Anyone has a chance<\/span><\/p>\nThe closure placed on king salmon retention has a big silver lining for derby fishers.<\/p>\n
Cohos return to the Juneau area in much greater abundance than king salmon, so they\u2019re easier to find. They are also the most aggressive biters and the easiest to catch on sport gear, Fish and Game officials say.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s not unheard of for novice anglers to go out and catch a coho, or two, or hit the Fish and Game daily limit at six \u2014 all in one day.<\/p>\n
Of the top 70 fish turned into derby officials last year, only 27 were king salmon, the rest were coho.<\/p>\n
All of this means just about anyone dragging a bait fish or hoochie through the water has a chance.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s top coho weighed in at 19.5 pounds, good for 14th place. But the 69th-place fish, also a coho, came in at 15.8.<\/p>\n
Those are both big fish, but the range between them is small. Fish and Game reports that fishermen land anywhere between 1,000 and 4,000 fish during the derby\u2019s three days.<\/p>\n
If you catch one of those and it\u2019s more than 16 pounds, you\u2019ve got a shot at a prize.<\/p>\n
Green is in season<\/span><\/p>\nAs an avid angler, Fish and Game sport fish biologist Dan Teske likes to take Fridays off every year to fish the derby.<\/p>\n
His advice?<\/p>\n
\u201cFish any color as long as it is green,\u201d Teske said.<\/p>\n
Sport fishermen are most successful landing cohos with chartreuse or green lures, at least as far as artificial gear goes, Teske said.<\/p>\n
Anything you put in the water should be actual fish food (like herring) or something resembling food. Coho have a varied diet, but eat a lot of herring, and when they\u2019re in the ocean, squid, which may be the reason they\u2019re attracted to squid-imitating hoochies.<\/p>\n
Bait fish aren\u2019t any less effective, but if you\u2019re going to fish a lure in the derby, which can mean less hassle, go green this year.<\/p>\n
Where to go? Anywhere<\/span><\/p>\nThe backside of Douglas is a hot spot for coho fishing. If you want to travel a little farther, the area offshore of Point False Retreat to Cordwood Creek, just around the corner of Admiralty Island, is another good drag.<\/p>\n
But cohos can be found all over in the Juneau area. The winning fish could be caught anywhere, Fish and Game biologist Phillip Richards said.<\/p>\n
Hit up one of the hotspots if you believe the hype, or if you want to avoid the crowds, just drop a line anywhere on derby grounds. The important thing is to keep your gear in the water.<\/p>\n
Fish shallower<\/span><\/p>\nCohos are generally found in shallower water than kings.<\/p>\n
Richards said it\u2019s common to catch them at the surface or down to 150 feet.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a little shallower than most king salmon. This is good news if you don\u2019t have a downrigger as weights or divers will get you down far enough for cohos.<\/p>\n
Tide changes can start a bite<\/span><\/p>\nMany fishermen report having good luck around tide changes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear why \u2014 or even if there\u2019s any merit to that theory \u2014 Richards said, but hypothesis is that prey for fish are more vulnerable during a tide change. When the current goes slack, they aren\u2019t travelling as much, making them vulnerable and triggering fish to bite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With king salmon fishing closed in Southeast, cohos will get their chance to shine at this year\u2019s Golden North Salmon Derby. Derby fishing starts today, and come Sunday, expect a coho to take home the $10,000 grand prize. If you haven\u2019t bought a ticket or read the rules, you can find them in the Empire\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-28064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28064"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=28064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}