June 29th - Bad Tide But Good Fish

Another great weather day in the North Gulf Coast, sunny skies and 0 wind made for a perfect day of fishing.  I figured we would give Montague Island a break today and see if we couldn't find any fish a little closer to home.  The tide was small so picking a spot with a fair amount of current is key.  We anchored up around 9:40am and got a slow but steady bite going pulling about 8 nice fish off our first spot in the 25-75 pound range.  The Jigs were getting a ton of bites but keeping the fish on was a different story.  The halibut did seem to start biting on salmon carcasses, something that usually happens weeks ago but due to the late arrival of salmon this year the bait has not been as effective.  Today was a prospecting trip with some of my good friends on the boat with us.  We were able to find a few nice fish and stay out of the westerly chop and fog that everyone else in the fleet experienced.  My friend from Cooper Landing was able to hook about fifteen halibut on his 10 weight fly rod, watching him try and reel them in was a blast.  Even the smaller halibut had his rod buckled in half near the breaking point.  He's lucky the derby winner didn't take the fly, that would of taken all day to bring in.

Matt Lewallen #75lb Halibut

In the afternoon we shifted about 15 minutes out of the rocks and into the mud to limit the boat out.  The amount of bait over the halibut grounds was impressive.  As soon as our lines hit bottom we were hooked up with around 10 fish.  It only took the boat close to an hour to limit!  

The last day of the Halibut Tournament here in Seward is tomorrow so bring your game face and your fishing license and lets win $10,000.  See you in the morning, FISH ON!!!