Here’s a cool pic I snapped underwater of a Dolly Varden just after it inhaled some eggs and a Corky. I just got home from two months in Alaska, and it will take me some time to sort through all my photos and videos, but I’ve got some pretty cool stuff to share…including some fun video of silver salmon hitting Zara Spooks and poppers!
Stay tuned…
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!
As promised, I am going to get a little more into last week’s Alaskan adventure here…starting with the awesome diversity of species you can catch armed only with a spinning rod, rental car, a handful of lures and a healthy sense of adventure!
We obviously didn’t get our mitts on everything that swims around the island — not even close — but we did pretty well considering we had no access to a boat! Here’s a look at some of the critters we caught…
Bo Nelson of Oro Valley, AZ was working an egg pattern on British Columbia’s Flathead River with guide Kim Sedrovic, when this tank of a bull trout came calling. The fish took 10 minutes to land and, upon being weighed, pulled the needle down to 14 pounds, which just may qualify it for a 12-pound tippet class world record.
Nelson’s catch bested the current 12-pound tippet record — a 12-pound bull that came from Montana’s Kootenai River back in 2003 — and is now being reviewed by the International Game Fish Association for consideration as a world record.
JD,
When is the best time to go fishing in AK. I want to fly into Anchorage and make my way to Homer.
Thanks,
Brian
Brian,
Well, that’s a bit of a broad question….depends on what type of fishing you want to do. Driving down from Anchorage, there’s not a ton of stuff to do off the bank (unless you count combat fisheries like Bird and Ship creeks) until you get down to Cooper Landing down on the Kenai River. Of course, you have Soldotna just past that.
In that area you are in the epicenter of the Kenai’s giant king salmon fishing (May-July), though you’ll need to get on a guide boat to have much of a chance. Also, the reds come in thick in the Kenai and Russian rivers in July and then there are the jumbo rainbows, dollies, silvers, chums and humpies (mainly on even years).
Heading towards Homer, you will encounter the Kasilof River, where you can catch some kings below the Crooked Creek Hatchery off the bank or try Deep Creek, Ninilchik River and Anchor River, which have a mix of salmon and trout.
Homer, of course, is the self-proclaimed “Halibut Capitol of the World” and you can find countless charters down on the Spit that will take you out into Kachemak Bay for flatties. There’s also a fish pond on the spit that salmon return to, though it’s not really the nicest place to fish…