Butts yet
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Not in your area, but not that far away really.
Things here are weird, even downright scary when you think about the details too long.
Water is clear, clear, clear. Not a scrap of plankton, and as a result no baitfish. We're seeing bottom in 40' of water, when normally this time of year we can't see 20'. Water is warm too. We marked 43.8 degrees yesterday, when we should be marking 34-36 degrees. You'd think the halibut would be moving shallower with the warm water, but no dice.
Scariest yet, we saw lots of common murres- not offshore, but well back into the bays. That's the sea bird that accounted for the big die-off a couple of years back. Starving to death due to lack of bait. We've never seen them in the bays so early, with August being the normal time for them to show up. Saw zero kittiwakes too, though they're usually here by now in large numbers.
Hope you find some halibut, but the pessimist in me is wondering if this is going to be another tough year with bait and fish all scrambled up by hot water and no bait.
Things here are weird, even downright scary when you think about the details too long.
Water is clear, clear, clear. Not a scrap of plankton, and as a result no baitfish. We're seeing bottom in 40' of water, when normally this time of year we can't see 20'. Water is warm too. We marked 43.8 degrees yesterday, when we should be marking 34-36 degrees. You'd think the halibut would be moving shallower with the warm water, but no dice.
Scariest yet, we saw lots of common murres- not offshore, but well back into the bays. That's the sea bird that accounted for the big die-off a couple of years back. Starving to death due to lack of bait. We've never seen them in the bays so early, with August being the normal time for them to show up. Saw zero kittiwakes too, though they're usually here by now in large numbers.
Hope you find some halibut, but the pessimist in me is wondering if this is going to be another tough year with bait and fish all scrambled up by hot water and no bait.
kasilofchrisn
Well-known member
Last year I caught two 50# halibut on a fishing trip in mid March.
Havent been down yet this year though.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
Havent been down yet this year though.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
tlingitwarrior
Well-known member
We picked up a 52lb butt at compass rose April 8th. Extremely healthy fish.
Sent ya PM.
I thought last year was good as far as bottom fish. Lots of kings in the spring, but all small 10-20lb fish. Just looked at Terrafin, water did warm up a bunch with this sun, wish I still ran down speed/temp, would like to see what it is deep.
Kardinal_84
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Kayakers are finding smaller but decent halibut off Anchor Point already. We kept 3 last weekend. two around 10 pounds and one maybe 25ish.
I will say like BrownBear said, I was amazed at how clear the water was. We didn't mark any bait, didn't see any birds. The halibut looked really nice and thick for their size though. Another kayaker landed a king that weekend and its stomach was empty.
I will say like BrownBear said, I was amazed at how clear the water was. We didn't mark any bait, didn't see any birds. The halibut looked really nice and thick for their size though. Another kayaker landed a king that weekend and its stomach was empty.
