Preliminary Whale Pass Fishing Report

Preliminary Whale Pass Fishing Report

Have you ever had a hummingbird stare you in the eye?

It’s been a tough week emotionally.

That having been said, Alex and I arrived here at the Lodge at Whale Pass before the guests. The lodge is in the middle of a renovation. There was not a lot of fishing going on.

whale pass fishing report

Not fishing, Alex works on the lodge.

Down on the dock I caught some sculpins, flounders, and another kind of panfish with which I was unfamiliar, all on a 1/2 ounce white bucktail jig.

Tuesday evening after supper Alex and I took a pair of kayaks across the small bay on which the lodge sits to a creek on the far side. We pulled the kayaks up the bank and went scouting up the creek. As we ascended we saw some fish, although we spooked them.

yakkin

We came to signs that said, “No fishing past this point.” Alaska Fish and Wildlife had placed them. We headed back downstream.

Alex was hot to catch a trout. The stream was small, so I found a pleasant place to sit, and watched him fish for a while.

 

whale pass fishing report

The stream was small with a low tide.

He didn’t get any bites so I decided to head back to the kayaks and wait down there. Maybe I could catch a sculpin on fly. I’d never done that before.

Of course as soon as I got away from him Alex hooked a big fish. I headed back, hoping to get some pictures, only to hear a string of obscenities. He’s quitting cigarettes and was a little edgy. He had lost the fish. No photos.

I followed my original plan. I caught a sculpin on a big olive wooly bugger I somehow got out there with my little four-weight. While I was examining the fish (they will get your attention) a salmon jumped out of the water nearby, although too far to reach with that fly. I waited and watched and soon they were rolling right in front of me.

 

whale pass fishing report

It certainly is an interesting looking fish.

One took the bugger. It was the hottest salmon I have ever hooked, jumping at least a dozen times and going deep into the backing. I had to chase it down the shoreline.

It was near the beach, nearly finished, when the hook pulled out.

A little disappointed, I went back to where I had been standing and started casting. Three casts in, the line again came tight.

Although strong, this fish was nothing like the previous one. In a few minutes I tailed it, a handsome buck silver salmon. I carried it up towards the trees, well away from the water. There I thanked the fish, then, wanting to eat it, I tore its gills and bled it out.

To carry it back to camp I bungeed it to the deck of the kayak, something I had never done before. It worked.

 

whale pass fishing report

The salmon, bungeed to my kayak.

Wednesday night I baked the fish and it formed the basis for our dinner. It was delicious.

Thursday morning I was stretching on the porch of the lodge. Alex’s fishing rod, sitting right in front of me, had a pink fly tied onto the leader. A hummingbird flew up and examined the fly. I could not believe how close it was to me. Then it came about eight inches from my nose and checked me out for a full fifteen seconds, most extraordinary. Then it blazed off the way hummingbirds do.

A couple of our fishing boats were launched Thursday, something I had nothing to do with. They just showed up at the dock. They are fine, seaworthy vessels and I cannot wait to get out in one. There is still more prep work to do on property, though.

And that is this week’s Whale Pass Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Fishing Report, Goodnews River

Fishing Report, Goodnews River

To all my readers, my apologies for not posting for a month. My old Macintosh stopped communicating with the server at Goodnews and I could not get online.

If you have sent me an email since early August chances are it’s been deleted. I had almost 800 to deal with and many fell through huge cracks in my attention span. If it was important, please send me another.

This is the report from 8/13, the last one I wrote:

Unfortunately no crazy stories came out of Goodnews River Lodge this week. We must have a house full of normal guests! It has rained every day, however.

The river is high and discolored, and still rising.

The silver salmon and dolly varden are coming in like crazy, though. The dollies are still in their favorite spots. The silvers search for clean, quiet water. Finding them can require searching, but they eat well when discovered.

Gary Vasquez and Linda Martuch laid a hurt on a couple dozen silver salmon, using poppers while fishing with me the other day.

Ray-Ray and Mike tuned up dozens of dollies way up the main stem of the Goodnews on a variety of flies. The bigest was 24 inches. I thought we had a real big dolly when Mike jumped a nice fish using a gurgler. It turned out to be a silver salmon though. Ray also got a nice rainbow trout on a dolly lama fly. Both of them got fairly hooked sockeye salmon, nice red ones, too.

