Week 9...

Family Fishing Cont.

Here are a few more from last week...




Week 9 is under way...

Dad and Uncle Pat on the Kanektok

Week 8 was spent with family and it was incredible. Plenty of fish, plenty of laughter and a lifetime of memories. This was the first week of hot silver fishing and not having caught many silvers I will say that they rock. Silvers are truly a fly fisherman's dream come true. They like to hold in slow water, sometimes even tucked in the smallest of water way up sloughs. They are very aggressive and smack flies with gusto. A 7 or 8 weight rod, a floating line, 6 feet of 15lb maxima and a weighted fly is all you need here. In addition to all that, the Kanektok River hosts hundreds of thousands of these brutes. The average silver is weighing in around 10 pounds with a few boated in the 12 and 13 pound class. Once hooked these dudes tear it up, leaping for a chance at freedom. Mixed in with the silvers and still hordes of chum, so the occational chum is to be expected, regarless of the chum's styreotype, they will still kick your tail!

Uncle Pat with a chrome silver less than a mile from the mouth of the river.

Sunset on the beach in the bay

The rainbow fishing is on and there are some very nice fish to be had. I like to chase them using mice, sculipins and of course the deadly egg patterns. Oddly enough, I use the EXACT same rig here as I do back home during the egg drops. I suppose the only difference here is the fish will destroy 12 mm beads... dang!

Trout... sweet

Dad with a nice bow... you should have seen the one we lost before this one

Uncle and I with a silver pair

Stellar ChumYours truly with some silver action

FATTY!

Shore lunch

Grayling... THE most spectacular display of colors on a freshwater fish, next up, the Dolly

Even though the week flew by, it was truly incredible to spend time with family and share with them what we do up here. This fishery is a must for anglers of all abilities and desires, without a doubt the Kanektok is a fishing powerhouse.

Week 9 is shaping up to be silver mania... Look for more later

Finally, Some Updates!

Dad with big 'ol silver

Fishing has officially hit the fan! Between the dolly's, bow's, chum and recent arrivals, the SILVERS, fishing is ridiculous. The silvers are a welcomed fish, these guys rip it up, airborne, aggressive and numerous. The run last year was around 1 million strong... by the way, they eat poppers :)

I am happy to say that things are good and just got even better. My dad and uncle Pat were able to get up here and spend a week fishing with me. so far things have been very fun. It is great to have them up here.

More to come when the Internet works!

Silver...

Double Chum

Uncle Pat with a MEGA

Dinner is served

Dad and I with a nice buck (silver)

Life at Alaska West: Good Times

After 43 days on duty I was relieved of any work obligations and fully appreciate a day to get caught up on personal stuff and sleep. Most of the crew here sleeps 3-5 hours a day when not working, fishing or telling lies after a long day.

The crew here is solid, many of them hail from Washington, some from Idaho and Oregon. There are two people here from California, oddly enough both from the Sac area...

Being that I am from Californian I am subjected to copious amounts of harassment and the butt of many jokes. I have learned that jealousy come is many forms... I was even asked if there is any good fishing in CA,... HA!

Daily life is cool, 6 days a week breakfast is at 7am, then we make lunches, pack coolers, load up fuel and get the boat ready. Meet clients at 8am and hit the water, back by 6pm, dinner at 7:30, guide meeting after dinner and clients assignments are given at meeting. From 9-12am we are free to fish, many of us go. Usually in bed by 12am, then do it again.

King season is pretty much over, the bulk of the run has entered the system and are now getting ready to spawn. The chum and sockeye have charged in with force and have provided many clients with ridiculous action.

In a month or so the Silvers will show up by the hundreds of thousands and will be ready to crush anything that is pink and moves.

The trout fishing has really picked up, I have been fishing clients all over the upper Kanektok with some incredible fish taken under the coolest of conditions.

Trout here can be found in a variety of structure ranging from stumps in inches of water to huge flats loaded with salmon preparing to spawn.

