Ryan Orr Lodge Manager, Hippa Island
This past week we experienced a distinct increase in the number of salmon coming in. The numbers were way up providing plenty of action and making many anglers very happy. We also had some of our best weather of the season which not only helped to increase the salmon numbers but also provided fantastic bottom fishing opportunities. All in all, it was a week to remember here at Hippa Island.
In general, spring salmon were caught in numerous different locations this past week but the undeniable hotspot was once again Freeman Rocks. Freeman provided decent action throughout the day but on most days there was a noticeable early morning bite. It was not at all uncommon to have a spring on (or in some cases even a triple or quadruple header) within minutes of setting your gear down. 
Not a bad way to start a day! Depths ranged from 60 – 150 feet and changed throughout the day so the best bet was to stay in touch with the other boats and change your depths as the action slowed down. Even though we did not have a lot of really big fish we did have a very impressive average with most fish in the low to mid 20’s. There was also the typical handful of tyees and the largest spring of the week was a gorgeous 40 lber brought in Bill Melhorn. Nice work Bill.
Many people have been asking about the coho fishing. While we have started to see the odd coho around we still aren’t seeing any large numbers and to catch more than one or two in a day has been very rare. We expect to see more of these feisty little fish showing up in the coming weeks and this will only add to the salmon fishing excitement.
Bottom fishing has been consistently strong this year and this past week was certainly no exception. Halibut were caught around the Southern Hump (south of Freeman Rocks), the Halibut Hump (a.k.a. 257 Hump), as well as around Sadler Island. The Halibut Hump did slow down a little this week but still provided plenty of nice 30-100 lb halibut. There were also a number of halibut over 100 lbs brought in but the largest halibut of the week, estimated to be about 150 lbs was brought up and released by Kelly Murphy. Way to go Kelly! The Southern Hump was probably the most productive spot for critters with full limits of ling cod and red snapper found quite easily. Regardless of what type of fish you were after, this past week provided it all!
As mentioned, we experienced some of our best weather of the season over the past week. We even saw a couple of days with absolutely flat calm seas and sunny skies. Sunburns are our biggest problems! Looking ahead, the forecast is calling for continued good weather so we should be in for another fantastic week.
