Splendid Sitka
A Summer Salmon Slam - Complete with Pink Flamingos
Article reprinted from Fish Taco Chronicles Spring Edition 2000

by Bill Herzog

Rain. Southeast Alaska has it and makes Seattle look like San Diego. Here it was, the last week of July in the small fishing/tourist town of Sitka, looking more like February than the peak of summer. On our way to the hotel from the airport, a local deadpanned, "Oh, yeah, we see the sun. Four, five days each summer." This place may be known for precipitation, but I can tell you Sitka's best rep is its seemingly limitless angling opportunities.
Pink salmon would often take the fly as soon as it touched down. 

 

	Pink salmon would often take the fly as soon as it touched down.

A common problem facing many when deciding on an Alaskan adventure is what kind of fish to target. Do you want to mooch cut-plug herring for ocean Chinook? Catch hook-nosed ocean coho as fast as you can drop a bait overboard? How about fly fish uncountable pristine estuaries for newly minted pink salmon? Trophy sea-run cutthroat? Halibut and giant lingcod everyday? You can do all of this from mid-July to early August in the ocean and surrounding island channels of Sitka. Imagine, coming to Alaska with no itinerary, armed simply with the mantra, "let's fish." We came the last week of July to get a taste of every fishing opportunity Sitka had to offer. It's safe to say it was far from disappointing.

Every Boat Floor Has a Silver Lining
Can you beat the excitement of the first morning of fishing in Alaska? Even a steady downpour could not fizzle our grins as we walked loaded with every conceivable type offishing rod you could imagine. My partner Mike Cronen and I would be in the company of Big Blue Charters this week. Their boats are new, clean and well designed for open water salmon fishing.Pinks like pink. The author's favorite patterns.

 

Pinks like pink. The author's favorite patterns.

For ocean mooching, a I 0-foot rod rated for I 0- to 20-pound fine, 20-pound mainline, 2- to 4-ounces of lead, large ball-bearing swivel and 20-pound leader (these salmon are not the least line shy) with dual 3/0 Gamakatsu hooks is the outfit of choice. Heavy enough to land a brute chinook, yet still sporty for 10- to I& pound coho. Dave Vedder's signature Lamiglas 10- 1/2 foot, 10-20 was the funk for all my Sitka salmon wrangling.

We went straight out from the harbor, as did all the other charter boats. Our guide, young but Sitka seasoned Pete Montgomery said we would be fishing for the first wave of coho of the season, as a few of them were now being caught. Alaskan coho are wonderful salmon, and larger than we are used to in Washington and Oregon. Few are smaller than 10 pounds and most run 12 to 14. We passed a group of charter boats that seemingly were all hooked up. So naturally, we cut the engine and dropped our cutplug herring into the clear ocean.
   

	Mike Croneen with a Sitka chinook salmon.

It wasn't two minutes before Mike hooked the first coho. It was airborne immediately followed by signature twists and roffs. This thick fish was all of 15 pounds with perfect high, straight fins, gun-metal blue back, silver sides and bright white belly. For the next 45 minutes fishing was as fast as you could get a bait down 20 feet. Either your line went limp or the rod was honked like a plug strike from a wild spring I steelhead. This was 1945 at Westport! This was 1955 at Sekiul! This was the Sitka I came to experience-saltwater salmon fishing that our fathers and grandfathers used to take for granted.

Mike Croneen with a Sitka chinook salmon.

After the smoke cleared, there was a sight you will likely never see in the lower 48.The floor of the boat was covered with 18 big, wild coho from 12 to 16 pounds. When the bite is on, like we experienced, there is no time to stow each fish, so they are unceremoniously left on the floor, sliding around and careening off the walls and your shoes. A generous six fish per person, per day limit guarantees plenty of great eating fish goes back south with you. I can't remember ever being around so many large, bright salmon in a bite that ferocious. As our captain says, however, the "good" fishing had yet to start and wouldn't be "decent" until August!

Note to self .. come back in August for white hot coho fishing...
When salmon limits are filled boats head for the halibut holes. Here is the lowdown on how difficult it is to catch a halibut off Sitka: Thread a gob of salmon guts on a circle hook, drop guts down 300 feet, hit bottom, wait two seconds, set hook, pump and reel unyielding beast to surface while mopping brow. The ocean floor is literally paved with delicious flatties. Catching your limit of two between 30 and 90 pounds (often far larger) is a gimme. It's October, and I'm still eating halibut!
 
