The year has started off with winter kings on the bbq.  The most brilliantly colored fish in Alaska is a fat king salmon caught on a 20 degree day in the middle of our shortest days.  With just a hint of sun coming through a trail of fog on the  mountain tops, a king rolling in the clear water next to the boat throws off a wake of colors that fills the entire spectrum.  Winter king salmon fishing in southeast Alaska is a challenge that stacks the odds against alll that attempt to pursue our greatest fish.  Frozen rod guides and stiff fingers along with some of the nastiest weather conditions imaginable,  make our winter fishing excursions unpredictable and memorable.  Fishing for winter kings in the Juneau area means we are catching “feeder kings” that are younger fish that are staying in the inside coastal areas as opposed to going out to the ocean or the “big pond”.  In between winter storms and not a whole lot of daylight if a guy can find a bait ball he might find a king. 

 Halibut fishing on board the ROUGHCUT has been awesome to say the least.  This year has seen fishing for Alaska’s premiere bottomfish as one for the record books if judged by the shear numbers of fish that have been brought on board and released by Thunder Mountain Anglers guests.  A trip in early June to Icy Strait limited out the boat with all anglers reelin’ in their fish as soon as the bait was bouncin bottom.  A early mornin trip on the last week of June with several buddies to lower Lynn Canal for butt put us back at the dock by 10:00 am with a cooler full of 30-40 pounders.  The summer wouldn’t be exciting until the ROUGHCUT put a nice limit on deck by a father/son team from the midwest that had never picked up a fishing rod before.  A lot of huffing and puffing by the old fella as he reeled up his final fish to put an exclamation point on their first part of a two day combo trip showed that fishing was work.  The highlight of the year was watching and holding the broomstick for my 7 year old daughter as she cranked up a halibut on a recent trip to upper Lynn Canal.  This was her first and chances are not her last halibut she was able to land on board the ROUGHCUT.  She has been fishing with me since she was 2 weeks old and can trout fish with the best and is finally strong enough to haul in the biggger fish.  In mid June she hooked up and landed a 15 pound king on a herring off the downrigger in Auke Bay with no problem and was making sure dad got the net under the fish.  The monster butt is still out there waiting too be caught this year.  There is still lots of time left in the 07 season to land the trophy of a lifetime.  Give us a call and we will make it happen.

Captain Brian

  Fishing the Juneau area in the month of June was nothing but action.  We took on a group of guys from Missouri and Oregon that kept the ROUGHCUT crew in stitches the entire 3 day trip.  Jerry and Dennis Jones brought up 4 other guys for their first visit to Southeast Alaska.  The king run had reached its peak and the halibut moved in to shallow water and were readily going to fresh bait.  A beautiful weekend for the panhandle greeted the boys on an early start for the run to the halibut grounds.  After a slow start and some chumming by the rookie from Salem, Oregon, the halibut started to come on board.  Our friend Tim decided that swimming was an option and tested the waters of Icy Strait with a swan dive off of the boat.  Naturally this was what the dr. ordered and we quickly limited out the boat with everyone getting their halibut.  On our way back to Juneau, a side trip in to a local bay produced my first ever seen troll caught sockeye.  This was confirmed at the dock by an Alaska Fish and Game official.  The following day, after a pizza party at the local pub,  we geared up for king salmon.  Trolling herring was the ticket to success for the group.  Tightlines was the theme for the day as all anglers were able to land bright kings in the 20 -30 pound class.  Fishing shallow provided action on top of the water with lots of ariel jumps and a mad scramble to pull rods out of the water to avoid lines tangling.  The nickname of Captain Kaos and the Big Cluster was given to the crew.  We topped the day off with a barbeque and a barrel of IPA from the local brewery at the Captains pad, followed by some very entertaining hoopla provided by our locale color and the guys from Salem.  Thunder Mt. Anglers enjoyed everyones company and we can hardly wait till the fellas return.

Spring King fever struck the Juneau area and fizzled out  all over the derby grounds.  The month of May started off with lots of fish being pulled in.  As the weeks continued, catch rates went down and the general perception was the return fish numbers were not as large as past years.  ROUGHCUT was out on the grounds with some success.  The crew was able to put 3 fish in the derby only to be knocked out by slightly larger fish as the derby finished up.  The month long Juneau Spring King derby had fish weighed in from 9 pounds all the way to 38+ pounds.  The smaller fish caught on the boat kept everyone convinced that the next fish was the BIG ONE! Thunder Mountain Anglers congratulates all those that entered fish in the derby and those that purchased tickets for a good cause.  The kids that benefit from the derby and are able to continue their education are to be proud of their community for the support they are to recieve.  TMA is a proud supporter of the derby and all that benefits the youth of Juneau get through local businesses.  Safe boating to all

Brian, Captain  

  Thunder Mountain Angler team member Mark Sanders jumped in to the top 10 for the first week of the Juneau King Derby with a 23.1 pound king.  Fishing started off on friday in typical Juneau fashion, laid back and nothing to get excited about.  We trolled through the tide change with no action.  No one else in the drag picked any fish until an hour after the tide change.  Then the fun began with several fish caught by other boats trolling through bait balls that were hanging around some shoreline structures.  Spring kings were feeding on small fry that were coming out of the freshwater streams and looking for anything to hide around to get away from there vorocious appietite.  We hooked up and landed a small (34 inch, 18 pounder)  that managed to wrap around a piling.  Thanks to some stout leader we were able to work the fish out that mess and into the net.  About an hour later Mark’s pole lit up and peeled a bunch of line off  and it looked like we were in for a battle. Not so.  Line went slack and we went “what the …….”. Once again patience paid off and several more passes  were made and once again we had line peeling off Mark’s rod.  He made short work of it this time and soon we had it in the net. 

    The start of the spring king derby brought about some exceptional fishing to the Juneau area.  Local hotspots produced huge numbers of kings on opening day of the derby.  Boaters were blessed with sunshine and warm temperatures and very cooperative fish.  At the tide change a dozen fishing boats all hooked up with kings, many with doubles, all nice ,bright and full of fight.  The ROUGHCUT was right in the middle of the action, hooking up with a beautiful 38 incher that topped out at 24 pounds.  Another was on and off, keeping us on our toes.  There was a lot of talk and hard time, along with some bad advice, being handed out,  as everyone trolled through huge bait balls.  It was hard to count all the fish caught.  Hopefully the numbers of fish will continue to increase.  We’ll keep all posted.

 May 1st will officially jumpstart the 2007  fiishing season with the beginning of the annual spring king salmon derby held in Juneau Alaska.  This is the time of year sportfishermen gear up to hit the water in search of the derby winner. A record breaking snowfall in southeast AK, has put many people several weeks behind as boats are just becoming visible from the monster snow piles.  Reports are coming in from a few early fishermen that are indicating fish are showing up.  Traditional fishing areas are giving up a few fish to those with patience.  Action is expected to pick up over the next couple weeks as run-off will continue to raise the rivers and the big Taku kings start gathering in local waters.  Thunder Mountain Anglers will be out hitting it hard and doing some testing on some flies we tied up over the winter.  The boat is ready, book a trip online today,eat fresh king salmon tomorrow.  TMA is a proud sponser of the Juneau King Derby and will provide the derby tickets to all that fish on board the ROUGHCUT during the month of May.  Good luck to all and safe boating.

   The Captain

Welcome to our new website.  We are currently still under construction so please be patient with us and check back often for updates.  We plan on having the website completed by later this month and we will be ready to book your exciting, Alaskan adventure.

 Thanks for stopping by,

-Thunder Mountain Anglers Development Team