INFO - Spring Time!!
Spring in Alaska happens later than it does down south. “Break Up” marks the official beginning of spring, and though Homer thaws out before Alaska’s interior its still considered to be relatively late compared to say….Texas or California.
In Kachemak Bay, the start of spring is marked by 3 major spawning events. The first major spawning event occurs in March and April. The pacific cod spawn. Pacific Cod spawn in waters between 330 and 800ft which encompasses large areas of Kachemak Bay. Female cod can produce over 1 million eggs each! This event is one of the first food sources that halibut key in on. Most of the deepest waters in Kachemak have muddy bottoms, the perfect habitat for cod spawn.
The next major spawning event to occur in the area is Pacific Herring. Herring spawn in shallow vegetated waters that are warmed by the increasing daylight. Kachemak bay gets a few million herring spawning hear each year, some of the major spawning locations include the Herring Islands, Bear Cove, Aurora Lagoon, the Archimandritof Shoal and Seldovia Bay (A word in Russian that actually means “Herring”) These small silvery fish are on every game fish’s menu.
The last major spawning event of the spring is the Hooligan or Eulachon spawn. These a·nad·ro·mous bait fish are still abundant in Alaska. They spawn in many rivers in the local area. The closest major spawning site for hooligan in Kachemak Bay is the Fox River at the head of the bay. Further north in Cook Inlet many millions of Hooligan head to spawn in Ship Creek, Bird Creek and many others. One of the names for hooligan is “candlefish” because supposedly the dried fish contained so much naturally occurring fish oil they could be burned like a candle. This makes these fish very nutritious for halibut, salmon, rockfish, lingcod and the birds and marine mammals that rely on fish for feed.
Hooligan Run!
Hooligan show up in massive numbers in Cook Inlet every year! Some years are bigger than others but the difference is between 200million and 400million.
These 3 overlapping spawning events create conditions for fantastic fishing in spring. One of the things I look forward to every year is the shallow water fishing for halibut and kings.
Typically halibut fishing is done in 150-300ft of water through the summer, but in the spring we spend most of our time halibut fishing in shallow water targeting those mature halibut in position to intercept the migrating hooligan. When I say shallow I mean anchoring in depths between 15 and 50ft.
This large halibut (140lbs) was hooked and landed in 26ft of water. When you hook a halibut in water this shallow, it will run all over the place. This girl was so Awnry that we had to leave the anchor behind to go get her. Hooked on a little 8oz Grub with spinning gear this fish took nearly 50mins to land.
Notice the clear blue sky in the background. This is typical weather in Homer during the month of May.
Often times in the spring, King Salmon and halibut are caught in the same shallow shelf areas and often hooked and landed while targeting the other. Many large halibut are hooked while trolling, and many bruiser king salmon are hooked while sitting on anchor targeting halibut.
When the fish are caught and filleting begins at the end of the day, it is very common to inspect the stomach of salmon, halibut and rockfish to find Herring, Cod Fry and Hooligan.
Accommodations are easy to secure and typically at a discount. Staff members in all support establishments are typically happy and friendly just having had the winter off and plenty of time to rest.
And sunshine!! Did I happen to mention that spring is the sunniest season in Homer? April and May are usually our sunniest months with long partly cloudy days and short cool nights.
King Salmon are the first of the 5 salmon species to spawn in Alaska so if you were going to catch a gigantic king salmon, one that we intercept on its way to the Kenai it would be a springtime occurrence like this one.
