Reeling ‘Em In: Fishing strategies — fake or real?

I mentioned last week that there are some unique challenges to writing this column because many of the sources I deal with are suspect simply because they are hard-core fishermen, and that’s cool.

This particular assemblage of sportsmen are masters at turning simple fishing trips into high seas sagas and/or a jack salmon into a “chinook so huge we had to shoot it with a .44 just to chill it enough to slam home a couple of harpoons.”

I can attest to the accuracy of that allegation because I come from a long line of fish story prevaricators and the chinook yarn was one of my grandpa’s classics.

It has been quite an education wading through decades of pescador b.s. but worth it. It turned out that most of the meadow muffins playfully flung my way and bent on stranding me mid-stream looking like an unhinged clown in hip waders inadvertently provided a mother lode of usable tips.

Then, there’s the unusual happenstance.

Example: I was hanging around the boat launch area a few years back, when two seasoned gentlemen began loading a small skiff onto a trailer. As they adjusted their boat’s gear, they tugged a wet cloth off two hefty-looking halibut.

Since the weather was somewhat dicey, I figured they must have been hooked up or drift fishing in an area somewhere in Mud Bay. If they had tried to go anywhere else, they would have needed a periscope to find their way back.

It turned out they had been settled on anchor during slack tide about a mile and a half northeast of the harbor entrance until a rising chop forced them to cut things short and roll back to port with the 25-pound-plus and 30-pound-plus flats.

It wasn’t an unusual tale until they revealed that they wouldn’t have gone out if they hadn’t checked their “solunar fishing forecast and predictions chart” and discovered fishing looked promising.

It had been around 10 years since I first heard about solunar fishing graphs and gave them the same credence as checking an astrology chart on the odds getting out of bed and being flattened by an asteroid while heading to the bathroom.

Personally, I practice “good luck” fishing basics such as sporting a mangled Seahawks ball cap tilted 20 degrees to the left while styling an ancient, multi-pocketed, light coverall that can stand by itself next to 21-old rubber talisman boots featuring more patches than a nicotine addict.

Mine are not superstitious quirks but essential angling paraphernalia.

Still, back then, I was intrigued enough to check out the solunar hypothesis and was surprised how well they mimicked a few of the fishing strategies I had been taught and developed over the years. Plus, I certainly couldn’t dispute the fish in their boat.

If you’re curious about the solunar bit, here’s where to check it out: www.solunarforecast.com (just ignore the annoying side ads).

Time now to take a look at the fishing report for the week of Aug. 26.

Freshwater Fishing

Anchor River, Deep Creek, and the Ninilchik River are open to sport fishing other than chinook. Please check for new emergency orders prior to fishing.

Coho Salmon

Silver successes have been a bad joke on the lower Kenai Peninsula streams. Fishing during the early cockcrow hours near the mouth of the rivers, in or about high tide, may produce some late comers or just quality casting practice.

There is plenty of rain in this week’s weather forecast which could make these streams a white-water rafting challenge besides being totally unfishable. Check NOAA’s Anchor River hydrograph before planning a fishing trip.

Dolly Varden

Dolly fishing has been so, so. Fishing with beads pegged under small strike indicators is one of the most effective ways to chase dollies if the streams aren’t carrying trees downstream. For fly fisherman, smolt patterns, streamers, and beads are the best options when trying to miss the trees. Spinners and spoons are great options for fishing with spinning rods but suck when it comes to avoiding snags on the tumbling flora.

Steelhead

Good news. A fair number of steelhead have been arriving to these streams already this season. Beads and flies are the best bets to for strikes in both the lower and upper sections of these rivers. Need we repeat ourselves about the #&^%*8^ trees?

Saltwater Fishing

Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Halibut

There’s still primo halibut fishing to be had although the wind gods have to chill with their gangster attitude when it comes to being able to leave the harbor.

Lingcod

Fishing for the Freddy Kruger-ugly lingcod has been good on the outer coast, including the Chugach Islands area, but only when the seas aren’t getting their kiesters seriously kicked by the winds.

King Salmon

King fishing has fired up with a truck load of successful reports rolling in from throughout Kachemak Bay. Silver Ridge, Bluff Point and the Eldred Passage area were banging on full cylinders.

Coho Salmon

Trolling for silvers throughout Cook Inlet salt waters has been just that, trolling.

Surf Fishing

Surf fishing at the tip of the Homer spit continue to deliver anglers a variety of groundfish including halibut, sculpins, skates, sharks, flounders, cod, and creatures that it’s better to just cut your line and slowly walk away from.

Emergency Orders

Please review the emergency orders and advisory announcements in their entirety before heading out on your next fishing trip.

Coho salmon bag limit reduced to 1 per day in Cook Inlet salt waters

Coho salmon bag limit reduced to 1 per day and gear is restricted to single-hook artificial lure in all lower Kenai Peninsula fresh waters

Cook Inlet Sport Fishing Regulation Changes

East Cook Inlet Razor Clam Fisheries Remain Closed for 2024

For additional information, please contact the Homer Office at 907-235-8191.

Nick can be reached at ncvarney@gmail.com if he isn’t busy running some highly scientific experiments on the accuracy of the Solunar Forecasts chart thingys.