Vacation Kings

01 Friday Aug 2008

Posted by in Creeks, Salmon

≈ 1 Comment

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.

 

  nice little King 

 

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;

New Jersey Style

22 Tuesday Jul 2008

Posted by in Fish, Halibut, Ling Cod, Salmon

≈ 1 Comment

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.

Flymstr;
 

Kings and the Akwe

14 Monday Jul 2008

Posted by in Fish, Rivers, Rods and Reels, Salmon

≈ 1 Comment

Well as many of you know, the limits and river access on the Situk have been cut back, due to a lack of Sockeye over the weir. The kings are thick in the river now, but still no sign of them opening the river for kings. Today though I flew out from Yakutat Lodge to the Akwe river. The kings are arriving there in good numbers, and the Sockeye’s and the Dolly Varden are thick. Matt and I guided six gentlemen to the Akwe today, and the fishing and the catching were non stop. Although only two large kings were landed, there were others hooked and lost. There were five Sockeye’s caught, without even fishing for them. The guys were also able to land around 100 Dolly Varden. Here is a pic of the 30 pounder, and a pic of the rest.


Not a bad 5 hours.

 

Flymstr;

Sockeye

19 Thursday Jun 2008

Posted by in Fish, Fly Fishing, Rivers, Salmon, Streams

≈ 1 Comment

Ok the Sockeye have really started to hit the Situk River, but most are smaller fish. This may be contributed to the commercial nets just being in the river for 3 days. For the most part the smaller fish can swim through the mesh in the net, where the bigger fish get caught up. Matt and I walked up from the lower end of the river today with three clients, and came across some nice groups of fresh sockeye.The Yakutat Lodge clients were able to get their limit of 6 fish each within 6 hours.

                          All Sockeye caught in the Situk must be hooked in the mouth, if they are not in the mouth, then they must be released immediately and unharmed. If you know you have a fish snagged, then try to release it in the water, instead of dragging it up on the bank and then yanking the hook out, and kicking the fish back into the water. Remember every fish you kill, is a fish that won’t make it to the spawning grounds. If this happens repeatedly, everyday, by 50% of the people, then it could have a negative impact on the future runs, which in the long run will effect you. So respect the fish you foul hook, it’s not their fault, and they need to be release unharmed.

Here is a pic of Matt sitting in front of 12 of the Sockeye we collected today.

Sorry it took so long Donnie. But it has only been 3 days, not 5.

Flymstr;

Sockeye sightings in the Situk

16 Monday Jun 2008

Posted by in Fish, Halibut, Ling Cod

≈ 1 Comment

While sitting in the Yakutat Lodge this morning, I got some info that Sockeye are arriving on the high tides 🙂, and then vacating as the tides are receding 😦

.There are a couple of fishermen staying in the cabins, at the lower end. I overheard them saying they were getting their limit of Sockeye in the mornings, for the last 3 days. So the report is not to bad, but they are still more than two weeks late. I don’t know if the ocean conditions are affecting the fish this year, or if the outside temperature changes are having an effect, but I know the fish are coming later and later every year since I have been here. Got another big ling cod the other night, on the new boat. Here is a good pic of it. Motor is running rich. Putting new plugs, and alittle adjustments, should do the trick.

I will let you know if the Sockeye situation changes and gets better. Also I know some Kings were caught in the area of Doggie Island yesterday. All the fish hit while coming twards the area of of Canoe pass, and they were using herring, a 2 oz. ball of lead, and they were at 37 pulls. Five fish in two hours, not to bad.


Flymstr;

First fish in the boat

14 Saturday Jun 2008

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Well we tested the fish catching abilities of the boat today, and it was a winner. Me and Amanda took a couple of our friends from the Yakutat Lodge out last night into the bay. We used jigs for Halibut, but came up empty. So we threw on a half a herring along with the jig and caught one heck of a Ling Cod. We also got into a 75 pound skate, that took a good 20 minutes to bring up. As far as the Situk goes, the Sockeye are not showing up at all. I talked to two fisherman that went to the lower end of the river this morning, and there information showed there are no fish in the system yet. The commercial nets go in at the mouth of the river tomorrow at 6 am, so that means if the fish are starting, there won't be any sufficient numbers of fish until the nets are removed on Tuesday at 6 pm.As of now though, there is nothing coming. I haven't heard of anymore reports of Sockeye jumping in the bay either. So I don't know what to say about the run of reds this year, I hope they show up better than the Steelhead did this year. There are still a bunch of Steelies hanging out in the lower 3 miles of the river, they are drop back fish waiting to go around the weir at night, and head back to the salt for another run next year. I will keep updating in hopes of the arrival of the Sockeye. Here is a pic of the LIng. 

 

Flymstr;

Boat

13 Friday Jun 2008

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Well the boat worked very well, and me and Amanda will test out it's fish catching abilities tomorrow. The sockeye are still not in the river yet, so all of you that are coming up later will have good fishing. The  commercial nets go in the river on Sunday, but the subsistatnce nets have been out for some time now, and they are not getting any fish, as of yet. The weather has been nice today, but we just finished with five days of rain, so it was a real nice day today. I will let you know if we do any good in the bay tomorrow.


 


Flymstr;

Salmon are coming soon, but the Steel is still in the river.

27 Tuesday May 2008

Posted by in Uncategorized

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Sorry about the font, my program keeps giving script errors. Well the sockeye will be here soon, but there are a bunch of Steelhead still in the river. On the 14th of June, commercial nets go into the river. Cross your fingers that the Steelhead are gone by then. There are a small percentage of Steelhead that get caught in the nets each season, but the percent is small enough, that there is virtually no impact on the run itself. I can smell the Salmon in the air. They are close, but I still can’t get out of Steelhead mode. Steelhead are the best fresh water fish there is, and I wish they would run all year long. This will be the last Steelhead post of the season, or until I get back to Oregon for the winter. I hope the Salmon season goes well, and I will continue to post nearly every day throughout the entire year. I don’t take as many pictures during Salmon season normally, as I do with the Steelhead, so if I am slacking on pics then let me know. I will also be tracking down the Yakutat Lodge Hooker fleet of boats, to get pics of the butts, cod, and kings. Hopefully during this time I can give some good info and how to catch Steelhead, and some of the methods I have used for the last 20 years. Here are some pics from the last of the Steelhead with my photographer.

IMG_8595IMG_0023IMG_8086IMG_8228IMG_8600IMG_8168 IMG_0032IMG_8190 IMG_0010  IMG_7993 IMG_8102     IMG_8009

Flymstr;