winter kings?

[kodiakcombo]

where else can we catch king salmon in the dead of winter? Living on Kodiak it is a "no brainer" but are we the only one who have them in our waters?

[homerdave]

they are out there waiting..

as soon as it warms up and the harbor is ice-free again i will be chasing them here!!!
right now i can't even get my boat out!

[Brian M]

Dave, what kind of success rates do you find with winter kings? I've given thought to trying it someday, but don't really have the first clue.

-Brian

[kodiakcombo]

on kodiak

the success on Kodiak seems pretty good, say 8 out of 10 times you'll score a king and for sure a halibut. this is the average size 25-28 pounds.

[JinAK]

You can catch winter kings preatty much everywhere. I just consider them Feeder kings cause it hasnt always been winter when I have caught mine. Caught a few in Valdez, PWS, Seward and around Kodiak. I think kodiak is like the only place that has charters dedicated to them though.

[JinAK]

Oh yeah and as far as sucess rates. I have only caught 1 winter king while targeting them. All the others have been like bycatch. Homer has good Winter kings. As a matter of fact they have a winter king tournament. Good luck.

[homerdave]

Homer charters

there are at least 4 guys doing winter (feeder) king charters here.

[fishon]

Feeder Kings

Out of Homer, winter(feeder) king success can be anywhere from white hot to scrachy .Though our average is probly somewhere between 15 to 20lbs, fish to 40+lbs are taken.

[fishon]

white kings

Question for kodiakcombo.Do you guys get white kings up the Karluk???

[ak_powder_monkey]

southeast especially down south, not so much up here

[homerdave]

couple boats fished yesterday

and did pretty well, about 4 fish/boat for a 1/2 day.
looks like i missed the window though :-(

[kodiakcombo]

I havent fished the Karluk succesfully, but 50% of the ones landed here near Old HArbor are white.

[Luckee]

Chiming in with

what may be a stupid question: what is a white king?

I have seen "white king salmon" on sushi menus, but I kind of thought it was probably just farmed salmon with no color in the flesh.

Is that what the term refers to, the color of the flesh? All the kings I ever caught were white in the belly but orange inside.

[kodiakcombo]

some thread here, from fg says something about the fish not processing the pigment in the diet? causing the flesh to stay white. this is what a white king looks like, notice the red and white king? they turned out great!

[stevesch]

I think the red kings have eaten more krill.