King Salmon

Fishing and Catching
The Kings that returned to Wrangell this season were full of fight and very comparable in size to what we had during the 2007 season.  We saw Kings showing up in early May at Greys Pass and Babbler that ranged from 28 lbs. to 34 lbs. consistently.  That was sure a nice way to start out the season.  The King Salmon this season moved around a lot and we had to fish many different drags and long hours to produce good fish, but that is what it’s all about in my book.  By the end of the season over 200 Kings were boated on the Timber Wolf, setting the bar pretty high for next year!  I’ll be ready.  All in all, I feel that everyone enjoyed the Kings this year and the fishing continued to get better as the summer went on.  Even though Kings aren’t typically targeted after July 1, we still caught many while fishing for our early Coho’s.  For next year preliminary numbers look good for both the Stikine River and Anita Bay returns and hopefully we will see the best bag limits here again.  I will let you know as soon as I hear.  Start thinking about your dates!!

Halibut

These flat fish were here in very good numbers.  They were relatively easy to find and in some cases unstoppable!  Just ask Rob Snyder and his crew about the huge halibut we couldn’t stop!  This happened 3 times to us!  Catherine Clay caught her first halibut on the Timber Wolf weighing in at 160 pounds!  I am expecting to see a 2009 bag limit of 1 fish per day.  It looks like the commercial fleet with see another reduction of around 10% in their quota for the 2009 season.   

Coho

Well, from the logbook we were landing Coho in early July at an average weight of 5 to 7 pounds.  By the end of the summer we had Coho pushing 20 pounds!  I was using Silver Horde’s Coho Killers and Atomic Spoons with HUGE success!  We also used light weight rods and 20# test line for added adrenaline.  This was a great combo! The Coho stuck around for a good portion of the summer and gave a lot of thrills to the lucky anglers on the other end!  Hopefully we might get a better run of Coho next season.  These fish are so fun to catch.  Look at late July and all of August for the best fishing here.

From Your Guide

Well, it’s hard to believe that I have another season on the books.  This season felt a little “wetter” than usual as I found myself in rain gear most of the summer!  The new boat sure made a big difference in our comfort on the water and how we fished this season.  I hope that all of you will continue to enjoy the bigger Timber Wolf with me for years to come.  I sure enjoyed the groups of family and friends I had on the boat and seeing all the smiles.  For next year you can expect more fishing,, more rods in the water and the best gear and equipment available to you.  A warm dry boat to fish from and plenty of good times.  Can’t wait to see you next year!