CA Angler nails a 70-pound inland striped bass!
August 15, 2008
Aug. 5, 2008 is a date that Frank Ualat of Gilroy, CA won’t soon forget.
Down to his last bait at Central California’s O’Neill Forebay, Ualat hooked this mammoth 70-pound, 6-ounce striped bass.
The enormous fish measured 52.5 inches long and had a 36-inch girth and was caught on a pileworm fished on an 11-foot G. Loomis Surf Series spinning rod and a Team Daiwa Advantage 4000 reel spooled up with 50-pound braid.
But that’s not the whole story…
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Salmon Jerky! (2008 Smoker of the Year Contest entry)
August 9, 2008
Mr. Iluv Cheeseheads sent in this chrome beauty of a king to be entered into ourSmoker of the Year Contest.
Mr. Cheeseheads said that the fish fought, well, kinda like an old gym sock but…being a huge fan of salmon jerky, he was really excited about the fact that the fish was ready to eat as soon as he got it ashore.
The fish bit an egg pattern William calls the “Skunge Scraper,” which he says is murder on kelts, sore tails and cheese heads.
Togiak River Action!
August 6, 2008
Jake Martinson is a kid I used to work with in Alaska years ago who has since turned into quite a guide himself. He’s in his first season working on the Togiak River and has been putting the wood to some big kings…and very nice rainbows like this one.
Good work, my man!
13-year-old kid & 50-pound king salmon!
August 3, 2008
I always love a good kid fish story and that’s exactly what we have here…Thirteen-year-old Erik McGrath landed this monster 50-pound king salmon on the Lower Rogue River on Saturday, Aug. 2 while fishing with guide Matt Zlatek.
Nice job, Erik! Now, the only problem is…how do you top that??
The Story of the World Record King Salmon
August 1, 2008
On May 17, 1985, Les Anderson of Soldotna, AK landed the all-tackle world record king salmon…this 97-pound, 4-ounce beast from the Kenai River. The mammoth Chinook was nearly 5 feet long and had an amazing 37.5-inch girth!
The improbable catch took place during the Kenai’s early run of kings, which typically features smaller salmon than the July run.
What’s even more crazy is the fish probably weighed considerably more at the time Andersen caught it… Read more
Name That (weird-ass) Fish!
July 28, 2008
Our latest round of the Name That Fish So, this one even threw me a cureball…actually, it was more like a filthy slider on the black at the knees. Our pal MJP sent in this one from a recent trip to the Alagnak River in Alaska.
This bizarre little dude obviously has eyes bigger than his stomach because he tried to eat a K15 Kwikfish…or was he trying to date it??
For a full-body look at this thing click here:
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The World’s Coolest Driving Range!
July 24, 2008
Not enough spare time to get all your hobbies in? How about mixing fly fishing with a little golf at Alaska’s Rainbow River Lodge’s excellent floating ball driving range, where the prevailing winds blow the balls back to shore! Don’t forget the awesome trout and sockeye fishing in the Copper River, which is just minutes away…
You know the bait is thick when…
July 12, 2008
The threadfin shad were thick that day in this little corner of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta where we were fishing topwater baits for stripers as evidenced my double-barreled catch…
The Unknown Basser: 2008 Smoker of the Year Conest entry
July 3, 2008
A fellow named, um, The Una-Basser (he wouldn’t provide his name), sent in this photo of himself to be entered into our 2008 Smoker of the Year Contest.
U.B. says that he lives in California and, with all the salmon closures this year, he won’t be able to inhabit his favorite perch at the infamous “Wall” in the Nimbus Basin on the American River, where he had been a fixture — and 20-foot leader and bead flossing specialist — for the past decade.
“No Wall means no black beauty kings to submit this year,” he says. “So, I thought I’d enter this wretched, sorry excuse for a fish…though in all honesty, I’d probably never soil the grates of my smoker with one of these things. There’s not enough brine in the world to make one taste good!”
Epic Alaskan Float Trip!
July 2, 2008
I just got back from an unbelievable 7-day, self-guided float trip in wild Alaska with K-Dawg and the fishing was absolutely s-i-c-k! We mainly stripped smolt patterns and hooked well over 100 trout and char per day in the 3- to 7-pound class! The video is in the works but here’s a little sample to whet the ol’ appetite….
