7X tippet and a No. 22 Zebra Midge?
June 27, 2007
Here I am with a big Alaskan ‘bow caught by a client of mine on the Nushagak River while we were backtrolling a “California Watermelon” K-15 Kwikfish on 60-lb. mono leader. So much for cobweb tippets and matching the hatch…
Aliens on light tackle!
June 25, 2007
So there we are, Big Fred and me, guiding a saltwater fishing expedition in Northern California when Big Boy gets the bright idea to hook up a chunk of bait on a light spinning outfit…”just for kicks.”
It doesn’t take long for the bait to get eaten…by an alien.
And let me tell you, when hooked on light gear, the extraterrestrial beast put up quite a scrap! Ron Milam, of Rocklin, CA was the man on the stick for the battle, which raged on for a good 36 straight hours. Well, okay, maybe it was more like 20 minutes, but it took a good week for Ron’s fingers to uncramp and straighten out after the encounter.
The world’s largest rainbow?
June 13, 2007
Move over Bell Island, Alaska, there’s a new home (if all the paper work goes through) of the all-tackle world record rainbow trout: Lake Diefenbaker.
Lake Diefen…what? I know, it’s not exactly a household name — until now — but the lake in Saskatchewan has a reputation for pumping out incredible rainbows like this pending world record caught by Adam Konrad, 26, of Saskatoon.
According to the fine folks at trophytroutguide.com, the mammoth beast weighed 43.6 pounds and was 38.75 inches long with an incredible girth of 34 inches.
Brownzilla and Friends
June 10, 2007
Here’s Brownzilla (he’s the dark 12 pounder on the right) and several of his buddies living in the “trout country club” under Fanny Bridge in the Truckee River at Tahoe City, CA.
Of course, the area is closed to all fishing and the trout live the life of luxury as hordes of tourists throw food to them each day. Most of the trout (the majority are browns but there are some rainbows, too) are in the 5- to 10+ pound range, which is amazing considering all the empty calories they eat — Wonder Bread, Cheetos, french fries, and potato chips are the staples of their diets.
I often wonder how big these dudes would be if people chucked high-protein stuff like salmon roe, minnows and worms at them all summer long…might be big enough to make me think more seriously about doing a little poaching!
Alaskan “Closet Door”
June 9, 2007
Andy Martin, former Fishing & Hunting News editor and current fishing guide with Wild River Guide Service in Alaska, sent in this photo of one of his first charters of the young season.
While not a barn door-sized halibut, this 75-pound “closet door” ‘butt is about as big as you’d ever want to keep — the huge ones are a royal pain to fight & land; they don’t taste all that great and are mostly mature females that are best left alone to spawn.
This nice fish, and several “chickens” in the 20- to 30-pound class fell for a Berkley GULP! squid tipped with salmon belly. The action was off Montague Island, which is a long, 65-mile run out of Seward.
The first part of the run is nice (inside Resurrection Bay) but the rest of the way can be subject to nasty weather and big ground swells because (trust me, I’ve nearly puked there a few times!) it opens right up to the Gulf of Alaska.
It’s often worth the run, however, as the halibut, ling and coho fishing can be out of this world!
Why Canada is cooler than California
June 6, 2007
Prior to his spring trip to Canada’s northwestern coast, Ron “Millman” Milam of Rocklin, CA, had never landed a steelhead over 8 pounds. Now, thanks to this beast (and many others) that he caught on eggs under a float, he’s completely ruined for life…
Now, that’s a #@$%&*# steelhead!
May 22, 2007
I always go to B.C. in the spring to chase steelhead with my pal Gill McKean of West Coast Fishing Adventures but I couldn’t make it this season. Oh well, doesn’t look like I missed much…I mean, if you think a 20+ pound steelhead on the fly is any sort of a big deal.
Bill Seaman, a longtime client of McKean’s, was the lucky guy who caught my fish. Nice work, eh!
First king of the year!
May 7, 2007
The first king of the season is always worthy of mention…and here’s the official King #1 for 2007 on my boat. This chrome springer was taken today, May 7, by Justin Kelly, who was actually fishing for stripers when this dandy clamped onto his ripbait in the Feather River.
After a quick photo, this fish was released to go do her thing…
Hawg Umpqua springer!
April 23, 2007
I don’t have a lot of info on this fish…other than it came from the Umpqua….and, at 50 pounds, it’s one big MF’ing springer!
5-gallon bucket with fins
April 20, 2007
“Steve” nailed this 12+ pound largemouth last week in a “popular Northern California bass lake not named Clear Lake…”
Okay, so the details are a bit sketchy, but there’s no denying that this fish is an absolute hawg and worthy of Trophy Room status. Apparently Steve got one over 11 pounds recently as well.
Lately, the big bass action at our local lakes has been a bit up and down as the weather’s been all over the map. Just when the fish get up shallow, we get a cold snap and they back off again. Things should really start rolling if we could get an extended period of sunny conditions.
