Got to spend a couple of weeks with my wife and son.. plus a few of the grandkids! Great memories that will last a lifetime
Family visiting in Alaska ’23
05 Saturday Aug 2023
05 Saturday Aug 2023
26 Monday Jun 2023
12 Saturday Nov 2022
21 Friday Oct 2022
Posted Fish, Rods and Reels, Salmon
in21 Friday Oct 2022
05 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted Rivers, Salmon, Uncategorized
in25 Thursday Jun 2009
Well these four guys can't get enough. As a guide for Yakutat Lodge, I have seen a lot of types of fisherman, but these guys are great. They are fisherman, not people that just go fishing. We caught a ton of fish today, and I have the pleasure of taking them for the next two days. Another one of the Yakutat Lodge guides (John),has been teaming up with me in the last couple days, and I can't say enough good stuff about him. With John and I joining forces, these fish don't have a chance. I like to use the line, "Let's catch every thing in this hole, and leave it empty", well with over 500 hundred fish in the hole, this maybe a stretch, but we put a big dent in them. Also I caught a large king on my fly rod today, and the got a great release vid of this giant. This king was only 2 minutes out of the ocean, and looks like he had a scrape with an otter on the way in. Here are the pics, and the vids.. Enjoy,,,,,,, More to come. All pics are of different fish.
Good luck out there.
Flymstr;
12 Sunday Oct 2008
Posted Fish, Fly Fishing, Rivers, Rods and Reels, Salmon, Steelhead, Streams, Trout
inToday I went down to the Oregon coast to seek out some bright Coho, and Chinook Salmon. I found a bunch of them. We fished the Trask river, just this side of Tillamook, and the fishing was great for the fly rod. I went with my buddy Steve, and again I had to show him how it was done. Steve spotted the first fish of the day, on a quick stop along the side of the road to pee, he looked down and saw two nice Chinook. We got our gear together and went in for the slaughter. It took abit of time to get things in order and to start getting into the rhythm needed to successfully fish. After about 15 minutes worth of warm up time, we started hooking up. I got into four fish in the first hour, and Steve hit into two. That was the last I heard from Steve almost the rest of the day, but I had just begun. We headed up river, and found another location, where we could see fish. We got the gear out again, and now it was really time to start hooking up. In the next five hours, I hooked approximately 20 fish or more, landed about 11, and Steve touched one, and got another one to the bank. Tough day on the Steve man!!!. It was a great day, and the best was the 35 pound Chinook on the 8 weight fly rod and 10 pound test. Here are the pics from today. Steve is holding the one that he was able to bring to the beach, the rest are the ones I talked into giving up. We did not retain any of these fish, for they were all natives.
Good luck out there!!
Flymstr;
01 Friday Aug 2008
Well it has been 7 years since I have seen the sun shine in Oregon, in the summer. Damn it’s hot!!!. I know 70 and 80 degrees is not that warm, but from what I am used to, this is hot. Anyway, I am home on vacation now, and having a great time. The creek that I have been fishing for the last 30 years, for winter Steelhead, has Chinook returning to it for the first time in 20 years. When I was 18, I can remember days on the creek, where you could catch ten to twenty of these big kings per day. Then back in the mid to late 80’s, because of lack of funding, the kings run was shut down at the hatchery, resulting in the decline and eventually the end of the Chinook to Eagle Creek. I am glad to say that 6 years ago the state funded a private hatch box, and this is the first returns to the creek this year. It is not a coincidence that I am home at this time. I did not want to miss the first year the Kings came back. I called ahead to some of my friends before I returned, just to see if there were any kings in the creek. The reports I got were not good, but I had a gut feeling that they were there, and my friends had just not spent the time to really look. Well I am glad to say that in the 3 days I have fished, since my return, the fishing has been great, and the Kings I have found have been in great shape. I have got into about 20 fish, and landed about half of them. The biggest so far, being about 25 pounds. These fish have just a bit of color, but they still have white belly’s, and the meat is still bright orange, and they are very firm, and full of fight.
About 20 years ago, I made a fly out of pheasant breast, and it was the best King fly ever. I have not been able to find this feather again, so I used yarn flies for these kings. I used the same tie that I use for the Steelhead, I just used bright reds and oranges, to mimic an egg pattern. It worked fairly well. here are some pics from the last trip with my friend Steve.
Steve is the one I have to give the credit to, for starting me out with the fly rod. I have been fishing with Steve now for over twenty years. When I was just a young fisherman, catching fish in any way that I could, Steve in the one that took me aside and showed me that you can catch fish with a fly pole, and you can be very successful, if you learn how to do it right. Since then, I have been fly fishing with Steve, and it’s a great fishing partnership. Of course we have come to the point that when we see a fish, (if we can hold back from yelling "Fish in the Hole!") we try to keep it to ourselves, knowing that if we say anything out loud, the other guy will have there line in the water before the words are spoken. So we play some games with each other out there when it comes to fish, but the time we spend together now is great, and we can fish together without any problems. We are both freaks when it comes to fish, so with that in mind, if we see a nice big one, the river gets quiet, and fishing is the only thing going on. The less Steve talks, the more I assume that he has a big fish in front of him, but I back off, you have to let a guy have one now and then.
So good luck out there. Remember if you have a place you want to fish, and some people are saying that there is no fish, then go check it out for yourself’s. I found a gem of a fishery at Eagle Creek, I also have not seen another soul down there. So it is the best vacation ever.
FISH ON!!!!!
Flymstr;
22 Tuesday Jul 2008
Well the Sockeye fishing has gone south, because of high water and very wet conditions. My friends, and clients of the Yakutat Lodge arrived just as the rain did. So needless to say, the fishing has been tough. The ocean, on the other hand has been very good to them. Here are some pics of Donnie Hunter and his group with some nice Halibut and Silvers. The pink salmon have also started to show up in the lower Situk. I expect they will over power the remainder of the Sockeye in the system, making it hard to even see the Sockeye. When the pink Salmon enter the river, they come in very large schools. There maybe over 500 fish in every hole on the entire river. Because of their aggresive attitude, they make it very hard to fish for anything else in the river. It also makes them a great fish to target for fun. On an average day, a client could expect to hook into well over 20 fish a day. On a good day, that number could easily go upto 50. So if your looking for a fish that is very aggressive, good for smoking (When caught fresh), and a load of fun to fish for, then check out the Situk River, and the Yakutat Lodge for some good times and great fishing.
Good luck out there.