish worth smokin.... You know how it is down here, guys keep "smokers".... I won't even waste my time anymore with what most guys "smoke"...

Could not agree with you more. +1

Sitka Deer, Thanks for your response. I’ve read up on PDO and am familiar with the various fluctuations that are inherent in the various fisheries, the only one that really gets me going is commercial overfishing. I’ve long been disgusted by the blatant disregard for the resources and outright favoritism commercial fishing received as well as the various commercial fisherman’s unions and commercial fishing lobby.

We’re all fugged up down here thanks, in some not so small part, to the greed of commercial fishermen via the Boldt decision. The Indians get 50%+ right off the bat. With poor returns and a minuscule allocation fishing can be depressing rather than fun.

Thanks for your insight.

Looks like you had a great trip.
Fishing is a great way to spend time with some friends.

You should see the fish the guys from PA and NJ keep off the salmon river in NY....

Joel is the man! I've had the pleasure of fishing with him many times. Great person and amazing fisherman....

Looks like a great time and lots of great eats. Wish we had slot limits on Lings in BC. I used to keep the big ones before I knew better.

Pretty sure Joel misses his days guiding at the Waterfall. Now he's got to deal with regular folks.

Great looking trip

Surely you jest. Never have worked for the evil empire. Haha

One day bud...

Jamie I’m happy for you that trip went so well! That’s just awesome! Great job Calvin!