The lodge fished 14 rods each day I was there. Each day there was at least one fish over 40# taken.

But we sure logged a ton of rod hours for those kings. No boat ever came home with more than 3 kings... 1 or 2 was typical... with an occasional skunking.

Other species made up for the lack of king action... and all were taken on trolled gear, mainly whole herring and Apex's. The piscatorial potpourri included true cod, chicken halibut, black rocks, a mystery salmon (that I will post up later for the resident fish ID experts on the board), a sea-run dolly, and a world record pollock sporting a cataract in one eye.

After record winter snow, spring was barely limping along in Old Harbor.... just the faintest touches of green splattered the hillsides. First two days were cold and dreary, with barely a blue hole peeking thru the clouds. After a couple days of sun, the landscape was noticeably greener, but still very anemic compared to Anchorage

The big red king pictured above came to Barb mid-morning on day 1. After 4 more potential chances for the boat, I finally tagged my first salmon late on day 2, a white-jawed non-AK red king of 16#. Winston took a nearly identical cookie cutter white king an hour later. The clouds parted on day 3 and Barb was rewarded with the prettiest electric purple/blue/turquoise-hued king I've ever laid eyes on. The 20 pounder was sporting a white jaw and spotless platinum pearlescence in the tail remiscent of the URB's and summers we've taken in the Columbia. Day 4 the intense AK sunshine came out in full force, not only warming the air and water, but also illuminating our gear down to depths of 33 ft to the naked eye. Time for the SPF 70 sunblock .... and as usual, half nekkid by high noon! I tagged the mystery fish of the trip, my first salt-caught blueback salmon! Winston tagged a 6# "prince" salmon a few hours later. We ended the day with 3 jumbo black sebastes that dwarfed Win's mini-king.

Day 5, I switched to a different boat/guide for a half day trip with VISION Hooks/Tackle CEO Randy Prengel. Hooked into my first good fish of the entire trip... I called it perhaps mid-30's in the water. It peeled line out to 100 yds while we tried to mooch up a double. Slowly worked it back to the boat where the tug of war ended with the platinum pig coming unbuttoned under tension right beneath the boat. No hook-spittin' involved.... it just pulled free before w could put a net around it. And while that fish would have been a nice addition to my fish box, the lodge fishmonger had already accumulated a 50# box of groceries for me... mostly unwanted collars from other guests' salmon.

So despite the lackluster action, I came home with more than enough fish to eat, got to see and touch some pretty special kings in the absolute prime of their life, learned a whole lot about new and novel ways to rig a whole herring, and absorbed it all in a most stunning setting. More pics to come after taking care of loose ends at the office and working off some steam at the local Y.