Generally, I take men out fishing here. This week I had the good fortune to have two lovely young women as my anglers.

The girls, sisters, were novice fly fishers. We worked on casting some, then proceeded to fish. Their casting skills weren’t great (they would have a rough time on Mosquito Lagoon) but this is Alaska. They caught some silver salmon. While they did not want to export any, we had a bleeder. We kept it for camp.

Rachel wanted to learn how to filet the fish, so I gave her a lesson. For a first one she did a fine job.

Fishing report, goodnews river

Rachel fillets her first fish. Apparently she’s enjoying it.

As it turns out Michelle is a student at Tufts University, about five miles from the house where I grew up. We talked about Medford, about Boston.

Fishing report, goodnews river

Sister Michelle takes a break from Tufts U.

We went fishing for dollies after lunch. The fish, as usual, were cooperative. The girls caught a bunch by using gurglers.

For one of us at least it was a delightful day, a welcome change of pace from grumpy old men (sorry, guys). Thank you, Rachel and Michelle.

Since then, silver season was again incredible. I had the pleasure of fishing so many fine people, I was blessed in that way. As the season neared its end the feeling became decidedly autumnal- shorter days, the willow leaves turning gold and falling everywhere, the silver salmon turning red, the constant honking of migrating geese. Bears made their appearance, finally. Some of our guides went hunting. The ptarmigan and ducks were delicious. A native gave one of us a big chunk of moose meat. My last night I camp I had a moose steak, quite the toothsome piece of protein, I must say.

Here’s a short photo essay that hopefully puts some of the season in perspective-

Fishing report, goodnews river

Capt. Souza with a 23 inch rainbow trout.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Leili is happy with this dolly varden.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Don Kane caught this nice dolly with a bead.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Maio, again with a dolly.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Brittany adds another silver salmon to a load already caught.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Joe Levin tosses a salmon carcass.

 

Fishing report, goodnews river

Full circle, with Jessi and Ross.

One’s readers can show up anywhere. We were out fishing one day and some rafters floated by. One of them yelled to us, “Are you the guide Kumiski?” “Yes I am,” I called back. “I read your blog!” he said. Needless to say my head swelled like a beach ball. Susan should have been there to keep me humble. She does that well.

It was with both relief and melancholy that I left Goodnews this morning. God willing I will be back next year.

And that is the last Goodnews River Fishing Report of this season. Back to central Florida waters reports next week, assuming the Mitzi will start.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Get out and live!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Fishing Report

Another Goodnews River Fishing Report

Silver Salmon Coming on Strong; Technical Difficulties

First, the technical dificulties, of which there are two. The power inverter on the generator here at Goodnews River Lodge crapped out this week. We only have power for essentials, of which our router is not. So this report may be posted late, or not at all.

Also, my i-photo program has been acting strangely, not accepting new photos. So if the report does get posted it may be photo-less. We’ll see how it progresses today.

Silver salmon! I got my first of the season the other night on the six-weight and was stunned once again at what hot fish they are. More and more enter the river every day. Several boats have already had 20-plus fish days. Effective flies include any weighted flies containing the colors of pink, orange, purple, and/or chartreuse, usually on a size 2 or 1 hook. Effective hardware include the ever -effective Pixie spoon, 1/2 ounce, the Mepps Flying C spinner, or my own favorite, a 1/2 ounce DOA CAL jighead with a pink, chartreuse, or nite-glow soft plastic twisty tail.

goodnews river fishing report

This silver was the first salmon PG had ever caught.

 

goodnews river fishing report

Jess got her first silver salmon on the fly.

Dollies are coming up the river by the thousands, but not with the size reported last week. These fish are much smaller. Still, with a four-weight and a gurgler you can have an afternoon’s worth of very genteel fishing and catch 30 or 40 fish.

The chum salmon are almost spawned out already and dead fish are everywhere. Dave Kane got five rainbow trout in less than two hours on a flesh fly while fishing the Middle Fork with me this past week. On one hand it seems a bit strange to use a fly that imitates a free-drifting piece of dead salmon. On the other hand trout and big dollies eat the heck out of them. I guess I’ll keep tying them on.

goodnews river fishing report

Dave used a flesh fly to fool this nice rainbow trout.

