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BERKLEY ALASKA GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT
By Steve Carson
May 2008
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.
Species Division Winners:
Halibut:
1. Robert Gallion- 237 points
2. Mike Swann- 227
Salmon:
1. Robert Gallion- 45 [T]
2. Ken Smith- 45
Lingcod:
1. Mike Swann- 74
2. Ernest Ross- 63
Rockfish:
1. Fred Raglan- 65
2. Mark Herron- 60
Final Overall Results:
1. Mike Swann- 490 points total
2. Robert Gallion- 396
3. Paul Gillenberg- 365
4. Ken Smith- 355
5. Fred Raglan- 309
6. Mo Haffar- 262
7. Mark Herron- 228 [T]
8. Ernie Branch- 228
9. Dwayne Zukowski- 213
10. Kyle Emerson- 211
11. David Okasakai- 200
12. Richard Persohn- 183
13. Jim Bassett- 173
14. Everett Dunnick- 166
15. Jimmy Estes- 152
16. Lafton Hansen- 149
17. Andrew Matthewson- 148
18. Johan Perslow- 131
19. Edward Erzen- 122
20. Mike Marihart- 121 [T]
21. Steve Erzen- 121
22. Ernest Ross- 120
23. Don Kenny- 118
24. John Borneman- 113
25. Melanie Hadrian- 108
Captain’s Award-
Capt. Earl Tuttle, boat Samantha- 3 Grand Slams
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