08-14-2004, 11:00 PM
JUNEAU AREA FISHING REPORT
King Salmon (62 hours per fish the week, last week 85 hours): Backside of Douglas Island; backside of Douglas Island, Couverden
Coho Salmon (4 hours per fish this week, last week 5 hours): Shelter Island; North Pass; Backside of Douglas Island;
Halibut: (4 hours per fish, last week 4 hours): Poundstone Rock; South Shelter; Vanderbelt Reef; Icy Strait
Notation Used in this Report
Some anglers may not be aware of many terms used in this report; such as, rod hours, catch, effort, or catch and harvest rates. Below is a brief description of each term:
Rod Hours: For marine boat anglers in Southeastern, Alaska, this refers to the number of hours spent targeting a species of fish (halibut, salmon, rockfish, or bottomfish) per rod used. For example, an angler who harvested 2 coho salmon after 6 hours of salmon fishing with two rods would have spent 6 rod hours per fish.
Catch: Catch is composed of fish harvested and released.
Effort: For marine boat anglers in Southeastern, Alaska, effort refers to the number of rod hours spent pursuing a particular species of fish. For example, the previously described coho angler expended 12 hours of salmon fishing effort.
Catch and Harvest Rates: These rates are commonly referred to as catch per unit of effort (CPUE) or harvest per unit of effort (HPUE) and can be calculated using a variety of statistical methods. In general, they describe how much effort (e.g. rod hours) was expended catching, or harvesting, a particular species of fish (e.g. halibut).
And as a reminder to all anglers, please be aware of the following regulation.
For all boats returning to a port where an ADF&G creel survey is being conducted, it is prohibited to head or fillet king salmon, coho salmon or lingcod until the fish have been brought to shore and offloaded. This prohibition allows our marine creel survey crew to examine intact salmon for evidence of coded wire tags (CWTs) and to measure and collect the heads from these tagged fish. Among other things, this information is used to estimate the composition of hatchery king salmon caught in Alaska fisheries that can be excluded from Alaska's quota of king salmon as set by the U.S/Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. Since hatchery king salmon do not count toward our quota, determining the proportion of hatchery kings that can be excluded from the quota has the potential of maximizing our total harvest of king salmon. Gutting and gilling your king or coho is allowed at any time while you are at sea; as is, eating them or having them completely preserved (i.e. canning, freezing, etc.) Aside from those exceptions, your catch of king and coho salmon may not be headed and/or filleted until your vessel has been tied up at the dock.
Regarding coded-wire-tagged salmon, if you are surveyed by a Department creel census technician, you are required to forfeit the head and the date/area you caught the fish.
[center]SALMON[/center]
Coho Salmon: Coho catch rates have been excellent and continue to improve in most ports as the season progresses:
Regional [ul] [li]Regional catch rates for coho salmon by marine boat anglers were generally equal or better than the 5 year average. Catch rates ranged from 1 rod hour in Craig and Sitka, to 4 rod hours in Juneau and Wrangell. With the exception of Elfin Cove, all ports had catch rates better than or equal to thier five-year average. [/li][/ul]
Local Juneau Area [ul] [li]Coho catch rates for marine boat anglers in the Juneau area were a little better than average last week. Anglers fished an average of 4 rod hours to land a coho last week, which constitutes a 1 hour improvement over the 5 rod hours needed, on average, to land a coho for last 5 years. [/li][/ul] [left]King Salmon: Although the best catch rates of the season for king salmon are now behind us, last week showed a slight improvement from the week before:[/left] [left]Regional
[ul] [li] Most surveyed ports had catch rates greater than their respective 5 year average. These rates ranged from 4 rod hours per harvested chinook salmon in Elfin Cove to 141 rod hours in Petersburg. In comparison to the five-year average, last week's catch rates were better at the ports of Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Elfin Cove: catch rates were poorer than the five-year average at Petersburg and Wrangell.[/li][/ul] [left]Local Juneau Area
[ul] [li] Catch rates for marine boaters dramatically improved over the last week. Anglers spent an average of 63 hours to land a king salmon last week: a significant improvement from the previous week's average of 85 rod hours. Most of the kings in our survey were harvested from the backside of Douglas Island, Couverden and South Shelter Island.[/li][/ul] [left]Pink and Chum Salmon : Fishing for pink and chum salmon in marine waters remained good during the last week:[/left] [left]Regional
