Rough Seas and the 2nd Summer King Opener


The 2nd King opener was much kinder to us with the best weather of the summer so far and fish to be caught – too bad it only lasted 4 days!
King Salmon

We had been having windy and rough weather on the outer coast. Winds were 20 – 30 knots, seas of 8 to 10 feet. Fish and Game announced a 5 day closure but we couldn’t even fish the last 2 days due to the rough seas. We headed out one morning into the waves but after bashing into them for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes, Doug turned us around and headed back into where we had anchored the night before. He knew his crew wasn’t going to be very helpful in that type of conditions (plus PacSon was taking a beating as well)! Luckily, there is a passage around Yakobi Island through Lisianski Strait and into Lisianski Inlet that is protected from the worst of it and we were able to take that route into Elfin Cove to pitch our fish.

Coho (L) and King Salmon (R)
In order to head into Juneau to provision during the closure we had to traverse Inian Pass. This is a narrow passageway between Cross Sound and Icy Straits that all of the tidal waters rush through on the way in and out to sea. This particular trip ended up being quite the adventure. Our stop in Elfin Cove caused us to miss the tide exchange so we ended up going thru as the tide was ebbing. This caused 8-foot breaking waves at the entrance as the swell from the open ocean hit the tide coming out and the waves stacked up against us. We were light and our poles were up making us not as stable (since we had pitched our fish). The first breaking wave laid us over on our side and the second pitched us back the other way. Everything flew off shelves and counters and went one way and then the other. I tried to hold onto as much stuff as I could while maintaining my own footing. It was a moment of scariness but Doug maneuvered us through it. Needless to say, the next time we passed thru we made sure to have poles out, weight in the hold and calmer water!

We ended up having to spend extra time in Juneau, again due to heavy seas. We arrived back at Yakobi on the evening of the 2nd opener so we got 4 days of fishing before the close. All 4 were lovely, sunny days with kind seas! We caught big Kings and several Coho that were hogs for this type of fish! It was a very nice and needed break from the wind, waves and fog that have been the story for most of this summer!


King also called "Black Mouth" because of the black gum line

Coho has a white gum line

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