Sitka 2012: Lucky with the weather…and the fish! 4

In this, our twentieth (yes, that’s 20 years) annual trip to Sitka we experienced some of the best salmon and halibut action and did so in some places we had never been before!

—"Big Red", our 27' Stabicraft makes it's fourth trip to Sitka Harbor. Majestic Mt Edgecumbe, Sitka's storied dormant volcano and a dead-ringer for Japan's Mt. Fuji looms in the background.

Every once in a while, you dodge a bullet. In our case we dodged gale-force winds which can churn the waters of southeast Alaska into an unholy -and unsafe- froth. A gale was just laying down as we arrived and another is kicking up as I write this. The eight days in the interim were fairly flat and even sunny at times. Those rare days when the sun shines and the winds calm in southeast Alaska are a blessing to experience and when the fish cooperate…I have a hard time imagining a better place to be!

This shot sums up the weather quite nicely! I'll trade you raingear for sunglasses and sunscreen any day!

We’ve seen peaks and valleys in the Sitka sportfishery over the years and this season was one of the best in years! The abundance of chinook in particular gives reason for optimism for our coastal salmon season which indeed is off to a great start!

—Phil Michelsen and Larry Stauffer with the results of a "double header" or two kings on at once!

Dave Heiser with the largest chinook of the trip with this chrome 29 pounder. Interestingly, the largest king of the trip again came on the middle downrigger!

Derek Floyd of Reel Class Charters in his natural habitat: the coastal waters off os Sitka watching a happy client playing a hot chinook!

While the chinook were definitely in a biting mood, the halibut were not too shy about taking a baited hook either! In fact, we had our best halibut year ever, thanks to the flat calm weather and some local advice!

—Larry Stauffer with 70 pounds of proof that this is a solid halibut season in southeast Alaska!

It's pretty easy to understand why Sitka has become a trip we anxiously await each and every year: Good weather, great fishing and close friends enjoying it all together!

I hope you can experience some of the wonderful experiences that southeast Alaska has to offer. One thing I can promise you: You will not be disappointed!

Tom Nelson The Outdoor Line 710 ESPN Seattle www.theoutdoorline.com