Got the first one of the year. 60lbs

Nice.

I cooned the yelloweyes today.

What is a yelloweye,know it's a fish,but what type of fish?

It's a rockfish

Ok,Thanks FiH.

Nice hat. I think I heard of that place.

;-)

NIce flatfish!

I always enjoy their starry cousin, the bigger specimens which arrive when the kings are running. But when around the ports and harbors which have fish-n-chips shacks around the docks, I much more enjoy the 'catch-of-the-day' fish offerings than the flatties.

Keep it up!

But not just any old rockfish... bigger, better, and more beautiful than almost all of the rest.

Got into the shrimp yesterday.

And better eating!

Nice bugs Hank. My pots are soaking now. Of course they just about always are!

I went to go pull mine the other day and someone had decided they needed them more than I did. Not happy at all!

Nothing lower than some azzwhipe messing with your fishing gear.

The thing is the troopers won't do anything about it and someday somebody's going to end up with a shot up outboard over it, or worse.

Got out today and did pretty good.

Nice !

Great pics, Hank.

Nice fish.

Looks like a good day

I lost that jig today. Dang dogfish wrapped itself up and chafed my line right at the surface. Ugh.

Do you jig for the flats or chum/bait?
I'll never fish for 'em,just courious

I have done both but I usually jig most of the time. Sitting there dragging bait is boring to me, but it does work. I will usually put some bait on my jig hook anyways. I like to do a swift upswing and a slow drop back to the bottom. They usually hammer it on the drop back down.

Good work, Hank.

Nice!

Yup, once you go to jigging, bait fishing looses it's appeal. I do tip my jigs with a bit of herring occasionally, but I've yet to see bait fished next to a jig perform anywhere near as well as a jig.

I still hven't tried a Kodiak custom jig.

good blog

keep it going. Picking up any salmon, ling co yet?

We have quite a few chums in the bay, waiting on the silvers to arrive. My halibut fishing will be on standby for a while, broke my rod last night. It's a lamiglas that they don't make anymore so I will have to find a new one. I had it for 8 years so I guess I got my use out of it, put a whole lot of fish in my freezer for sure. Not too many lings here, I have only ever seen 2 get caught. I did catch the biggest yelloweye I have seen for this area, almost approaching PWS size.

458 Lott- So far I am really happy with them. I was skeptical at first because I usually run 16-24oz jigs and these are 14oz. They are streamlined though so they stay down pretty well. I almost always bait the top hook with a piece of salmon and I sometimes put herring on the bottom hook. I am lucky to work at a fish hatchery so we have plenty of eggtake carcasses I can cut up for fresh bait :-)

Been a while since I rapped at ya.......

Hank, how did those smoked collars work out ?

Pretty good. I still have some left to smoke but the first two batches came out tasty. Got a new camera so I can keep this updated a little now.

Cool Mate, keep up the good work !

would like to taste this

They're good firm white fish. Like a catfish or crappie not quite as good as walleye IMO but still very good

Buddy and I jigged these up for lunch today. Yelloweye and a quillback.

where are you fishing out of Hank?

where are you fishing out of Hank?

I am in southeast Alaska. My boss walked around and handed out snacks for break today.

Looks like a nice "snack"

Trolled these up today. Cop car with a whole herring.

nice.........had AK Halibut for dinner yesterday.........

wasn't mine...........

but was goood...........

Keep it up! Love the updates/pictures. Keeps us alive down here in the swelter of summer.

Caught these yesterday.



This was today's haul.

Went out after work tonight. Ended up with a king and 2 coho. Caught on the same rig as before.

Very cool, Hank.

My buddy and I put in 14hrs today. Slow bite but we did ok .Ended up with 10 coho, 2 pinks and a yelloweye.

Nice haul,do you jig for the yellows,or what's the method?

Yeah we jig for them, I have been using a 14oz orange kodiak custom mostly.

3 more coho today

Work finally slowed down and I was able to get out this morning. Ended up with 1 king, 4 coho, a halibut, and a yelloweye. Deer season opens tomorrow!



Got a couple of the coho on an old east coast spoon too, an NK mag.

Nice haul for the day,good luck with Bambi.

No deer.

My buddy and I got out for a couple hrs before and after work. This was the catch before work.



Went back out after work and got a couple more.

Nice work!

Nice!

Kings are getting shut down on the 10th so my buddy and I went out today. Did pretty good.

Nice.... how are those orange buggers for table fare? Thanks

They are excellent, probably my #1 fish to eat. They make the best fish tacos.

