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Winter Kings is a primary target for us n the winter
months as there is no other fishing to do at that time. Sometimes
it can be red hot and you can catch one every 15 minutes or it can be
dead slow and you may get skunked. An exceptional fish like the
one pictured here at 35 lbs. are few and far between. A more
likely size is 10-16 lbs. These fish are caught primarily with
good trolling gear and the use of downriggers.
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This is Logan's first winter king at the tender age of
three years old. It may be accurate to say that he and the fish
were the same age. With a little help from Dad to reel he
managed to land this one a bit faster than he did the second
one...after 20
more minutes of fishing time. He may be a spoiled fisherman now
but at least he wasn't a bored fisherman. You must choose your
fishing days wisely with the kids lest they lose interest.
Logan is "hooked" now.
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Nothing is better than winter kings for eating. About 15% of our
winter fish are "white", which is to say that their flesh is white
because they are missing a gene that produces the red color. It
is likely that these are native southeast Alaska and Canadian
fish. Some believe they
are more excellent to eat than the more abundant salmon colored
fish. These fish were caught near our summer home in the islands
on January 1, 2005
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Typical Alaskan weather in the winter requires that there
be a good diesel stove on the boat and lots of warm clothing.
Snow squalls are not uncommon and a check on the marine
weather is a must. But if it isn't outrageously rough it is
possible to find a place to hide from it and still find fish. At
least you can stay warm and enjoy some of the finest scenery that
coastal Alaska has to offer.
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Winter kings aren't the only fish we catch. It is
not unreasonable to believe that we could find a few more "barn door"
halibut like these that the kids caught last summer. Halibut like
these are not common but finding nice fish in superb scenery makes a
trip well worth it.
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