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Sometimes everything can be right…the cast, the drift, the bait…and still the fish don’t get hooked. Here’s an interesting scene I shot on a tributary to the Togiak River in Alaska, where a nice Dolly Varden does a fly-by on roe cluster but doesn’t commit to the bait.
The Dolly Varden makes his move…
But something just isn’t right…the close proximity of the camera perhaps?
Even that milky goodness seeping out of the bait wasn’t enough for this guy! Why do you think he didn’t go all in?
Okay, more from my Alaska files…Here’s a cluster of roe drifted down a run on the Togiak River loaded with Dolly Varden (some rainbows and jacks were in there too). I always cut the points off the hooks while filming (if a fish got hooked, it caused too much camera shake). This sequence is cool as one dolly rejects the bait and another comes out of the pack to eat it!
A dolly varden lines up on the scent trail of the bait…
At the last minute, he rejects the bait…perhaps the camera scares him off.
Check this guy out, though…coming out of the pack to attack
No turning back now!
Going in for the kill!
Tastes good!
Full commitment!
More cool underwater stuff from my travels in Alaska in July: Here’s a king salmon attacking a Yarnie or Glo Bug (no eggs or scent). Though I clipped off the hook point while filming, it’s interesting to see how he would never have been hooked anyway — because the fish bites away from the hook!
Yarn and eggs…yum!
Yep, I gotta eat that! (Although notice how he bites the yarn ball but completely misses the hook!)
No change for a hook-up here…the hook is still outside his mouth. In a nano-second he spit it out (off camera) but look at that other little Chinook in the background moving in for a bite!
Prepare for cardiac arrest! This pike comes out of nowhere to attack a topwater frog in Southwest Alaska and scared the heck outta me! I’m just happy I didn’t drop the camera! :)
I just returned from a month guiding in Alaska, where the fishing was amazing! I shot a ton of stuff with my cameras, so over the next couple weeks, stay tuned for lots of cool pix and underwater video…here’s a quick sample: Check out this king munching a gob of sulfite roe…I think he wants it!
