Reeling ‘Em In: Hey, fishermen, follow the regulations

It’s time for a public service announcement focusing on tips to prevent some of you unsuspecting miscreants from receiving costly tickets for public humiliation in a fishing lagoon.

What happens to brain stems that can’t seem to understand simple fishing regulations?

Is the economy so bad that they can’t afford a pen to write their king on a license stamp or harvest card minutes after landing?

Please… Trying to claim that they intend to do this after they finish filleting the creature just won’t cut it. You might as well use the same excuse at a barbecue.

It must be the thrill of “cheating” or the feeling he gets when he steals another Snickers from the grocery store.

It’s a mess watching five-watt bulbs sneak stealthily to the back of their sets to hide a chinook because they didn’t notice a badge lurking nearby.

It turned out that the indicators have a lower IQ than the tire pressure of the vehicle.

Next week we’ll be adding some other community pillars that haunt banks, especially after midnight, with anchors and 100-proof mindsets.

Let’s move on to other observations:

The clearing tables were an interesting outing during the week.

Nice halibut were being filleted by private individuals at most of the processing tables, and there were a few honkin’ plates to be seen on chartering pages on Facebook.

I also met up with some old friends who finally decided to come out of their hideouts in the woods to fish for halibut from their boats in Mud Bay.

My buddy and I used to take his little rig and race him across the flats years ago. It was just a 15-minute run and an easy limit every day until we had winter supplies. Plus, it was quite an experience slamming their butts in shallow water with salmon rigs and watching them come out of the water like angry Silvers.

It was nice to see them again and their daily results ranging from 15 to 20 pounds.

Enough flashbacks. Now it’s time for the fishing report for the week of June 18.

Freshwater fishing

Deep Creek is closed to all sport fishing through July 1.

The Ninilchik River is open to fishing for hatchery kings until July 15. Fishing should be fair and should pick up next week as higher tides bring in more fish.

Bait may be banned later this week, so keep an eye on the emergency order.

If you want to chase newbies, try the harbor area during the incoming tide.

With water levels this low, smaller (size 3 or 4) pink or gray spinners should be a good choice. Flies, plugs and spoons will also work.

If you accidentally hook a steelhead or wild chinook, quickly bring it to shore and release it without removing it from the water.

The China Poot fishery opened for personal use on June 15.

The water conditions are nasty high and very little sap is wandering around lost in the creek. Look for items to pick up later in the week.

Sea fishing

Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Halibut

Halibut fishing continued last week with the release of some impressive fish.

The heavy slabs came from multiple locations, including kelp habitats near Anchor Point, Cook Inlet and the outer coast near the Chugach Islands. Flat Island consistently produced good numbers of smaller fish.

The best time to fish for halibut is during high tide as it allows you to hold the bottom with less pressure. This little bit of information will be really great information this week as the tides with some bias are giving us a hard time. Sixteen pound cement blocks can help.

King Salmon

King fishing south of Bluff Point was fair to good last week, with several days of strong fishing.

Bluff Point and Point Pogibshi provided the best action after just a roll of the dice in the rest of Kachemak Bay.

Sockeye salmon

Sockeye fishing at China Poot and Tutka Bay Lagoon is off to a slow start as very few fish have bothered to show up. The runs should develop throughout the week to provide some fish for those looking to catch a catch.

Surf fishing

This past weekend, keen surf fishermen had fun at several of Cook Inlet’s beaches, including the Deep Creek area.

Anglers casting lines from the banks became entangled with a variety of bottom fish, including halibut, sculpins, skates, sharks, flounder and cod.

At the December 2023 Fisheries Board meeting, regulations were amended to allow surf fishing for groundfish in conservation zones surrounding the Anchor, Deep Creek and Ninilchik Rivers. Fishing is still not allowed within 200 meters of the stream mouth – watch out for the orange warning signs.

Don’t forget to fish the end of Homer’s Spit – several kings were caught there last week on floats and herring. Of course, weird stuff too. Some bottom fish that they haven’t identified yet, or even want to, are starting to think about it.

Nick Dudiak’s fishing reservoir

King Fishing withdrew fishing later in the week. Line lobsters had the best luck closer to high tide at Tom’s Corner in the southern lobe of the lagoon.

Shelly, the fish whisperer, thrives on her substitute mackerel fishing, a keen floater, and unyielding patience. Others bring them with herring and colorful Vibrax.

Unfortunately, in the darkness, treble fish begin to crawl out of their holes, along with line fishermen who were unable to nail a fish to the children’s pond without cheating during the Sportsman’s Exhibition.

Seldovia Slough

Last week, anglers observed a fishing foot slowly dragging in the lagoon and on the bridge. Sometimes cured eggs, herring under a float or spinners were successful. Best shot? Incoming tide on the bridge. Lagoon? High tide.

To next week…

Nick can be reached at [email protected] if you have any tips, tales or stories like the gentlemanpl diving with swans in the fishing lagoon in pursuit of his equipment, which the king took off with after assembling it. Still there.