2015 Season Summary

     The weather pattern for this summer was unusual and seemed to have an impact on the salmon fishing.  When I got off the ferry in April it had rained for 14 days in a row in Juneau.  The day of my arrival the sun came out and it was beautiful.  For the next month or so we had very dry and very nice weather, it seemed to last well into July.  Then we had about three weeks that it rained almost every day, in a very wet pattern until mid-August when we had an early fall storm resulting in a missed day of fishing. The remainder of the season the weather was a mixture of sun and rain with very little wind.

    The big story this year was the Silvers/Coho.  We saw good numbers in June just like normal then around the middle of July they became scarce.  We did not see outstanding Silver/Coho fishing until the 24th of August.  The big storm the week prior seemed to get them moving and from that point on it was excellent fishing for Silvers/Coho.  The last 3 weeks we had guests coming back after an hour or two of fishing in front of Three Hill with their limits!  It is a guess that open ocean water temperatures that were warmer than normal had in impact on the salmon migrations.

     Halibut were again very strong in numbers.  We were better than our past averages for 100+ pound halibut…the halibut fishing was excellent and for those of you with a monster halibut on your bucket list, your chances are great.  This summer the biggest one came from the Cape Spencer area.  While fishing in around 100’ of water Vance and Addison hooked into a 100+ pounder, they attempted to land it 4 times and eventually it got a way.  Feeling frustrated they let their line down again and their next hook up was the one!!  They got it to the surface and ended up getting it in the boat with the help of a neighboring boat.  It weighed in at 256 lbs!  A new lodge record, what a catch!

     Thank you to each of you for friendship and support by fishing at Waters Edge Lodge.  We are looking forward to catching up with you at the sportsmen’s shows this winter and fishing with you again next summer.  If you haven’t had a chance to book, give us a call…someone needs to break the new lodge record!

Kelly & Mary

September 6th Week

Wow what a week for Silvers/Coho!  Halibut seem to have slowed down, but the Silvers are awesome.  Peak of the Silver run right now.  Makes me wish we had some more guests next week!  Three Hill is the hot spot.  I had some guests returning to the lodge before noon to drop off their limits!  Was very good fishing all week.  We did have some windy weather Thursday and Friday, but the other days were near perfect.  What a great week to end the 2015 season!

We did have a 92 lb Halibut caught near Soapstone.  But for the most part Halibut were harder to find this week.

Saturday we plan to take all of the boats to Juneau for storage for the winter.  Weather forecast looks good, hopefully it is a smooth ride to town.

 – Kelly

August 30th Week

What a fantastic week!  Silvers are in at Three Hill big time!  They seem to be getting bigger by the day.  15 lbs was the biggest this week.  Very nice looking salmon.  If you have never used a dipsy diver/deep six, I would suggest trying it.  Much easier than the down riggers.  I had several guests this week, limit on Silvers and had a great time using them.  Depth varied, 40’ was good and then the surface was good also.  Many local trollers out fishing Three Hill also, just a reminder to please stay clear of them and be courteous.

Halibut was pretty good this week also.  92 lbs was the biggest, we had several reports of having big ones on and then losing them.  We did have some wind early in the week, but the last three days were just awesome!  Very calm water and no rain!

Still getting some Pinks out in front of Three Hill.  The majority of them are either in the streams or in the mouth of the streams.

If anyone is feeling brave?  I need some more reviews/testimonials.  Please go to our facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NorthernStarLodge?sk=reviews) page and give us a review?

Very fun time of year to fish.  The risk of a fall storm is always present at this time, but the Silver fishing makes up for it!

 – Kelly

August 23rd Week

We are now in a fall wet stormy pattern for weather.  It started last week with a big fall storm we then had several good days of calm winds and now we have another wet windy fall storm upon us.  I think we will keep getting this pattern until the fishing season is over.