[/left] [ul] [li] Pink salmon catch rates ranged from 2 rod hours in Ketchikan to 32 rod hours in Sitka, and were better or equal to the five-year averages in Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Elfin Cove. Chum salmon catch rates ranged from 33 rod hours in Sitka to 188 rod hours in Juneau, and were approximately equal to or better than their five-year averages in the ports of Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, and Elfin Cove. Last week's catch rate information for the port of Gustavus was not available.[/li][/ul] Local Juneau Area [ul] [li] Roadside marine anglers can expect to find a plethora of pink and chum salmon at terminal harvest areas and at the mouths of many stream systems throughout Southeastern, Alaska. Some good road accessible places to fish in Juneau are: Gastineau Channel (by DIPAC); Fritz Cove; and, Amalga harbor. Anglers using medium to large spinners or spoons often catch these salmon species. Fly fishers often find success by stripping in flashy red or chartreuse colored flies at various speeds. [/li][/ul] [center]HALIBUT[/center] [left]Halibut fishing remained good throughout Southeast, Alaska:
Regional
[ul] [li]Halibut catch rate ranged from 1 rod hour per fish in Craig to 6 rod hours in Elfin Cove, and all sampled ports had catch rates better than or equal to their respective five-year averages, with the exception of Elfin Cove. [/li][/ul] [left]Local Juneau Area
[/left] [ul] [li]The harvest rate for halibut last week was 4 hours per fish, which is an improvement from the 7 rod hours required to land a halibut over the last 5 years. The majority of the halibut sampled in the survey were harvested from the Poundstone/Benjamin Island area, followed by Icy Strait and Vanderbilt reef. [/li][/ul]
[/left]
King Salmon (62 hours per fish the week, last week 85 hours): Backside of Douglas Island; backside of Douglas Island, Couverden
Coho Salmon (4 hours per fish this week, last week 5 hours): Shelter Island; North Pass; Backside of Douglas Island;
Halibut: (4 hours per fish, last week 4 hours): Poundstone Rock; South Shelter; Vanderbelt Reef; Icy Strait
Notation Used in this Report
Some anglers may not be aware of many terms used in this report; such as, rod hours, catch, effort, or catch and harvest rates. Below is a brief description of each term:
Rod Hours: For marine boat anglers in Southeastern, Alaska, this refers to the number of hours spent targeting a species of fish (halibut, salmon, rockfish, or bottomfish) per rod used. For example, an angler who harvested 2 coho salmon after 6 hours of salmon fishing with two rods would have spent 6 rod hours per fish.
Catch: Catch is composed of fish harvested and released.
Effort: For marine boat anglers in Southeastern, Alaska, effort refers to the number of rod hours spent pursuing a particular species of fish. For example, the previously described coho angler expended 12 hours of salmon fishing effort.
Catch and Harvest Rates: These rates are commonly referred to as catch per unit of effort (CPUE) or harvest per unit of effort (HPUE) and can be calculated using a variety of statistical methods. In general, they describe how much effort (e.g. rod hours) was expended catching, or harvesting, a particular species of fish (e.g. halibut).
And as a reminder to all anglers, please be aware of the following regulation.
For all boats returning to a port where an ADF&G creel survey is being conducted, it is prohibited to head or fillet king salmon, coho salmon or lingcod until the fish have been brought to shore and offloaded. This prohibition allows our marine creel survey crew to examine intact salmon for evidence of coded wire tags (CWTs) and to measure and collect the heads from these tagged fish. Among other things, this information is used to estimate the composition of hatchery king salmon caught in Alaska fisheries that can be excluded from Alaska's quota of king salmon as set by the U.S/Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. Since hatchery king salmon do not count toward our quota, determining the proportion of hatchery kings that can be excluded from the quota has the potential of maximizing our total harvest of king salmon. Gutting and gilling your king or coho is allowed at any time while you are at sea; as is, eating them or having them completely preserved (i.e. canning, freezing, etc.) Aside from those exceptions, your catch of king and coho salmon may not be headed and/or filleted until your vessel has been tied up at the dock.
