Area Sport Fishing Reports
North Gulf Coast/Resurrection Bay

Archived Sport Fishing Report

July 06, 2016

 North Gulf Coast Area

Week of July 6 to July 12
Issued July 6, 2016

General Area Description: Includes waters from Gore Point to Cape Fairfield.

Emergency Orders and regulation reminders

• The personal use season for shrimp pot fishing in North Gulf Coast area waters opened on April 15 and closes Sept 15. Permits are required to participate in this fishery and are free at select ADF&G offices and vendors.
•  Personal use dipnetting for smelt (hooligan) is closed.
• Lingcod fishing opened on July 1.
• Snagging is allowed in salt water of the North Gulf Coast. Snagging is not allowed in fresh water.
• Resurrection River downstream of the Seward Highway and Nash Road opened on June 16. Only unbaited, single-hook, artificial lures are allowed; snagging is not permitted in this freshwater portion of Resurrection River.
• For king salmon in Resurrection Bay there is no annual or seasonal king salmon harvest recording requirement. You are still required to have a king salmon stamp if you are going to retain a king salmon.
• Emergency Order; the daily bag and possession limit was increased to 12 sockeye salmon in the marine waters of Resurrection Bay north of a line from Caines Head to the north point of Thumb Cove effective Wednesday, July 6 at 12:01p.m. through Sunday, July 31 at 11:59p.m.

Saltwater

Halibut

• Halibut are federally managed by NOAA. http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=halibut.management
• Halibut fishing in the North Gulf Coast received good reports over the holiday weekend and with the extra effort anglers were catching decent sized halibut and rockfish.
• The Seward halibut derby ended on June 30th. The first place fish weighed in at 193.6lbs and was caught on the last day of the derby!
• A few halibut have been reported from inside of Resurrection (Res.) Bay. Places to try inside Res. Bay include near Callisto Head and Fox Island. Targeting halibut inside Res. Bay requires some degree of patience. Pay attention to the tides and the direction food is going to be moving as the tide changes.

 

Salmon

Kings:

• The king salmon limit in Res. Bay is currently two per day, any size. Try trolling with a small- to medium-sized herring and an oversized flasher or a hoochies for a shot at a feeder king.
• Kings have been caught from shore in Res. Bay near the creek that drains the Seward Lagoon. Large vibraxes or herring under a bobber have been known to produce hatchery run kings from the beaches in Seward. Fishing has been slow, but there should be some kings present over the Fourth of July Weekend.

Sockeye:

• Sockeye are still showing up in good numbers at the head of Res. Bay.
• In marine waters of Resurrection Bay north of a line from Caines Head to the north point of Thumb Cove, the bag limit for sockeye has been increased via Emergency Order to 12 per day/12 in possession.
• In the freshwater section downstream of Resurrection River and Nash Road to an ADF&G marker near the mouth, the bag limit for sockeye remains at 3 per day/ 3 in possession.

Silvers:

• A few catches of silvers have been reported from just outside of Res. Bay. It is still early, so fishing will be slow; but this weekend might be a great time to check out the Pony Cove area.
• As a reminder, the coho limit outside of Res. Bay is 3 per day/3 in possession and in Res. Bay is 6 per day/6 in possession. Anglers that have caught 6 silvers inside Res. Bay may not leave the bay.

Other salt water fishing

Lingcod:

• Lingcod fishing opened on July 1 to areas outside of Res. Bay. Lingcod fishing is closed year-round within Res. Bay. See page 79 in the regulation booklet for location specifics if you are unsure of where you are allowed to target lingcod.

Rockfish:

• Rockfish are easy to catch and have a fairly conservative bag limit, so target your rockfish last.
• The rockfish daily bag limit is 4 per day, of which only 1 may be a non-pelagic (demersal) rockfish.
• Use deepwater release methods to release incidentally caught rockfish. For details, see the ADF&G Rockfish Conservation webpage at: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.rockfishconservation
• Black rockfish catches have been near the entrance of Res. Bay.

Other species:

• Pacific cod are well spread throughout Res. Bay, and can be easily caught with chunks of herring fished near the bottom in water of 100ft and deeper.
• As of June 1, personal use dipnetting for smelt (hooligan) is closed.

Shellfish

• There have been no reports from the personal-use shrimp pot fishery. This fishery is now open in the entire North Gulf Coast area. To participate in the fishery you must be an Alaska resident with a current sport fishing license or ADF&G Permanent ID card, and a North Gulf Coast shrimp pot fishery permit. Permits can be obtained at the Anchorage, Homer, or Soldotna ADF&G offices and at the Seward Fish House.
• Check out page 10 of the 2016 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary for regulations on this fishery, and page 9 shrimp pot requirements.

Fresh waters

Salmon

• The only fresh water open to salmon fishing is a small section Resurrection River, downstream of the Seward Highway and Nash Road (See map in Southcentral regulation summary on p.g. 78)
• The remainder of the fresh water drainages in Resurrection Bay are closed to salmon fishing at this time.

Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic Grayling

• Pink salmon fry were observed in the harbor area and at the mouth of a few Seward creeks. Dolly Varden will be targeting these out-migrating fish. Try casting small spinners or smolt fly patterns from the beach for a chance at a sea-run Dolly Varden.

Northern Pike

• Northern pike are not native to Southcentral Alaska. Please report the capture of any pike in unconfirmed waters to ADF&G. Do not release any pike you have caught.

Lake Fishing

• First Lake was stocked with catchable-size rainbow trout in May. The fishing should continue to be good at First Lake and it is a great place to take the kids.