No weird fishing stuff happened this week, although Clint and Garrett McCoy both got red sockeye salmon on flies yesterday, both fairly hooked. Good going, gentlemen!

goodnews river fishing report

Garrett fights a sockeye salmon.

 

goodnews river fishing report

Garrett, with the fish. Nice color!

 

And that is this week’s Goodnews River Fishing Report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

 

Goodnews River Fishing Report

Goodnews River Fishing Report

I’m back at Alaska’s Goodnews River Lodge. As always, it’s great to be here. The internet connection, however, is dreadfully slow. I was not able to load up my email protocol last week. You can see last week’s vacation report here…

The state of Alaska has closed the Goodnews to the taking of king salmon. As the photos below show, there are some fish in the river. One of these fish was taken on a Wiggle Wort, the other on a Pixie spoon. We’re at the tail end of July, so we’re also nearing the tail end of the king salmon run.

 

goodnews river fishing report

This king salmon whacked a plug.

 

goodnews river fishing report

This 41 pound king was fooled by a Pixie spoon.

 

Likewise, I missed most of the sockeye run. Dimitri at the weir told me that over 25,000 fish passed through their counters there. But only 200 went through the day before we spoke.

There are chum salmon, also known as tiger salmon, everywhere right now. These fish average 10 to 12 pounds and get significantly larger. They eat small pink flies (#4 or so) readily and you can get 30 or 40 in a day, incredible fishing.

Those thousands of chums will start dropping eggs soon. Then the trout and dolly fishing will go of the charts.

There are relatively few pink salmon in the river- it’s an off year. They will be back in force next season.

The dolly varden are coming in now too. Tom Olden got one yesterday while salmon fishing that was about two feet long, a beautiful fish. He also got a 24 inch rainbow trout on a salmon fly given to me by Steve Silverio, a fly every bit of four inches long.

We saw three bears yesterday, a sow with two cubs. I’ve already equalled the total bear sightings from last year. There seems to be many more bald eagles here this year as well.

No one here has caught a silver yet but before I write another fishing report someone will. They are my favorite fish here and I look forward to their arrival!

And that, folks, is this week’s Goodnews River Fishing Report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short. Get out and live!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

The Twelve Best Photos from Goodnews River Lodge 2012 Season

We hear a constant chorus of honking, migrating geese as we clean up camp and put it away for the winter. Put another season in the books at Goodnews River Lodge. We had epic rains the last several days and sent our last guests out on a flooded river. The silver salmon were still biting. Then it was pull the boats, close down camp, and get me out of here!

The Photos:

An evening view from Lookout Mountain.

 

Kevin Rogers prepares for a day’s fishing.

 

Faith blowing bubbles at camp.

 

Head guide Jeffrey Dann in a whimsical moment.

Jeffrey Dann’s best quote this season- “I’m allergic to alcohol. Every time I drink I break out in handcuffs.”

 

Pacific salmon die after spawning. Hopefully this grisly-looking chum salmon produced lots of offspring.

 

The sun rises over the tundra at the Goodnews River Lodge.

 

Jeff Arnold, guide at Goodnews River Lodge.

Jeff’s best quote this season-  “Why does everything up here have to be so goddamn hard?”

Aaron Kirschen hikes across the tundra.

 

Lois Harris, looking glamorous with a morning’s catch of silver salmon.

 

Son Alex near the peak of Tsuktulik. The Goodnews River lies below.

 

Chuck Trover caught this prime king salmon on a streamer fly.

A happy Chuck Hunt (his normal state!) with a fine rainbow trout from the Goodnews River.

 

A couple of other notable quotes:

“Where’s my fishing rod?” -Curly Bob, after he threw his $1500 fly outfit in the river to chase a dying salmon.

“It was rigged properly!” -Idaho Dave, after a 10 pound silver salmon took his fly line when the backing-to-fly-line connection broke.

The season was awesome, incredible place, unbelievable fishing, outstanding people. I’m looking forward to being home, but I will look forward to returning to Goodnews next season, too.

These were the Best Photos from Goodnews River and that is this year’s last Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Report from me. See you in Florida in two weeks!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

2012 Goodnews Season Wrapping Up

Next week- my 10 best photos from 2012 Goodnews!

