Alaska Wide Open

Wide Open is a term used for really good fishing. Fishing so good that virtually everyone on the boat is hooked up, and the action is fast and furious. Hook a fish, land it, get baited up, drop down, and hook up immediately.

Fishing is fishing though. You never can predict weather, fish abundance, and how well they are biting. One thing about fishing out of Craig, Alaska is that we often can have wide open fishing, on multiple species. It is common to have wide open fishing with species like black bass and halibut. Black bass is fast and furious fishing, and people love it. They are tasty fish too. Halibut are often thick too and we can hook up as soon as we get to the bottom.

Often though we do have wide open fishing for kings and cohos. I've had my clients put 36 cohos into the boat in less than an hour. That is crazy good fishing and mayhem on the boat. I fish with no deckhand, so that is a lot of gaffing, bleeding, and baiting hooks. I am used to it and know my business. And given that clients often miss a good percentage of the bites, it is a LOT of baiting of hooks. People love it, and I often feel like a bit of a "supervisor" on deck making sure everyone stays tangle free as they fight their fish. Have I mentioned how fun it is?

Now, the video below shows wide open King salmon fishing. I had six clients that particular day and if I remember correctly, it as my first charter of 2016. It is me narrating the film and running around the boat with my phone. This was last year, when the limit was two kings a day. That's 12 kings for six anglers, and most days we were done with the king salmon portion of the day by 9am. That day I am sure it was about 7:30am. That is some good fishing! What do we do when we finish king salmon? We chase after other species of course!

BTW, this video was taken before the other charter boats ventured out for the season. I have typically started before the rest of the fleet, in late May. It is some amazing fishing being one of the few boats out there. As you can see, the kings aren't exactly small!