By Nick Varney

Special to the Homer Independent Press

Action at the Spit’s Fishing Hole was rather lackluster during the king run this year. Of course, it didn’t help when some commercial rigs showed up to ambush what was left of the incoming newbies.

Luckily, some Chinook managed to get through and liven things up for the tenacious shoreline line launchers, along with a sneaky flotilla of exceedingly ill-mannered seals lurking offshore.

We certainly wouldn’t want to see those fin flippin’ thieves get bored, would we?

Just ask Kevin W., who claimed he had been fishing along the beach and inside the lagoon for over a week without landing anything but a gravely IQ-challenged Irish Lord.

Finally, last Monday evening, after switching to Blue #6 Vibrax spinner, he finally got into a fish packing serious meat and the fight was on.

The beast was bright silver and righteously upset about its dental display being modified by treble-hook braces.

Kevin, on the other hand, was deeply pleased with the fish’s new grill work — until, “whoosh.”

Suddenly, his battling fish was seal sushi and all he could do was stare and snarl as his prize was devoured in front of him.

Kev said he was not amused and was sorry that his tirade threatened to crack the windshields of nearby RVs. He was even more than regretful that the last time he saw his custom rod was when he sent it flying toward Bear Cove.

He then spun around and stalked off toward The Dawg.

Hopefully, he won’t show up in the police blotter this week.

Time now for the fishing report for the week of July 13.

Freshwater Fishing

The Anchor River and Deep Creek are open to sport fishing for species other than kings. Any Chinook hooked must be immediately released and not removed from the water.

The Ninilchik River will reopen to sport fishing on July 16 for species other than kings. Note: Gear is restricted to single hook artificial lures.

Expect rather boring fishing for dollies.

To avoid the Chinook while chasing dollies, try the intertidal sections of these streams. Beads, smolt patterns and small spinners will be your best bets.

China Poot Personal Use Sockeye

An impressive mob of sockeye are still showing up in the China Poot dipnet area and the fishing should remain cookin’ throughout the week.

Saltwater Fishing

Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Halibut

Halibut fishing was poppin’ over the past week with impressive hogs being landed. Herring on a circle hook is the hot popular bait but octopus, salmon heads and jigs will get take downs. Note: The lunkers really go for those salmon heads.

King Salmon

King fishing was slow as a trickling stream last week. But no surprise, July is usually the slowest month for the blackmouth. Time to start seriously scanning the waters for those high-flying silvers.

Lingcod

Expect fair to fine action for lingcod during the coming week if the seas are favorable enough to get out to the outer coast to fish along the coast from the Chugach Islands to Gore Point.

Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon

The king run at the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon has been putting on the brakes, but a few coho have shown up along with tardy Chinook.

Skilled fishermen have been landing the remaining kings using #5 and #6 Vibrax spinners.

While the kings seem to prefer the blue bell, the hard-hitting silvers go for smaller shiny lures sporting red.

Roe, mackerel and plug cut herring under a bobber will work great for both species if you know what you are doing.

Expect the floss snaggers to continue to harass the fish as more silvers arrive. Hopefully they will release the foul-hooked ones instead of the drop-kick method some of them practice. 

Of course, they may just keep them. What can you expect from the hardcore violators out there who never record their kings nor care how they are landed?

Surf Fishing

Whiskey Gulch and Deep Creek are still cool options for getting into the shoreline cruising halibut.

The tip of the Homer Spit continues to offer up an interesting variety of groundfish that are a blast to catch. Some of which are even flat tasty like cod and various flounder.

Sockeye

There should be an unruly mob of sockeye in Tutka Lagoon and in front of China Poot Creek. Many anglers snag these fish with weighted treble hooks and have done well over the last few days. Expect the same over the upcoming week.

Until next week…

Nick can be reached at ncvarney@gmail.com if you have any tips, tales or just want to advocate a limited airstrike on those ill-mannered seals.