The last week of the 2012 Goodnews season arrived. Our current crop of guests go home on Wednesday. Then it’s clean up, put up, and get out, always a bittersweet time. That having been said, I am quite ready to get home. I miss Susan, and my mom, and Richard, and son Maxx, and all my friends and relatives. See you all soon!

I had a fish counter today, Patrick, a Scotsman currently living in New Zealand. Patrick carefully tallied the number of silver salmon he caught. He used a fly rod for most, got about six on a gurgler, a dozen or so on streamers, and the balance of 23 on a spinning rod. We won’t discuss missed strikes, fish that jumped off, broke off, etc. I thought the morning was slow. The last spot of the day, a favorite of mine on the middle fork, was spectacular and the day saver.

silver salmon, goodnews river alaska

One of Patrick’s 23 silver salmon.

Bill Kirby, Ulf Erickson, and Sir Thomas Tait are some of the other current guests, some of my favorites. I was fortunate enough to fish with Ulf yesterday, along with first-time Goodnews guest Fred Novak. Eighty-five year old Fred is a feisty guy, a quick wit with a joke repertoire, a wonderful guy to have in the boat. Again, we fished silvers and had quite a lovely day.

In the last group was Steve the Geologist and Dr. John, both Texans. Doc had many Alaska trips under his belt. Steve was an Alaska rookie, and had never touched a fly rod before.

About five minutes after leaving camp Steve caught his first Alaska fish, a 12 pound silver salmon that ate a DOA CAL jig. Doc enjoyed himself by watching Steve get fish after fish, hooting and hollering while doing so. That’s what I call a good friend!

Later in the week I took them way up the river for dollies. Steve was now an accomplished fly caster, having gotten numerous silver salmon with some of the other guides. We gurgled and streamered dollies all day and got some nice fish, several pounds in some cases.

dolly varden

Steve the geologist with one of many dollies he caught upriver.

Another upriver trip is scheduled for tomorrow. I suspect it will similarly be a smashing success.

Fish Story of the Week-
On Wednesday the new guests came. Lance and David, from Idaho, fly fishers both, fished with me for silver salmon that afternoon.
David hooked a silver that took him into his backing. When the fly line was almost on the reel the backing somehow got wrapped around the reel handle. The fish chose that moment to surge. The fly line and backing parted ways, and the fish made off with the fly line. You just can’t make up this stuff.

Of course David started yelling. “Hurry! Go get it!” The anchor and 50 feet of line are out. The motor is trimmed up. There are seven salmon already on two stringers, hanging in the water. We are not going anywhere in a hurry, regardless of how fast I go.

By the time we’re under way the fly line is gone. David starts thinking out loud whether or not he has another fly line. “Don’t worry,” I say. “If we don’t find it someone else will.”

We search for the line for less than five minutes when I spot it, long and skinny and bright green, strung out parallel to the shoreline about 15 feet off the bank. We idle over. I pick it up. The fish is still on!

Somewhat rested, the fish is ready to resist. I fight him on an expensive, bright green handline, and David nets him when the fish is next to the boat. We get the entire fly line back, as well as catching the fish.

Less than five minutes later, the line is properly re-rigged, the salmon is on the stringer, and David is fishing again.

Son Alex does a water ballet while fighting a silver salmon.

And that is this year’s last Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report from me. See you in Florida in two weeks!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

Silvers Already on the Downswing?? Rubber Raft Hatch Going On

Autumn, still a month away on the calendar, is in full swing here. The Arctic terns and swallows are already gone. Geese fly over in formation, honking loudly, heading south. The chums and most of the kings are dead, the pinks and sockeyes are dying off, and even a few colored-up silvers are being caught.

We are still catching plenty of silver salmon here on the Goodnews River. Perhaps, just perhaps, I’ve been spoiled by past runs. This run is weaker than recent ones and we actually have to do some work to find and catch them. C’mon! This is the Goodnews!

That having been said, fishing is excellent by any yardstick you could use, except for past runs here. Fish counters (and I am not crazy about fish counters) have been hitting 15-20 salmon by lunch.

