The Ketchikan Fishing Minute for the first full week of September.

Labor Day is the traditional kick off for the fall coho run, and this weekend did not disappoint. I started getting good reports from the guests at Silverking Lodge last Thursday, so we headed out from Clover Pass Resort on Friday morning to see how the bite was coming along. We weren’t hampered by nearly as many shakers as we had seen the last couple of weeks, and the three silvers we pulled on board all had nice size to them. We also hauled in a humpy that day.

On Tuesday we were back at it, and the fishing was dynamite. By 9 am, I had five nice coho in the boat along with two pinks and a chum. My buddy Oscar also caught two beautiful silvers that morning. On Wednesday, the shoe was on the other foot, as I caught one silver and one pink, while Oscar hauled in two nice silvers, two pinks, and a sockeye. It was my first time seeing a red caught while trolling in saltwater.

There were plenty of boats on the water each day, and everyone around us was catching some nice fish as well. After such an unusual summer, it is nice to see the fall run bringing a bit of normalcy back to the fishing around Ketchikan.

We’ve got more rain coming this weekend, but I will hit the water a couple of times in the next week, and give you another update next Thursday on the Ketchikan Fishing Minute!