Pink Salmon And Pink Flamingos 
After two days of the best coho fishing I've ever seen, we would be stowing the meat rods for the gentle sport of catch and release fly fishing. We were put in the care of Big Blue's fly fishing guide, Jim Williams. He assured us that we would have no problems finding a lonely estuary sprinkled with fresh from the ocean pink salmon.

Now, I've heard about the great runs of pink salmon that swarm the inlets neighboring Sitka-that I believed. I had also heard about Sitka's infamous pink flamingos. As we all should know, flamingos are tropical birds that live in swamplands. However, someone with apparently way too much time on their hands went far and above any effort I've ever seen to pull an elaborate t-practical joke that, according to our charter boat captains, has been fooling tourists for many years.

For seven hours one fresh pink salmon after another was hooked.

For seven hours one fresh pink salmon after another was hooked.

The rare Arctic flamingo ... ahem ... as they are called, perch in trees on their Southern migration. Sure enough, while on our way to an estuary to fly fish for pink salmon, there they were. Approximately 20 miles out of town, down a maze of channels, on one of the hundreds of small islands, if you look 100 feet up on a tall spruce there, on the end of the branches, are perched a half dozen pink flamingos. Funniest damned thing I've ever seen. Some character went through one hell of a lot of effort. just climbing this tree would be difficult enough, but these plastic creatures are lashed to the ends of branches a hundred feet up! just another example of how America is losing the war on drugs.

I spent the following half hour looking into treetops for lawn jockeys and ceramic gnomes. Not far from the irregularly placed lawn ornaments was our target estuary. As we rounded a corner, immediately you could see as many as 20 bright salmon leaping over a broad area. Now this sight gets the heart racing! What a scene; surrounded by lush old growth, the small river emerges out of dense forest onto emerald grass flats, indented by a gently sloping bay.  This was the beginning of the pink salmon run, and although Jim assured us this was nowhere near the numbers that would fill this estuary in a week or so, there were already a half thousand ocean fresh salmon for us to play with. Without another human in sight, we pulled the boat into the shallows, snatched our fly rods and boogied across the bar! 
    

	In no time 18 big, wild coho were caught.

Sitka pinks average three to six pounds. To bring out the best fight from these plentiful wild fish, we brought new Jim Teeny nine-foot, four-piece 4 and 5 weights. Since these salmon were milling about in water from three to six feet deep, floating lines with long (9-foot) leaders tapered to eight-pound fluorocarbon tippets worked well. Pinks love their namesake, as we brought boxes chock full of #6 and #8 unweighted flies in various combinations of hot pink. Mini sparse marabous, bunnies, chenille, and wound hackle flies all worked equally well. Long casts were never necessary, nor wading past your knees, as long as your presentation managed to straighten out 20 feet away. A retrieve of 6-inch, medium speed puffs produced a take every other cast.

Many times you would have a salmon the instant the fly touched down. Surface fishing was unbelievable, but genius here forgot his box of surface flies at the hotel. I had one-just one-hot pink deerhair/foam waker that murdered the salmon on top until it was chewed beyond further use.

Pinks get a bad rep as poor fighters. This is true if they are caught on tackle intended for larger salmon or targeted when starting to color. However, if you target them with light fly rods when they are fresh from the open ocean they fight incredibly well. Most fish would make several leaps and show you your backing on their initial run. How can you say anything negative about a dime bright, wild, aggressive salmon that readily strikes flies and fights like hell? Mr. Cronen and I hooked humpies for seven hours, which seemed like two, non stop. It was one of the best days of fishing I've ever experienced. We even had the opportunity to take off our rain jackets for a couple hours! 

Even with opportunities like this, fly fishing is still in an embryonic stage in Sitka. Anglers are discovering the many rivers, estuaries and even open waters that offer excellent fly fishing. Coho, pinks, cutthroat, Dolly Varden and many species of rockfish are always readily available in the salt, while the rivers in the area have healthy runs of spring steelhead. There is a new fly shop in Sitka, Fly Away Fly Shop. It is a cute, well-stacked store that offers guided trips and all the flies, etc., for the region you may need.
 
