Charter boats fishing on the Outer Coast of Southeast Alaska have encountered large numbers of king salmon gorging themselves on herring and needlefish, sparking some of the best action in years, according to longtime captains. Many boats venturing to the Deer Harbor area of the Gulf of Alaska from Gustavus, Elfin Cove, and Pelican reported easy limits of kings in June, and expect action to continue to be good in July. “The king fishing has been wide open,” said Capt. Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing, who operates out of Gustavus. “On most days we are getting limits within an hour, and we’ve also been releasing half a dozen or more kings.” The salmon near Deer Harbor have been averaging around 15 pounds, but fish to the mid-20 pound range have been common. “They are feeder kings headed to other parts of Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific Northwest,” Martin said. “They look a lot like Columbia River springers. They are fat and have some of the best-looking steaks and fillets I’ve ever seen.” Martin’s customers have been scoring kings trolling plug-cut herring with Big Al’s Fish Flashes, trolled on both divers and downriggers. The herring are hooked with size 3/0 and 4/0 Lazer Sharp octopus hooks and fished with Wright & McGill salmon rods. “I’ve also caught quite a few kings on spinners, both the Bob Toman series spinners and the new Flash-Glo trolling spinners with the squid skirts,” Martin said. “Anything with pink has worked best.” The commercial salmon season opens July 1, but Martin said there are so many kings near Deer Harbor he will continue to make the trip there to pursue kings. “We’ve been getting so many doubles and triples,” Martin said. “The whole Outer Coast is just loaded with kings right now.”
Andy Martin is a famed guide in Alaska, and has always been a dedicated Wright & McGill user, along with Lazer Sharp and Eagle Claw products. Whether it be monster halibut or a boat load of king salmon, Capt. Martin knows how to make it happen in Alaska.
This picture above shows a guide trip from Capt. Andy Martin earlier this summer. David Evans, James Kane, Rebecca Kane, and Joe Purkett, all of Montana, hold limits of king salmon caught June 22 on the Outer Coast of Southeast Alaska aboard the Icy Rose with Capt. Andy Martin. The kings were caught on plug-cut herring trolled with Big Al’s Fish Flashes, size 4/0 Lazer Sharp hooks and Wright & McGill salmon rods. King salmon fishing out of Gustavus, Alaska, has been the best in years so far this season.
King salmon fishing remains wide open on Southeast Alaska’s Outer Coast throughout most of the summer. Capt. Martin feels confident that he will continue to post huge numbers of fish out of Deer Harbor this summer.
On a typical day you can see Trevor Storlie floating down the Columbia River with a boat full of eager fishermen looking to catch massive fish. Trevor is a local Oregon guide for Red’s Guide Service who specializes in salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and walleye. With over 10 years in guiding experience, Trevor is the right person for the job.
This year Wright & McGill has teamed up with Trevor to create a new line of salmon/steelhead rods. The 
Wright & McGill Co. of Denver, Co announces a new partnership with Rick Clunn professional bass angler from Ava, Missouri. Rick has been fishing professionally for 37 years and was voted ESPN All-Time Greatest Bass Angler in 2004. With his expertise, he’s the right match for Wright & McGill when it comes to selecting and designing bass rods to meet the competitive angler’s demands.
Wright & McGill will be promoting the new “
Portland Expo Center
Ice fishing is misconceived by many as a cold, boring sport that requires some inebriation to be fun, but this is far from the truth! If done correctly, ice fishing can be comfortable, exciting, and one of the best opportunities of the year to catch a trophy fish! In a typical winter, Colorado has many different ice fishing options across the front range and into the rocky mountains with opportunities for walleye, pike, perch, trout, salmon, and lake trout!
Ice fishing technology has come a long way over the last decade from heaters to huts and everything in between to keep you dry, warm, and focused on the fish. Sonar and GPS technology has also advanced and truly takes the guesswork out of fishing, allowing any ice angler to identify potential fish-holding structure on a topo map, mark it on their GPS and then use color, HD sonar to identify bottom type, weeds, fish, and how the fish are reacting to their bait. This allows an angler to eliminate dead water quickly and identify the fishes mood so that they can adjust quickly.
Sport Fish Colorado and its guides take full advantage of all the impressive new ice fishing technology to capitalize on the many awesome ice fishing opportunities Colorado has to offer. We don’t like to sit and hope the fish come to us. We actively pursue our target species in hopes of meeting the day’s goal(s) in order to achieve a fishing experience that
Robby Richardson
The winter offseason is usually a busy time for Bassmaster Elite Series pros. It’s when they organize tackle, finalize contracts and boat wraps and prepare for next season. For Skeet Reese, this offseason included a special fishing trip.
Halladay, the Phillies’ ace, shows off a nice Clear Lake largemouth bass. The outing was set for Nov. 28, and Halladay, his wife and their two sons traveled to Clear Lake, Calif., for a day on the water with Reese. They met the previous evening at the Ceago Winery in Nice on the shoreline of Clear Lake.
Halladay’s sons, Braden and Ryan, joined the pair in the afternoon for a bit of minnow fishing. “Skeet and I stuck with two or three things most of the day,” the two-time Cy Young Award winner said. “I learned that making a lot of lure changes wasn’t going to help me get bites. It’s more important to find the fish and simplify my lure choices.”
