2009
2009 was a year of contrast. For a second year in a row, the winter commercial king salmon fleet struggled, landing about 25,000 fish out of a 45,000 fish quota. Once again the season looked bleak. The abundance index was released in April and it was increased a small amount from 2008. The increase was enough that the king salmon restrictions and closures for nonresidents in July and August were removed. My early season was absolutely horrible, but then it was if a switch was thrown and we had a great June and decent July and August. As they say “the darkest hour is right before the dawn”. The June fish were all in the 20 pound class, probably because they were mostly four year fish. I have hope for some larger, five year fish from this age class, next season. We caught several thirty plus pound fish and really nice coho in July and August. Weather wise, 2009 might have been the best I have experienced in Sitka. I was only blown off the ocean once in late August and there were endless calm days. Overall, 2009 ended up a decent season. The weather made it memorable.
APRIL
I arrived in Sitka on April 23rd and put the boat in the water. The weather was pretty good, cloudy but not much wind or rain. I went out by myself a couple days later and caught a nice 24# fish, within 5 minutes. Boy was I excited, thinking the “game was on”. I did not catch another fish for 4 days and it was pretty small! Jim and I caught some crab, cooked some nice meals and drank some good wine. I went home after 8 days, thinking it was a marginal start to the season.
MAY
I returned to Sitka on May 9th with my friend Tom. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and flat calm. We fished for six full days, covering all the usual spots multiple times, including the outer coast. I burned a lot of fuel and covered over 300 miles. We did not catch a salmon, have a salmon bite or see another boat catch a salmon. It was GRIM. After beating my head against the wall, I realized there were absolutely no fish in the area. I threw in the towel after six days and cancelled the remainder of the trip, going home to lick my wounds. That had never happened in my previous nineteen years in Sitka. Needless to say I was pretty depressed about the upcoming season!
JUNE
I returned on May 31st with Kurt and once again nice calm weather with slow fishing. We caught a couple each day, but after three days it started to happen. My charters started on June 6th and it started getting better each day. From June 8th onward, it was good and at times excellent. Just the way it is supposed to be in Sitka. The weather stayed wonderful and we had multiple kings per person each day for the rest of the month. Some early coho showed up in mid June and one day we caught 20 while fishing for kings. My friend Jeff and his group from Boston hit the lottery and had the trip of a lifetime with sunny calm weather and legendary fishing. The Mesher family came up for a couple of short days and we managed a nice catch. I went home for a break on the 22nd, after a satisfying June.
JULY-AUG
I went back on July 21st to build an addition to my shed on the dock to house a new bin for the ice machine. The project took 3 days and I learned why I am not a carpenter by trade. I fished with John and his son starting the 25th and it was slow but decent. Each day got better and once again it was great fishing by the end of July, when I fished the Peckham family. We caught several nice 30 pound kings and a couple coho close to 20 pounds for the month. The weather was outstanding. I fished Kevin and his son the first few days of August and we had limits most days. I took another break on the 5th.
I went back on Aug 14th to fish a day or two and put the boat away. My luck with good weather finally ran out. I got blown off the ocean the last day I fished and it rained relentlessly while we moved stuff from the boat to the store room. It was time to call it a season!