July/August Update and the Home Stretch

With roughly eight weeks left to go in the 2013 Season, I wanted to update everybody one more time ahead of the last entry which will be an end of season recap.

My last update spoke about the beginning of King Salmon-time and we are indeed moving through this phase of the season. Our catch of kings however has been a bit on the erratic side. And while we have had plenty of very solid returns to port with good racks of kings, I think its consistency is in question. The good news here though is that we are catching some VERY big fish by recent historical averages; we have had more fish in the 19-23lbs this season than any other since I began Windycitysalmon six years ago. 23lbs is the biggest fish for the Independence at this point of the season but I would not be surprised at all if we are able to bring some larger fish on board still. So for now, we have some higher hopes for better consistency of big kings through the end of August and more waves of these fish are likely. In the meantime, I will attempt to fill the gaps with some of the big steelhead (8-14lbs) we have been getting as well as with lake trout, coho, and brown trout when we are fishing their territory.

We should continue to catch large kings into September and October but we will also focus on what gives us the best overall catch and often times that means two and three year old kings in the 5-15lb weight class. This fishery often yields steelhead and lake trout as well. The usual key to a successful fall season is weather stability. We did not have that last year and our catches suffered, when we could even get out. But the season before that, 2011, handed us absolutely phenomenal fall fishing. We'll settle for something in the middle of that but still quietly hope for more. Beyond that, when the weather is stable in the fall, it is just about the nicest time of the season to be on the water.

Weekend slots are just about all gone for Sept/Oct - Saturday, Oct 5 is the last remaining weekend morning left - but there are still some weekday spots available. With August totally booked out, the remaining Sept/Oct availability will diminish quickly in the coming weeks and call volume was heavy in recent days for these spots.

I'll end this update here and look forward to the next note at the end of the season. It's going to go pretty fast. It's been a very busy season and 3am alarms will become 4 and 5am alarms as we enter the fall. In that regard, in September we depart at 6am and then at 7am for October. The last day I fish this year is Oct 10.

Thanks for reading and I have updated the Photo Album tab with a ton of pictures from the last five weeks. Please go have a look but I also attached a few of them here too. I know I don't update this section as often as I had in the past but it's just because I can't find the time to do so. In its absence, I update the Windycitysalmon.com facebook page all the time, often on a real-time basis so if you don't follow me there yet, please do so by clicking facebook 'Connect' button on any other page on the website and then 'liking' the page.

Thanks!
-Capt Rick