Regarding coded-wire-tagged salmon, if you are surveyed by a Department creel census technician, you are required to forfeit the head and the date/area you caught the fish.
[center]SALMON[/center]
Coho Salmon: Coho catch rates have been excellent and continue to improve in most ports as the season progresses:
Regional [ul] [li]Regional catch rates for coho salmon by marine boat anglers were generally equal or better than the 5 year average. Catch rates ranged from 1 rod hour in Craig and Sitka, to 4 rod hours in Juneau and Wrangell. With the exception of Elfin Cove, all ports had catch rates better than or equal to thier five-year average. [/li][/ul]
Local Juneau Area [ul] [li]Coho catch rates for marine boat anglers in the Juneau area were a little better than average last week. Anglers fished an average of 4 rod hours to land a coho last week, which constitutes a 1 hour improvement over the 5 rod hours needed, on average, to land a coho for last 5 years. [/li][/ul] [left]King Salmon: Although the best catch rates of the season for king salmon are now behind us, last week showed a slight improvement from the week before:[/left] [left]Regional
[ul] [li] Most surveyed ports had catch rates greater than their respective 5 year average. These rates ranged from 4 rod hours per harvested chinook salmon in Elfin Cove to 141 rod hours in Petersburg. In comparison to the five-year average, last week's catch rates were better at the ports of Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Elfin Cove: catch rates were poorer than the five-year average at Petersburg and Wrangell.[/li][/ul] [left]Local Juneau Area
[ul] [li] Catch rates for marine boaters dramatically improved over the last week. Anglers spent an average of 63 hours to land a king salmon last week: a significant improvement from the previous week's average of 85 rod hours. Most of the kings in our survey were harvested from the backside of Douglas Island, Couverden and South Shelter Island.[/li][/ul] [left]Pink and Chum Salmon : Fishing for pink and chum salmon in marine waters remained good during the last week:[/left] [left]Regional
[/left] [ul] [li] Pink salmon catch rates ranged from 2 rod hours in Ketchikan to 32 rod hours in Sitka, and were better or equal to the five-year averages in Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Elfin Cove. Chum salmon catch rates ranged from 33 rod hours in Sitka to 188 rod hours in Juneau, and were approximately equal to or better than their five-year averages in the ports of Craig, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, and Elfin Cove. Last week's catch rate information for the port of Gustavus was not available.[/li][/ul] Local Juneau Area [ul] [li] Roadside marine anglers can expect to find a plethora of pink and chum salmon at terminal harvest areas and at the mouths of many stream systems throughout Southeastern, Alaska. Some good road accessible places to fish in Juneau are: Gastineau Channel (by DIPAC); Fritz Cove; and, Amalga harbor. Anglers using medium to large spinners or spoons often catch these salmon species. Fly fishers often find success by stripping in flashy red or chartreuse colored flies at various speeds. [/li][/ul] [center]HALIBUT[/center] [left]Halibut fishing remained good throughout Southeast, Alaska:
Regional
[ul] [li]Halibut catch rate ranged from 1 rod hour per fish in Craig to 6 rod hours in Elfin Cove, and all sampled ports had catch rates better than or equal to their respective five-year averages, with the exception of Elfin Cove. [/li][/ul] [left]Local Juneau Area
[/left] [ul] [li]The harvest rate for halibut last week was 4 hours per fish, which is an improvement from the 7 rod hours required to land a halibut over the last 5 years. The majority of the halibut sampled in the survey were harvested from the Poundstone/Benjamin Island area, followed by Icy Strait and Vanderbilt reef. [/li][/ul]
[/left]