The Ultimate Hangover Cure
Our last day began as the rest-we had no idea where or what we would be targeting. So as the normal drift we hauled all kinds of rods down to the docks. We were struggling in the downpour. Our fishing conquests had been more than adequately celebrated with distilled spirits of all kinds until the wee hours of the morning. Our guide today again was Ted Nugent look-alike Jim, who was grinning at our obvious plight.
"Jelly filled doughnut?" asked Jim.
"No thank you." I replied greenly.
"Shot of tequila?" 
"Very funny-" 
"Well,' Jim said, scratching his goatee, "We could drop you off back at the estuary for pinks, but we ran into a late run of kings yesterday at The Bowl. Wanna give them a shot? You haven't had the chance to get a king yet, have you?" 

We looked at each other, and without a word exchanged, headed for the ocean and a chance at a Sitka Chinook. Suddenly, with a shot of adrenaline at the possibilities that lay ahead, I felt much better. Mike had made two previous trips to Sitka in late May specifically targeting Chinook. Sitka has the reputation of being ground zero for the best saltwater Chinook fishery in North America, and from Mike's stories of hooking dozens of wild fish between 25 and 45 pounds everyday, who was I to doubt. I couldn't wait to feel the power of an ocean chino6k again.In no time 18 big, wild coho were caught.

We soaked cut-plug herring for an hour, with only a few nice coho and a 17-pound king to show. A few Chinook were taken around us. Hmm. Slack fine on the let-down. Reel until your line is bowstring tight, rod is maxed bent and you have no less than three guides in the water, set hard ... a very heavy fish shakes its head, then blazes off to the horizon. I'm not going to tell how long it's been since Spoomnan hooked an ocean Tyee, but let's just say Bill Gates was still living in an apartment. 

Even after a decade of abstinence I knew this was a great fish. My 10-1/2 looter was bent to the cork and line was evaporating from my Shimano 201.There are many thrills we live for as anglers and few top the first look at three and a half feet of twisting chrome 20 feet below in clear water. Now I felt like throwing up for reasons that had nothing to do with excessive alcohol indulgence. A 37-pound Chinook is not a giant, but magnificent is too light a word for this fish lying at my feet. I can't remember experiencing elation on this level since 30 pounds of Canadian steelhead turned my legs to juice. I let every boat in the neighborhood know just how happy I was! Mike soon hooked another silver slab in the 30 pound range, filling the daily quota for the boat. Two ling cod in the 30 pound class along with the standard issue halibut topped off a soggy, but productive day on the bounding main. It's heart-warming to see quality fishing from the past alive and well in the present.

"Wanna beer?" Mike asked, waving a cold one in my direction. "After today? Absolutely!"
   
Note to self ... come back in June for the amazing Chinook fishing.
 
Sitka, Etc.
No joke about the rain, fellas. It rains over 200 inches a year here, and that even beats out the Quinault Valley on the Olympic Peninsula." Summer" here is like a stop sign in California, merely a suggestion. Pack fleece and warm clothing as you would for a float down a coastal river in January. Along with bullet-proof raingear, bring seasick medicine. The ocean can get sloppy, and we don't want you looking like the gold medal winner in the Tequila Guzzling Spinning Cup Ride championships. Sitka also features many shops with local flavor. Bring some extra cash, as there are all kinds of coot local flavor knickknacks to bring back to the family. you may call this tourist trap heaven, just note the number of cruise ships in the harbor. Guys, bring the wives. Even if the missus doesn't fish, there is plenty of see-and-dos here for her while you are out wrestling salmonids.  We stayed at the Sitka Hotel, a renovated throwback to 1920S style, and I recommend it highly. By the way, one of the best-and one of the largest- steaks I've ever eaten was at The Channel club on the edge of town. You'll need a reservations I'm talkin' some good steaks, pal. As far as choosing a charter, Big Blue Charters did a commendable job for us, our guides were salmon savvy, full of character and put us on fish burs-eye. Our salmon, halibut and ling were vacuum-sealed, flash frozen and labeled. Give owner Mike Keating a ring at (907) 747-5161 or look them up on-line at wwwbigbluecharters.com.

Wow .. too much good stuff. We never got the chance to try for sea-run cutts, but they are there. We caught many large coho, several brute Chinook, scads of pinks, halibut each day, big rings, rockfish and a few Dolly Varden. Every species of salmon was at its physical prime and all were fabulous eating. We even killed a few hours before our flight home by zipping down to the end of the road to the Starrgavin River for one last shot at pinks. A few dozen were fooled by our flies in a gorgeous estuary minutes from "downtown". 
My only regret from this week is it wasn't two.