Nice. Never caught any down here, I use seabass and lings for tacos and ceviche, turns out perty good

Ha love the NK Mag still have a box full of NK's

I have a few of them

Been waiting on a plane to go on a goat hunt, doesn't look like it is going to happen anytime soon with our crappy weather. I did get some new gear in the mail though.

Top row are Northport Nailers, never tried them before. The rest my buddy sent me.

You guys ever use any of these Coho Killers by Silver Horde? They work real good for kings down here. Here is my best hatchery fish this year. Came on the spoon on the far right. Irish Crème.

Never ran those, they look good though. I gotta focus on only coho now, they shut all our king fishing down.

Any updates on the goats?

Nothing yet

Dropped a billy yesterday at about 20yds. Young one, 8.5-9". Gotta take it to fish and game tomorrow.

Awesome,seen the post in the basement,congrats dude
how are they for table fare?

I think they are good. This one should be tasty as it's still young. Gonna make some maple breakfast sausage with some of it. With the goat out of the way I can focus on smoking more salmon.

What's next on the "hit list" for AK hunting?
we've got 2 more months before any big game season opens.
Keep us updated,love the posts.

Next up is Sitka Blacktails. I have 6 deer tags to fill. The goat ended up bigger than I thought, 9 7/16" on the longest side.

Got out jigging yesterday with a buddy.


Also got most of the goat ground up into sausage.

Buddy and I went out yesterday and he got a good one. He has been trying to get a fish over 100lbs for 6 years, finally got one.

155lbs



Normally I don't like killing the big ones but this fish got donated to people who needed it so it worked out.

Nice butt!! Got any goat pics? Thanks

Man that things a slob!!
how long was the battle?
And it's great you donate to folks who need it.
Any Blacktails yet?

Only took 20 minutes. No blacktails but I am going after them. The weather was crap on my hunt so no hero pics.

Very nice!! Grats

congrats on the goat

Fish looks bigger than the dude who caught it.

Well its that time of year again. Went out trolling today at the tide change and picked up a handful of coho and a pink. Start running my gear at 60ft but kept marking fish at 100ft so I dropped it down and started picking them up. Cop car flasher with a whole herring.

If I can get this internet to cooperate I will update with pictures.

Let the slaying begin.

Nice hank, gettin that time of year again. You gonna goat hunt this year?

Probably not. I didn't draw a tag this year and most of the registration hunts here are a little far away. Definitely going to hunt deer and maybe moose if the weather cooperates and I can get enough time off from work.

Congrats on goat

Always look forward to your fishing reports from Alaska

Brined up the fish from the other day. Have them drying now. The top center tray is sprinkled with smoked ghost pepper powder and the other 2 trays without the bellies are sprinkled with course ground black pepper. This batch was done with maple sugar instead of brown sugar, going to see if you can taste the difference.

Well the verdict is in on the maple sugar. I can't really taste the maple at all. It does taste a little bit different than with brown sugar but not enough to keep using it. Oh well. This batch turned out pretty good regardless. Here are some of the peppered pieces.

Got out after them for a few hours today. Only got one, a nice coho on a howie fly and an 8" flasher.



Real nice meat on these fish.

Hank, looks like you cut the belly out prior t o filleting? Never seen that before...

I cut it off the fish after taking the fillets off. Keeps it intact for smoking.

So you butterfly the fish?
I've been doing that with kings for the last couple years, it takes a little more time, but I like getting the bellies whole, and if i'm cleaning them at the river and putting multiple fish in a garbage bag for the ride home, it keeps the slimy skin from the clean meat.

Brother, great journal! Keep it up! You're living the life up there!!

Almost time for Billies out there no?
Did you draw this year?

Yep the goat hunts will be starting soon. I didn't draw anything this year, will be going after deer and maybe a moose if the weather cooperates. I got the new boat a few days ago and I have been busy breaking it in and tooling around with it. We are in full eggtake mode at work right now so I've been pretty busy. Hope to get some more pictures soon.

Wandered around after work today and found this guy not far from the beach. One and done with the 243. One down 5 to go.

Good buck Hank!! Fishing taper off?

Very nice buck!

Backstraps!!!
good deal,should be tastey.

The coho haven't really moved north yet, most of them are still out in the ocean. Blowing out of the SE right now which means crappy weather out front so no trolling for a few days. Plus I am eyeball deep in spawning chums right now.

Been a while since I rapped at ya......

Trolled this coho up today. Missed another one that slammed my hoochie but didn't get hooked up. I reeled it in slow and it followed it to the boat.



Pretty slow out there right now.

The fishing out in Unalakleet has been the best in years, Our silver limit went from 4 to 10 a day with lots of 10 to 12 pound fish.