This week was much better than last week.  Silvers/Coho showed up and the guests were able to have some very good experiences out in front of Three Hill.  Pink with white seemed to be the color for hoochies, and depth ranged from surface to 80’.

Halibut was again good this week.  The biggest this week was 154 lbs.  It was caught over at Montana.  Many limits of halibut were caught this week.  I am expecting the halibut fishing to slow down.

Still many pinks in front of Three Hill.  They are schooled up in front of all the streams now.  This was a big year for the pinks.

 – Kelly

August 16th Week

Mary and I have the best guests in the whole entire world!  Very patient very understanding!  This was a tough week!  We had a big storm that shut down nearly two days of fishing.  The storm was a big fall storm lots of rain with 40 kt winds.

101 lbs was the biggest halibut caught this week.  Due to the storm the halibut catch was down this week.

The Silvers are the big story this year, we are still seeing very low numbers.  My theory is that there is warm water in the open ocean, and they are reluctant to start their migration into Cross Sound.  This big rain storm should help.

 – Kelly

August 9th Week

The weather was the story this week, it started off windy with heavy rain and then quickly changed to calm water and blue skies.  This week was amazing, a breeze would come thru the cove and it will feel good, it was a near perfect week for weather.

The Silvers were again not what I was hoping.  Normally I look for boats that did limit on Silvers and then try to help the ones that did not limit.  I think we had three days this week with boats that had a limit, and not every boat, just two or three.  It seems like the bite would come on in front of Three Hill and if you were there you got them if you missed the bite then you missed it for the day.  We had one group catching them on the surface with 8” flashers and hoochies, and some were down as far 60’.  We had a few 13 lb coho, but for the most part they are still smaller.  Looking for them to get bigger and more numerous!

Pinks are still here in abundance.

Halibut are very strong again this week.  150 lbs was the biggest this week.  They were caught all over this week.  Some inside and some outside.  We had one halibut come in that weighed in at 112 lbs.  It’s stomach had a big bulge in it.  When you pushed on it, it seemed to feel like it was filled with air, almost like a balloon would feel.  We were very curious to see what was in the stomach, so while on the scale we cut it open, and out flopped a huge Octopus.  The scale now read 103 lbs.

Lot’s of sea bass going home this week.  Many of the returning guests have figured out how easy they are to catch and how good they taste!

 – Kelly

August 2nd Week

I want you all to know that as I do these fishing updates every week, I try to be as honest and as accurate as I can.

The Silver salmon are again slow this week.  I think this week was slower than last week.  The reports are that they are holding out in the open ocean and due to water temperature they are not moving into Cross Sound yet.

Halibut was a bit slower this week also.  The biggest one weighed in at 201 lbs.  We had a 139 lb and several around 100 lbs.  Again this week we heard stories of something grabbing the line and running so hard and fast the line was breaking.  Always check your drag and make sure the line is loose enough for the fish to pull it out.

Weather was good this week, we did have several mornings of fog that made it tough to navigate.  But the water was calm most days and we did not have to much rain.

On the whale watching tour Saturday morning we had an amazing experience.  We were just about to the light house when the Captain spotted some Orcas so we stopped and spent some time with them, then we saw some Humpback whales bubble feeding, it was amazing.  It was the perfect ending to a great week of fishing.

 – Kelly

July 26th Week

Friday was our best weather day, no rain and nice calm water.  All of the other days were about the same, showers with heavy rain at times.  The open ocean was not calm but not horrible.

Halibut this week was about average.  We saw many limits and many trophy halibut brought in.  The biggest was 121 lbs.

The Silvers/Coho are the big story, we are still seeing low catch rates for Silvers.  We had one boat every day almost with their limit, but many other boats with just pinks.  Normally we do not keep pinks but this week many of the guests took pinks home with them.  I believe the big schools of Silvers are still off shore.  Last year at this time we had the earth quake and that seemed to slow both halibut and salmon.  Not sure what they are waiting for this year, but we are anxious for them to show up.

 – Kelly