The picture below was a 'bow taken while fishing for salmon in the lower river near the bay. He ate a super critter on a floating line!

11-12 pound RAINBOW- 20 yards of backing to boot!

Evening on the Ktok - the morning awaits

View from one of the crew tents

Jason Koertge either before or after doing battle with a King...

Well done

Rob Elam: Pescatoral Prospector

Elam with the 'look'

Another day in the books


Rob Elam, Jason Koertge, and Jeff Hickman talking King Shop

Yours truly on the swoop with a hog-leg king (photo by Cameron Miller)

The aftermath (photo by Cameron Miller)

Red Foot: My Fish Rig

The official CREW TENT

The crew tent is huge, it usually sleeps six guys, fortunately this year only 4, my spot is the back right corner! Great times-

All in all life is good...

A few more photos...

In the net...

44" of power (even came off a sweet cast)

Successful release...

I will have pictures from camp and a few details about what it is like up here. I will say that this part of the world has incredible numbers of fish. The kings are still coming in while the chum and sockeye have now started to pour in. There are thousands of fish in the river and it has only begun. Watching the sockeye march on through has been a sight to see, they are everywhere.

More to come...

Flies working better than gear...?

Is that possible? Yes!
Mondo....

Hen going back...
Hooray Flipper...

this biggun fell for a stripped fly in a slough, kinda like fishing for trout in a lake with woolly buggers.

Kings rule

Fishing is getting better and better!

Today was not a day for fare-weather anglers, it was wet, windy and cold. I went through several pairs of gloves just working on keeping feeling in my hands. The river fished well today, most boats founds plenty of hogs looking for flies. My clients for the day, David and David, put the hurt on the big boys today.

Tomorrow is another day, hope to get into the big dogs.

I am in love...

Kings rule...

several of these brutes a day right now, all on the swing, all bad ass fish

I will try my to get more on here soon, dozens of great stories, people and fish.

WHAAAAMMYY!

The first....
We got 'em, Jerry, Ed and I went out in search of chrome kings and were rewarded! This beast came on a 4 inch chartreuse and white fly and kicked ass. She was 39" long and weighed 28.5 pounds. These fish are eating flies less than 18" under the surface! Jerry had only 7 ft of T14, really does not get better than that!

I was able to hook one fish, definitely an adult, somewhere in the low 20# class.

These fish are very fast and very powerful. The grab on my hookup was very slow and subtle, it felt like I was ticking bottom or a log, I knew something was funny. I let it keep ticking, then finally my line just went tight and there it was, off to the races then off in the next breath. Hot Damn!

All in all a good day, 2 jacks on, 2 adults on...

More to come

Updates:

A lot has happened since my last post. Camp is now setup and fully operational, the river is still high but very fishable. The kings have just started to poke their heads in the system. Many of us have been out on a regular basis in search of the chrome king,... any day now!

The weather is a mixed bag, some days nice with a few clouds and others gail force wet winds.

Many of us have been out fishing for trout and dolly's too with some success. I stuck my first bow the other night on a fat leech pattern. Trout on the swing is an awesome thing, I can't wait to feel a king on the swing!

It is very exciting to think that in the coming weeks thousands of chrome fish will be cruising right by camp, both sides too!

Camp life is cool, the crew is awesome, very fun group of experienced guides who are dedicated to making sure this place is in top running order and fish are on the line.

I am have a good feeling about the next few days, look for fish pictures soon!

until the next post...

June 1st

Made it to Anchorage with no problems, the trip here was not bad at all. Baggage is all accounted for and ready for the next leg. Today we fly to Bethel then to Quinhagak where we will take jet boats to camp.

I will try to take some pictures and get back to this later today.

Alaska West: Big Leagues

7 am marks the departure time for the first leg of the Alaskan frontier... I am heading to south west AK to guide for Alaska West.

I'm a little excited as I ponder what is to come. I will do my best to stay on top of posting images and stories from the front lines.

Stay tuned...