Nice!

That is a bunch of fish!

You sure it,s not the troopers pulling and checking your pots, heard for a good source that they pull and check,
then just throw them back out with no concern. And not always exactly where they were orig. set! Excuse was
they don,t have time to reset your pots.

Got out for a few hours today. Got a pretty good one. 67", 155lbs. Funny thing is, my buddy got one the exact same size a year ago to the day. Starting to get some coho off the back porch too, time to fire up the smoker!

Porch coho

That's a shooter !! Nice.

That will fill up the freezer fast. Nice fish

Nice flattie!

Not much time for an update lately. Coho are done besides eggtake, Might go after some winter kings now. Been deer hunting but haven't seen anything.

Dam Nice Big Fish Hank!

Dandy, love halibut!!!

Been a while since I rapped at ya....

Took the day off work today to go chase after some deer since I leave on vacation tomorrow. Cruised about 20 miles of coastline and hiked almost 3 miles, saw 2 deer. Was able to outsmart this guy. I got him in the same spot I shot 2 bucks in the same day last year.



Pretty cool because 9 years ago to the day I shot this one about 80 miles north of where I am now.

UPDATE!

I trapped this guy finally. Nice big male.

Meat bucks are the best! Harvested these guys last weekend. No fat at all on them!

Should fill the freezer well,
How many deer tags you guys get?
Hank where did you say you went to in New Yorkistan ?
Pretty sure I've asked before,but sometimes I forget.
Ron

We get 6 tags down here

Yes I did go to NY to see Gramma, Shot a coyote there too.

Where abouts does granny live? just courious,pm if you dont want it out.
I'm near Rochester

Did you say when you come back you are near the Adirondacks?

UPDATE

Sitting at 3 marten so far, season has been slow. Might go try trolling for a winter king tomorrow. The boat is gassed up and ready to go. Getting ready to evict a bunch of chums in the next few days.

How'd you make out on the deer and such,stock the freezer well?

I sure did.

Then I broke my ankle in Feb and they canned me. Was in NY for a bit and now I have been back up here in AK for almost a month workin. Just got done helping take 270 million pink salmon eggs.

[img]https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/14072709/workin[/img]

Not sure how to make the campfire image work since my photobucket account has been restricted.

postimages.org

+1 on postimage

image hosting site

Sure hope you took all them eggs and spread them around the woods for fertilizer. We sure don't need em in the ocean.

What's wrong with putting fish into the ocean for people to catch? Our eggtake permits are regulated heavily by fish and game. They do the research to figure out carrying capacity, and they regulate our permits.

Fish and Game biologists don't know their ass from a hole in the water. Anyone who thinks that pumping more pinks into the ocean is a good thing is either a commercial fisherman or an idiot...
They think carrying capacity means how many fish will fit in a square foot of water. They obviously have no clue that it takes fod t grow those pinks, food that they're taking from other fish stocks.

I'm not meaning to attack you Hank, I know you're just doing your job.
I just get riled up about our fish and game board and how they're bought and paid for by the commercial fishermen. They only make rules that benefit the commies and keep taking from the sporties. And I don't believe they have the best interest of the resources in mind when doing it.

Breath in.... breath out.... breath in.... breath out.... now rub your ears and think of a happy place...

What is wrong with you? They only dumped 400 Billion extra each of the last few years... what could be wrong with that? And everyone loves all those returning humpies, right?

And they wonder why the humpie food sources that used to cycle in two year patterns are just falling below the average lows.

And dogs are being boosted beyond usable numbers...

Save Alaska fisheries, can the Board of Fish!

Save Alaska's seabirds, too...

The endangered whales sure seem happy eating them. What if a hatchery were to put out 100 million coho instead of pinks? Or 100 million kings to try and save them? I am by no means an expert, but I have seen some the attitudes from commercial fisherman. I got confronted in Cordova once by a seine boat crew when they heard who I work for. The bartender actually stepped in and told them if they had anything else to say they were outta there and that I had probably put more money in their bank accounts than most other people.

We got the good old double whammy from some old woman the other day at work. Told us we should all F off because the fish were still twitching as we were cutting them, which is pretty normal. I guess if we had just sent live fish and clubbed them with bats that would have been better than shocking them?????? She ran off before anyone could even try and explain why we do what we do. Shut down the hatcheries and keep the same number of boats fishing and see what happens.



400 billion? I hope that is an exaggeration because the true number is far far lower.

Every biologist I know has been screaming to deaf ears for years about the massive amount of pinks and dogs being put into the ocean.

On the plus side, the killer whales have been eating a lot of whales this year.