Kingfisher
Charters is
pleased to announce the 9th Annual Berkley Alaska Grand
Slam Tournament at Kingfisher Lodge in
Sitka, Alaska. Join host Ronnie Kovach, of Fishing Expeditions
Television, for 3 days of fishing for giant halibut, trophy
king salmon, and voracious lingcod and rockfish.
Your
3 day / 4 night Alaska fishing charter package includes:
Fully
guided Alaska fishing charterfor 3 days (10 hours per day
with a max of 4 per boat)
4
nights lodging at the first class Kingfisher Lodge
All
meals, snacks, and soft drinks
Fish
cleaning, vacuum packing, freezing, and boxing of your catch
Fishing
license and King Salmon stamp
All
fishing gear, bait, tackle, rain gear
Airport
transfers and transportation in Sitka
For
more information on the Berkley Alaska Grand Slam Tournament,
and for reservations, please contact Kingfisher Charters
at (800) 727-6136.
Prices
are based on double occupancy. A $500 per person deposit
is required to confirm reservations. This deposit is refundable
until 120 days prior to scheduled trip, after which it
will be refunded only if we are able to re-book the space.
Alaska Airlines flies directly into Sitka. Call (800) 426-0333
for flight information.
Berkley Alaska Grand
Slam Tournament topped by 155-pound halibut
This year's 8th annual Berkley Alaska Grand Slam Tournament
held at Kingfisher Lodge in Sitka saw spring slow in arriving
to southeast Alaska , and inclement weather prevented access
to some of Sitka 's most legendary big fish spots.
Nonethless, some excellent-grade fish were caught, with
the anglers attempting to catch Pacific halibut, salmon,
lingcod and rockfish in a single day to score 50 bonus points
for an “Alaskan Grand Slam”. Scoring was 1 point per pound
for halibut, lingcod and salmon, and 1 point per inch for
rockfish.
Host and Master of Ceremonies as always was Ronnie Kovach,
and master videographer Danny Jackson was on hand to record
the event.
Top finishers
Veteran competitor Mike Swann of Burbank was the only angler
who scored a Grand Slam on two out of the three tournament
days, earning a victory that also included a return trip
to Kingfisher Lodge. “The second day was very rough”, related
Swann. “But I caught a 108-pound halibut on a white Berkley
Power Grub that was given out on the first day, and got a
Grand Slam. In fact, I got all of my halibut and lingcod
on that white Power Grub.”
Swann continued, “I also lost a halibut over 200 pounds
on the third day. We caught our halibut very shallow, in
around 100 feet of water. The skippers I had really worked
hard to get a slam. I'm definitely coming back next year!”
On the way to victory, Swann landed matching 108-pound halibut
on day 2 and day 3. His best salmon went 17 pounds, his heaviest
lingcod was 37 pounds, and he also managed a 22-inch yelloweye
rockfish.
In second place was Robert Gallion of North Hollywood . “On
the first day the weather was rough, and I caught only salmon
and rockfish”, reported Gallion. “On the second day we got
our salmon limits early. Then we set up for halibut on a
plateau inside the bay's protected waters, and I got an 82-pounder.”
Gallion added, “The third day we also got early salmon limits,
then went back to the same halibut spot in 103 feet of water.
I hooked the 155-pounder and fought it for 20 or 25 minutes
on 80-pound line. It was exhausting; she got about halfway
up and just froze there for some time. We could see her on
the sonar.”
Kyle Emerson of San Bernardino was competing for the second
time. He also landed a big halibut, besting a 114-pounder. “We
soaked our baits for 2 ½ hours”, related Emerson. “When
the big one hit, it took a lot of line right at first. I
fought it for about 25 minutes on the boats' 80-pound tackle.”
Conservation minded
Lingcod do not have a swim bladder, and with gentle handling
can easily be released successfully, the same applies to
halibut. The state of Alaska has created “length-weight tables”,
which give the average weight of lingcod and Pacific halibut.
For all lingcod and halibut caught during the tournament,
the official weigh slip indicated the length of the fish
only. The angler was then credited the weight shown on the
tables for that size fish.
Anglers were not required to release their big halibut,
but it is generally acknowledged that the best food quality
is derived from halibut under 75 pounds [sometimes referred
to as ‘chicken halibut' in Alaska ].
Tournament anglers had the option of releasing their largest
[and highest scoring] fish, and still keep a daily limit
of smaller halibut for transportation back to the lower 48.
Historically, a high percentage of oversize halibut have
been released by tournament competitors, including a 349-pounder
in 2001.
Productive techniques
Many of the larger halibut were caught in much shallower
than usual depths, mostly in the 100-150 feet range. Top
halibut producer was a big ball of salmon guts on an 18/0
circle hook with 600-pound parachute cord as a leader. However,
a good number of flatties were also caught on white or glow-color
8-inch Berkley Power Grubs on a 12-ounce leadhead.
Most all halibut fishing in the Sitka area is done with
2-speed reels filled with 80 or 100-pound test Berkley Big
Game Braid due to the regular presence of 300-plus pounders.
The lingcod and big yelloweye rockfish hit best on jigs,
with a 7-ounce white Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring jig with
a 6-inch nuclear chicken-color Gulp! Grub as a trailer. Lighter
tackle such as an Abu-Garcia 7000 reel filled with 50-pound
Big Game Braid made these species a sporting proposition.
The majority of the salmon were caught by downrigger trolling
with either an Abe-N-Al flasher/hoochy combination or a slow-rolled
whole herring. A few kings were also fooled via mooching
[drifting] with plug-cut herring baits or even jigged 4-ounce
chrome/blue Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring jigs.
Home base
As always, the staff at Kingfisher Lodge performed flawlessly.
Owner Seth Bone, along with lodge manager David Russell and
fishing fleet manger Robert Suarez kept things running smoothly.
The food, accommodations and the Kingfisher Charters fleet
of expert skippers were nothing less than 5-star. All the
fish were beautifully filleted, flash frozen and packed in
insulated boxes for transport home.
The overall winner [Swann] wins a return trip to Kingfisher
Lodge. Winners also took home various prizes from the sponsors
which included: Berkley, Magellan, Abu-Garcia, Costa Del
Mar, Owner Hooks, Flambeau, Simple Green, Nevados Boots,
Luhr Jensen, Williamson, Pelagic Gear.
Big Numbers
Tournament statistics: Largest individual halibut-155 pounds
by Gallion; largest lingcod- 48 pounds by Richard Persohn
of Apple Valley; largest salmon- 25 pounds by Geoff McKinlay
of Oak Harbor, WA; largest rockfish- 31 inches by Kyle Emerson
of San Bernardino, who accomplished the feat by landing a “true
cod”, which counted for the category.
There were 16 halibut over 75 pounds caught, including 6
over 100 pounds. Some 6 lingcod over 30 pounds were caught,
including 3 that exceeded 40 pounds. A total of 12 Grand
Slams were scored, with Swann scoring a pair, and nobody
managed to achieve a Grand Slam on all 3 days of the competition.
Historic tournament records by species include a monstrous
76-pound lingcod in 2006, a 40-pound salmon in 2000, a 26-pound
yelloweye rockfish in 2005, and a mammoth 376-pound halibut
in 2005.
Next years' Berkley Alaska Grand Slam event will be held
on May 16-20, 2009 . Call Kingfisher at 800-727-6136 for
more information.
For more information on next years'
2009 Berkley Alaska Grand Slam Tournament, contact Kingfisher
Lodge at 800-727-6136.
