277 lb Halibut!

July 25th Fishing Update

Several years ago I was in the Alaska Air Cargo office sending some fish boxes and Dan Fitzgerald was with me. The lady at the counter asked, how was your fishing trip? Dan replied “ It was the best and worst trip I have ever had”. Dan really struggled that week and on the last day at 5:30pm they hooked into some big halibut and it took his worst fishing week ever to one of his best trips ever. Dan just passed on to the other side he will be missed. His son is coming up next week to continue what his Dad loved doing, see you next week Randy!!

This past week was a roller coaster of ups and downs. We experienced one of our lowest catch weeks at one lodge and one of our highest at another. Fishing is not a guarantee it is fishing you just never know what is going to bite your hook. This past week Pete Calderwoods boat experienced the highs and lows of fishing. They picked up a cold, and were feeling a bit miserable most of the week. Their catch was not to great most of the week. But to their credit they stayed positive they kept at it and on the last day they took a super big Pacific Cod Head and put it on the bottom. They had been sitting in this particular spot for over 5 hours. Dad was tired so he stayed in so it was just the two cousins in the boat. I am sure there is a more detailed story and videos I hope to get later, but to make a long story short, Pete brought back to the dock the biggest Halibut that has ever been caught at Waters Edge Lodge. 277 lbs! What was amazing to me was the emotion and happiness that you could feel coming from these two fishermen. It was a great feeling to be part of their excitment.

I have seen some very good fishing weeks while here in Elfin Cove, but I think the July 17th - 24th week at Mossy Ridge with the Hughes group might go down as one of the best halibut weeks we have ever seen. Over 50% of this group caught a trophy halibut! We had 3 halibut over 200 lbs. I was impressed with how they worked as a group and communicated through out the week. Hot Spots were Soap Stone, Shark Fin, Red can, Column Point, The Saddle, and Lemesurier (again).

Silver salmon have slowed down quite a bit from the previous week. Pink salmon are still very much dominating the waters. Not sure what is up with the Silver salmon. I think part of it was the focus on halibut, there was not a ton of time spend chasing salmon. The commercial trollers were all in Elfin Cove the last couple days cause their daily catches were not what they wanted. Hoping for a change this week with the silver salmon.

Weather is WET. Very wet. We had some wind on the 24th, it was forecasted for 25 kt winds. The weather pattern has definitely shifted to wet. We had a very nice dry warm June and now July has been the opposite. If the winds continue to stay down though I do not mind the rain.

Kelly