Heading into the second weekend of the season we’re all happy to see some sunshine in the forecast!  With full access to the whole fishing grounds the past couple of days has turned out a lot of nice fish at the Bell Ringer.  Salmon action is productive offshore in the 120-140 foot line, fishing down 60-80 feet with spoons and anchovies producing equally well.  We saw a couple of nice Tyees come out of the kelp beds at Bird 2 and Cape Naden yesterday as well so everything is quickly coming back to normal.

The first annual Jig-a Pig Groundfish Derby wound up last night with some very impressive catches listed on the board.  John F took the prize for largest Lingcod with a 37-pounder while the largest halibut to the dock for the derby weighed in at 55 pounds for Kyle Q.  Anglers in the derby probed around all sorts of structure on our fishing grounds to find a wealth of fantastic bottom fishing.  Released halibut were not part of this tournament so some most impressive catches were carefully turned back to swim again.  Alan S released a 100-pounder on Wednesday and on Thursday we recorded halibut releases by Keith B – 115 lb. and Jeff F – 118 lb..  A forty-five minute battle concluded early Thursday morning with the measurement of a 78-inch halibut caught by Dana A which translates to 255 pounds!  His guide Mark Kasumovich was able to get the proverbial “barn door” stretched out peacefully at the surface long enough to get some accurate numbers along with photos and some video – watch for these to be posted here shortly once we get them off Dana’s phone.  All in all it turned out to be a fantastic week, even with the challenges thrown at us by Mother Nature.