Alaska Fishing

Fishing is all but done for 2009 -- but don't tell Gary Lyon. Lyon of Homer boated a 22.5-pound king salmon Oct. 11 to capture the Homer Elks Lodge's Winter King Salmon Derby, which brought 85 anglers to Homer and raised $3,500 for the Elks' youth scholarship and veterans programs.

Dave Sanders, also of Homer, was just behind Lyon with a 22.3-pounder, while Mike Bateman and Roy Draves landed 20.1-pounders to tie for third place.

The 85 entrants in 33 boats paid a $100 entry fee. A total of 126 fish, weighing a combined 1,433 pounds, were landed.

Homer Elks Lodge 13th Winter King Salmon Derby

1) Gary Lyon, Homer, 22.5 pounds; 2) Dave Sanders, Homer, 22.3 pounds; 3) Mike Bateman, Anchorage, 20.1; 3) Roy Draves, Homer, 20.1; 5) Steve Pollack, Seldovia, 11.4; 5) Lonnie Prichard, Homer, 11.4.

Planning your 2010 summer fishing trips?

Farmer's Almanac has issued it's long-term forecasts through 2010, and the prediction is for cooler and dryer than normal weather, with mid-to-late June, July and mid-August expected to be the warmest stretches.

This summer, according to the National Weather Service, Anchorage had 16 days in which temperatures exceeded 70 degrees -- a big jump from 2008.

And the extended cold spell we endured last January could happen a month earlier -- or this December.

"December will be as much as 15 degrees below normal, on average," according to the Almanac.

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