Getting a late start on this content addition, which matches the coho run which is also a little late. It's early September here in Ketchikan and the peak of the silver run should be coming in the next week or two, but there hasn't been much of a lead up. There have been some nice days scraped together, but no one is getting limits and getting to the dock by noon like some of the lodges on the west side of Prince of Wales do and do often in early August. Some guided outfits are getting clients on lots of fish by making long runs to the open water.
So it is what it is.
From my close-to-town perspective, fishing between 80 and 100 feet with a pink, green or black hoochie laced with some herring for scent has been a good enough plan to put some fish in the freezer. Again, never enough to make me feel like I could charge people for my services, but enough to feel at least competent. The shallower I fish, the more shakers I pick up, and it's never good to hook small kings and risk their death at such a young age, especially when they are small and you might be trolling with them being dragged.
Halibut started their migration in earnest a few weeks ago and some smaller fish were caught near down at sandy bottomed areas. Most of the fish were between 10-15 pounds. Not a great fish, but a good eating one. However, if you kill everything you catch, you might not catch many later.
Had a great day south of town last week. The weather was good so we took advantage and fished some of the standard halibut looking areas we had scouted and ended up with some quality fish for the freezer. It ended up being about equal jig/circle hook bait as far as results.