Salmon runs yo-yo in Craig! 1

Last weeks salmon bite was absolutely wide open with great action on both silvers and king salmon.  In three days of fishing we landed around 25 kings, 40 plus silvers, and god only knows how many chicken halibut.  King salmon were biting at 120 feet, 60 feet, 25 feet, and as the guys were lifting their weights out of the water and checking their bait to make sure it was still spinning.  "Looks good…WHOA!"  W.F.O. baby!  With great action to the north and south of Craig we've got high expectations for great action here again soon. 

Then, as if to say "that's enough" Mother Nature comes wallowing in with one helluva storm that sent the entire charter fleet into the islands several days ago.  20 plus foot swells and strong gales sent us in early one day and we fished the next day in a 15 foot swell and a lovely wind chop.  My crew comprised of Dave Vedder, Bob Reed, and the Grabowski brothers toughed it out and fished hard for a handful of kings and some silver salmon over the course of three days.  We made a stop at a place we call "Semi" yesterday and hooked a mess of halibut in less than 10 minutes, then went back to the salmon grind, eventually finding some willing silvers and a king at Roller Bay at the end of the day.  The storm took a mess of king and silver salmon and flushed them off to parts unknown.  More fish showed up out there today, though, so I'm sure we'll be back on step here shortly.  Local resident Bill Russell put a friend of his into a 54.5 pound Chinook today and I heard of two others over 40 pounds caught today.  Not wide open action, but those that put the time in caught some nice king salmon. 

Lady Luck!  I've been a fishing guide and charter captain for going on 15 years and one thing I can say for certain is that women flat out catch more fish than us know-it-all guys.  They listen, they're patient, and they really don't give a damn!  When a woman shows up it's pretty much an automatic that they're going to put on a clinic and Danielle was no exception.  Between naps she bagged an 80 pound halibut and a 37 pound king salmon on Capt. Kims boat.  Thank you for not letting us down Danielle!

Sorry for the lack of pictures ya'all.  My computer went down about a week ago and I'm hoping to have it up and running again soon.  Michael Parker from the infamous Piscatorial Pursuits fishing forum was kind enough to transfer all the data from my old lap top to a new one that's on it's way to him as I write this.  Many thanks to Parker for the help! 

Capt. Rob Endsley

www.princeofwalessportfishing.com