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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Bob... very nice fish.
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Thanks guyman.
That looks like a sort of thin leader, what size you use?
For all those fish pictured I was using 12 pound flurocarbon tippet.
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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Those are some nice fish !!
All I got is spincast gear, usually I'm a stream fisher...walk to the hole, take out the fish, move to the next hole, repeat...these, however, are all out of bigger waters...
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Cool looking lures...like a hybrid between fly and spinner!
That headless fish on the left- is that a tiger trout?
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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I just moved closer to the kings river, and don't tell my wife, but like 50% of the reason I moved our family was for fishing.
Just got this exactly 6 minutes from my house. Not the fattest trout ever but at 19.5 inches with color like that I can't complain. It must be hungry, took my nymph and then ate my indicator before I even noticed the strike.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Limpingcrab have you floated down the creek yet? We might head out tonight. Are you going to be out there? We could gladly show you the ropes.
Nice trout btw. Nice trout.
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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That is a beautiful fish !!!
Maybe ? Looks like one now but he looked more like a brown coming out of the water...the smaller one got me with my own lure, had to punch it through my skin and crimp the barb to get it back out, right on my ankle...
Those are joe's flies...really liking them or undressed panther martins...
sportsmans
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Nice fish Bob. Man those look like crazy Charlie's for salmon. Was that one fly a cripple with a white post?
Man that's where we should hold the supertopo large trout lovers get together.
You bringing guided Bob or are you just going on past knowledge?
Good stuff thanks for sharing.
Fished a total of 10 days for salmon, just me and my wife, about 7 hours a day. I've fished a lot for sockeyes over the years and developed some patterns that they're more likely to bite- a smaller (size 6 or 8) Comet-style fly, sparsely tied.
Most people fish for silvers with larger flies (I usually use a size 2 hook for patterns I'll swing or strip), but they really love to bite those little Comets too. However, they're not so easy to land on that size hook, since they go crazy and jump all over the place. I've never seen any fish change direction so quickly, or make such a quick, short burst of speed, as a silver salmon. Over those 10 days I probably got a hundred bites. My notes say I landed 21 of those big silvers, fair and square.
Also did 2-Days of drift boat fishing with a guide for rainbows and did some river wading and lake float tubing for rainbows.
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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alaskan rainbows
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Thanks Tad. For fly fishing, it's really hard to beat Alaska for numbers of fish and size of fish. Plus the fishing isn't dependent on weather conditions.
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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I need to get my ass to AK... those are simply AMAZING...
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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It looks like the Kenai. And you can drive there on good roads. If you get a ride on a float-plane it can get even better. As much pressure as the Kenai gets it still can be awesome. Big fish in there.
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ruppell
climber
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Alaska or New Zealand?
That's a tough one.
Nice trip Bob.
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Jim Clipper
climber
from: forests to tree farms
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Kamchatka, or Taimen? Any stories?
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Thanks Ruppell
WTF,
Alaska, they say, gets in your blood, like a habit-forming drug- one dose and you'll be hopelessly addicted, so I'll caution you that once you go, you'll need to go back.
I first went to Alaska in 2000 and have been returning year after year. I'm lucky my wife is tough and actually enjoys herself in cold, rainy weather. Not many sunny days in Alaska.
Fly-in lodges are expensive ($5,000 to $7,000 a week) but there are roadside and hike-in options. There aren't many roads in Alaska, but from Anchorage three main roads offer great opportunities. The Seward Highway runs south of Anchorage and ends at the town of Seward on the shore of Resurrection Bay. The Sterling Highway branches west from the Seward Highway and runs alongside much of the Upper and Middle Kenai River, eventually heading south and ending at Homer.
The Parks Highway runs north of Anchorage past innumerable fishing spots to Denali National Park.
When you go depends on what you want to catch. It's all about run timing. There are 5 species of Pacific Salmon in Alaska: king (chinook), silver (coho), sockeye (red), chum (dog), and pink (humpy). All Pacific Salmon return to the river they were born in after several years in the ocean, then spawn and die.
In general, throughout Alaska, kings run first, in May, June, and July, followed by sockeyes in June, July and early August. Pinks run on odd-numbered years only, in August. Silvers run starting in August and through September.
For pink, sockeye, and silver salmon, I go with a 9-foot 7, 8 or 9 weight rod. The fish run close to shore, or hang out in slower water near-shore, so no need for long casts; with a swith or spey rod it'll be tough to land 'em (especially by yourself) and you'll probably end up breaking a rod.
For kings I'd go with a an 11 weight or 12 weight and heavy sinking line, spey rods would be good for the big rivers, as kings tend to hold in heavy water in the main channel of the river.
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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You're welcome Tad
On the Kenai, rainbows are available after the June 15 opener, but action doesn't really heat up until mid August, when the salmon begin spawning, and the rainbows and dolly varden key in on drifting eggs. To match the hatch it's all about drifting beads under an indicator behind spawning salmon. A prurist would say that it's not even fly fishing, but its effectiveness can't be denied.
For driftboat and wade fishing in rivers for rainbows, I use a 9-foot 6 or 7 weight rod. For the driftboat, a 9 ft 6 in or 10-foot rod makes for easier mending, but harder to land the fish while in the boat.
If you like float tubing as much as I do, there are dozens of lakes on the Kenai Peninsula with excellent fishing for rainbows. The Alaska DFG website has a lake data base that records which lakes have been stocked with Swanson River strain rainbow triploids, an incredibly tough breed of rainbow that usually jumps 5 or 6 times before you can land 'em (Like a Crowley Lake Kamloops). Hardly anyone in Alaska float tubes, so you'll have it all to yourself!
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ruppell
climber
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Triploids? In AK? WHY?
The breeding fish now have to compete with stocked non-breeders? I really wish IGFA would realize there is a difference between triploids and diploids. One should be allowed in the record books the other, IMO, should not.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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AK, NZ or Kamchatka. Someday...
In the meantime, fished the King above pine flat today. 5 hours and only three fish with high water, high winds and a broken rod tip. Then I tied on a Royal Wulff and got 4 more fish in the last 10 minutes. Kinda annoyed I didn't think of that pattern sooner, but at least the day ended well!
Nothing huge but nothing tiny. These native little guys fight like crazy so I probably wouldn't be able to land a big one out of this stretch anyway.
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BG
Trad climber
JTree & Idyllwild
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Hi Ruppell,
The Alaska DFG stocks triploids in the lakes, and only in lakes that don't have any native populations, and only in lakes with no inlet/outlet to other drainages. Their concern is that if they stock diploids they could somehow make it to another drainage and dilute the genetics of a native population.
The Kenai River, for example, has never been stocked and is all native rainbows.
You're right about the triploids. The IGFA makes no distinction between triploids, diploids, or steelhead; they're all eligible for world records under one category: rainbow trout. Nearly all the IGFA line class world records are triploids from Lake Diefenbacker in Canada (the largest weighed 48 pounds). Since triploids don't waste their energy on procreation, they focus on eating, and grow to massive sizes. Steelhead cannot be genetically differentiated from land-locked rainbows, so they're in the same category.
I broke the IGFA all-tackle length world record for rainbow trout in 2013 with a steelhead from the Chetco River in Oregon. My record was broken in 2014 by a triploid from Lake Diefenbacker!
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