Sitka Shoreside Silvers

[Tightlines667]

Last week my boss canceled his trip, which freed up needed travel funds for me.  Thankfully, I was able to make last minute arrangements to get back up to Sitka, AK for my required 3-day marine safety instructor training refresher.   Unfortunately, I was only able to carve out 1 day for fishing, and couldn't make arrangements to get out on a boat.  

I packed a spinning reel, and travel spinning rod and upon arrival contacted a local fisherman for advice on where I might be able to find Coho near shore, in town.  He suggested fishing the beach adjacent to the science center fish hatchery right in town, or hiking down a mile and fishing the mouth of the Indian River.  

I arrived Saturday afternoon, checked into my hotel, walked down to the bait shop, bought a one day license, a couple of blue fox spinners, and a 'Vicky' knife.  

After some much needed rest, I woke up early, suited up in raingear, and headed down to the hatchery.  It rained hard all day, and the tide range was large given it was near the full moon.  The tide was low first thing.  I fished the beach, rocks, and jetty adjacent to the hatchery for 2 hours after sunrise, and only caught a couple small (12-14") Silvers, and 2 Pink Salmon.  

I walked down to the Indian river and fished both sides of the mouth for another hour or two with no bites.  The river itself was stacked full of Pink Salmon, and many dead and dying fish were all around.  The hundreds of gulls were happy.  

I worked my way back to hatchery beach.  The tide was much higher, and there was alot more life in the water.  I started catching fish about 1.5hrs before high tide, it was good action for 45minutes, died down at the slack high tide, then picked up again on the backside for an hour before dying down a few hours after high tide.  

I managed to land 3 keeper Silvers, broke 2 more off in the rocks, caught over a dozen small Silvers, and inadvertently snagged a few more Pink Salmon.  The big silver was in the 15lb class.  I fileted the fish up on the beach, walked to the grocery store to buy ziplocks, then washed/packed/froze the filets at the hotel.  

After talking to the locals, it sounds like I was really lucky to have gotten into some fish when I did.  Apparently the bite turned off on Tuesday, and had only lasted for around 4 days.

I had alot of fun, and was able to do it on my own.

I would have likely to have made a week out of it, and fished from a boat for several days, but given the circumstamces everything worked out great.

John

[Tightlines667]

More pics..

[Tightlines667]

More pics

[scrinch]

Sounds like a nice quick trip to Sitka. I've never fished for silvers from shore...only pinks.
Thought I'd add a couple of videos from Sitka this past August.
Indian River with spawning pink salmon, and jumping pinks off of Stargaven a few miles north of Sitka.

[newport]

Hey, not bad at all for a single day excursion. Salmon is one of my favorite-eating fish, and catching them is a lot of fun. I fished in Ascension Bay (I think it was called) years ago. Wish I had done more fishing and less foolery back then.

[Ron Jones]

Anytime you bring home fish it is a good day. I guess anytime you wet a line it is a good day. Some would say any day on a trip to Alaska is a good day.

Let's just say it sounds like you had a good day!
The Man

[Darin Crofton]

Dang those look tasty!

[Benni3]

Looks like you're in a fantastic place to be,,,,, with very nice fish,,,,,love it