Over the last couple of weeks, this column has offered suggestions on how to fillet a salmon and up to a shipload of techniques on how to nail them along with other succulent fish of the sea.

This week we’ll start off with a subtle suggestion. Know your fish, especially salmon.

Queries have rolled in from neophytes claiming they have trouble telling a humpy from a sockeye and request guidance on the matter.

The simple answer is to stop by the nearest super-friendly Alaska Department of Fish and Game office, or license vendor, and pick up a FREE, Sport Fishing Regulations Guide for Southcentral Alaska.

My gray haired, gnarly bearded, bud and devout scofflaw, Willie, admits that he’s been able to stay out of trouble (mostly) since I gave him a copy laying out the rules and regs along with color photos and descriptions of the different species.

Now, that’s a big deal. Normally, the ole scallywag is so averse to learning something new that his version of a text message is a Crayoned note left in a waterproof can under the first step of our deck.

Anyway, I hope the inquiring novices take the time to avoid a fine and pick the reg book up.

We had another email last week from a self-described, “seriously seasoned” individual, who felt physically hammered after fishing the lagoon and hauling his catch to the cleaning tables only to discover his filleting skills were shot because of fatigue.

He was considering retiring his gear because the last thing he wanted to do was end up standing over a cleaning table elbow deep in fish gorp trying to produce some semblances of fillets while his joints crackled like kettle corn and his muscles turned to cottage cheese.

I suggested that he try an old trick taught to me by an aged native friend when we first moved down here.

He divulged that, on occasion, instead of immediately filleting his fish for winter use, he would wrap a whole un-gutted king in a plastic trash bag and freeze it.

He claimed it would store over a year without freezer burn and was fun to process when the need arose.

Then, when an event called for it, he would set it out at room temperature and amble by occasionally to give it a slap. When the side of the carcass became somewhat pliant, it was cleaning time.

He slit the semi solid fish as one normally would, then reach in and popped out the frozen “gutcicle,” then scooped out the spine’s iced-up blood vein with a spoon.

The fish was then ready to fillet when it felt the easiest to cut. No messy blood, guts, slime, bugs in your face. Quick processing with a fast and simple clean up.

I told the elderly gentleman that Jane and I tested the process and it worked fine, especially with the kings. He wrote back that he had put away the moth balls until next spring. Made my day.

Time now to take a look at the fishing report for the week of Aug. 12.

Freshwater Fishing

Anchor River, Deep Creek, and the Ninilchik River are still open to sport fishing other than kings.

Coho Salmon

Silvers have been causally entering the Anchor River, Deep Creek, and Ninilchik River. Expect fishing to be in low gear for a while, then pick up through the end of the month.

Best bet? The early morning hours near the mouth of the rivers and around high tide.

Best shot? Offer them a small dollop of cured salmon roe or a little herring beneath a bobber. If you are a fly flipper, try swinging streamers. For spinning advocates, plugs and shiny spinners are cool.

Dolly Varden

Dollies are mostly finished entering the streams, so the action may be slower in the lower sections. With a little prospecting in the upper sections of the streams, especially the Anchor River, fishing can be fair. Beads pegged under small strike indicators is one of the best ways to target the scrappy warriors. For dedicated fly fisherman, smolt patterns, streamers, and beads are the great approaches. Spinners and spoons are the way to go when using spinning rods.

Sockeye Salmon

Yep, there are still sockeye left in China Poot Creek to wrap up the last few days of the personal use dipnet fishery. Some bright fish are still mixed in with the swimming dead, but it will require a little bit of sorting. Beware of pinks sneaking around trying to look cool but getting more unsightly by the minute. Pay close attention to make sure that you are only keeping the sockeye. It’ll be no one else’s fault but your own, if you end up with some those mush balls.

Saltwater Fishing

Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Halibut

Halibut fishing continues to rock when the marine weather stops throwing tantrums and allows trips into the Inlet. The small tides this week will make it easier to set the anchor and fish your secret hot spot along with a dozen other boats.

Lingcod

Lingcod fishing remains good on the outer coast, including the Chugach Islands area, when the seas aren’t in a snotty mood.

King Salmon

King fishing south of Bluff Point was spotty last week. Larger chinook were landed in the bluff area plus a few near Yukon Island.

A limited number of kings remain scattered throughout Kachemak Bay.

Coho Salmon

Trolling for silvers has been pretty much a waste of bait so far.

Heads up. Expect humpies to start getting into everyone’s way soon in Tutka Bay Lagoon.

Surf Fishing

Surf fishing at the tip of the Homer spit keeps on giving with a mishmash of groundfish including halibut, sculpins, skates, flounders, cod, and things that have been known to scare the bejeezus out of salmon sharks.

Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon

There’s a puny school of silvers in the lagoon. Hit the incoming and outgoing tides for a quick shot at them. Drifting salmon roe clusters or small pieces of herring under a bobber is a good technique for attracting a strike if the goon squads aren’t around flip-snagging the fish so much that they quit biting. Try using a #3 red or orange bell Vibrax spinner after the current slows down on the incoming tide.

Local Lakes

Want the kids to have some fun? The Homer Reservoir (located on Skyline Drive) is a great place to take catch dollies. The fish are small, but can be entertaining to catch.

Dollies are often found along the shore by the road, or the south shore. Try a variety of very small spinners and spoons. Nymphs and dry flies, such as mosquitoes, can work great if the winds don’t come up.

For the latest Emergency Orders information, please contact the Homer Office at 907-235-8191.

Nick can be reached at ncvarney@gmail.com if he isn’t busy trying to track down rumors of S.A. (Snaggers Anonymous) support group being formulated for failed and clueless piscatorian wannabees.