Welcome back to another Ketchikan Fishing Minute.

I was really looking forward to this past weekend, as I had my nephews in town. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and I was only able to take them out on Friday. We fished from my boat out near Tatoosh Rocks that day, landing seven pink salmon and one coho – my nephew’s first silver. Sadly, the rest of the weekend was a bust, as we had nearly two inches of rain and sustained winds above 20 miles an hour, with gusts well above 30 mph.

Since their departure on Monday however, it has been spectacular in Ketchikan, with temperatures in the 70s, no rain in sight, and little wind. Erik and I took a Clover Pass Resort Yellow Boat out on Wednesday, and we were rewarded with the best day of fishing I have experienced so far this year. I had gotten some good reports about Bond Bay, an area a little northeast of Caamano Point. I was also told they were hitting green hoochies trailing a black flasher at about 60 feet. We left the dock at 7:00 AM, and it took us about twenty minutes to run across Behm Canal from the lodge. Once we got our gear in the water, it didn’t take long to bring in our first coho of the day. After that, the bite was hot and heavy. We both used downriggers, trolling at depths between 55′ and 70′. About two hours later, we each had caught our limit of six silver salmon. In fact, we caught fourteen coho total, but threw a couple of the smaller ones back. We also tossed back a couple of jack kings, but kept three pink salmon.

The forecast calls for more beautiful weather over the next week or so. I will get back out there a couple more times before next Thursday, and bring you all the details on another Ketchikan Fishing Minute.