2025 Salmon Season, Week Two

Hey folks. Dispatching from the coho fishing grounds, freshly back-on-the-water after offloading our kings in Sitka, and turning the boat over for coho fishing! Our short n sweet king salmon opener ran right on the expected schedule: four days long. Quite a bit shorter than the eight to ten days that we’re accustomed to, but about what we were expected given the small quota (shared, allowable catch) for our fleet.

 

Aside from a dense, soupy fog on opening morning, weather for our four day opener was just plain spectacular. Monti could run around and splish splash comfortably on the back deck, Caleb and crew could fish in t-shirts, and my garden box loved the much needed sunlight. It was a really, really lovely week on the water as a team.

Fishing wise: we would’ve LOVED to catch more fish, but the real hot bite was another day’s run south of us, from the sounds of it. With over 500 miles of coastline to choose from, someone somewhere is bound to land on them! By July 3rd, we caught enough to cover existing pre-orders, plus enough open pre-orders for king salmon boxes and salmon bundle boxes back up. Whew, a big relief!

 

By the afternoon of the third, we received an announcement that the fishery was closing tomorrow: July 4th. That evening, our fleetmates had a hunch there were a batch of fish a few hours up the coast. On a whim, we stacked the hooks on board, and rather than pointing towards the anchorage — we pointed up the coastline. By noon on day four, it was clear: these fish were not up the coast. Oops! BUT, we made the best of a poor production day: stacked our hooks on once again, and this time, steamed towards the nearest beach.

 

The remainder of our 4th of July was spent roasting fresh salmon over a fire, hunting for beach treasures, taking a dip in the cool water, and sharing stories with friends. While helping Monti carry his beach finds back to the fire, Caleb remarked: “You know, it would have been nice to catch some fish today… But you really can’t put a price on this.”

 

Thankful for the days we do catch fish, and sometimes — even more thankful for the days we don’t.