Afternoons have been a little slower because all the spots got beat up in the morning. Still, 20 or more salmon a day is not bad by any standard except for our own history of excellence. silver salmon catch, goodnews river alaskaDollies- dollies are definitely slowing down. Dolly trips need to go way up the river to find success. The fish are more scattered now that most of the early salmon have finished spawning. You can still find and catch them, it just takes more effort.

dolly varden, goodnews river alaska

David Harris with a dolly varden.

Rainbow trout- again, more effort is required to find them. Flesh flies have been very successful. John Wilhelm got a nice fish while out with me fishing for silvers. The wayward rainbow hit a fly not intended for it.

rainbow trout goodnews river alaska

John Wilhelm with a beautiful rainbow trout.

Bears- Never showed up. I’ve seen only three all season, all running for the nearest bushes. I don’t miss fighting them off with rocks while I’m trying to clean fish, but it would be nice to see them fishing again. Maybe next year they’ll be back.

As close as I’ve been to a bear this year- Goodnews River, Alaska.

Rafters- Rafters fly into Goodnews Lake to float the river. We see them every year, and try to maintain a good relationship with them.

There are an extraordinary number of them on the river this year. They must get in each other’s way. They certainly get in our way sometimes.

Today there were nine rafts between camp and Upper Landing, about eight miles upstream. Everyplace I wanted to fish this afternoon was occupied. I know we don’t own the river, but sometimes it does seem a bit excessive.

Mosquitoes- crappy, rainy, windy, cold weather equals no bugs. We have not had any bugs to speak of this week, thank goodness!

And that is this week’s Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

Silvers Coming On Strong

The run of lovely weather we enjoyed earlier this week got completely blown out by a low pressure system that blasted in last night. Winds gusting to over 35 knots and intermittent heavy rain greeted our anglers today.

The salmon loved it.

Gary Vasquez used a Dolly Lama fly to fool at least 20 silvers this morning, all in a single spot. This afternoon we had to hunt for a few here, a few there, but with the wind blowing like it was no one went very far and we were all fishing in already-fished-in holes. It was wonderful fishing, no matter how you slice it.

Reports are in that silver runs on other Alaskan rivers are weak enough to warrant heavy restrictions or even river closings. No such problems here. The silvers are coming on strong.

silver salmon, goodnews river alaska

Dean Moel and his daughter Linda Shimerda caught this silver salmon double on the Goodnews River.

The dollies have moved up the river, following the groceries. The chums have spawned out and are dying by the thousands, creating a stink along the river and a feast for flesh-feeding trout and dollies. Those trout and dollies also spend time behind spawning pink and king salmon. Finding them has been a bit more difficult this week than it was just 10 days ago.

Dolly varden, Goodnews River Alaska

Janie Axton with a Goodnews River Dolly varden.

Yesterday afternoon a chance cast with a Mepps Flying C spinner netted an eight pound dolly by an upriver bluff. Eighty-seven year old Dean Moel, a World War 2 veteran and survivor of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, ended up getting eight or ten beautiful, fat dollies. We also got a load of silver salmon. He is a true American hero and it was awesome to spend a day with him.

A few beautiful grayling were caught earlier this week as well. Don Dahlgren of Oklahoma City got one while mousing. Janie Axton, also from Oklahoma City, got an even bigger one on an egg-sucking leech. Both of them, and their spouses, also got loads of nice dollies and a few rainbows as well.

Arctic grayling, Goodnews River Alaska

Janie Axton again, this time with a big grayling.

pink salmon, goodnews river alaska

John Axton stayed busy with a bunch of dollies, a few rainbows, and this pink salmon.

Fish Story of the Week-
The above-mentioned Don Dahlgren and his lovely wife Alice spent a day with me on Monday. We ran about an hour upriver, intending to target trout and dollies. When we got to the first spot Don jumped right out and started wading the flat, casting a gurgler. Alice wasn’t rigged up, so we were still in the boat while I rigged her tackle.

A dolly quickly cooperated with Don. When he went to unhook I the dolly wriggled free, firmly planting the hook in the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger. He waded back to the boat, visibly concerned, hook obviously embedded in his hand.

Checking out the problem I assured him it would be easy to remove. Thirty seconds later the hook was out of his hand, and he was soon using the same fly to catch more dollies.

A few minutes later Alice and I were out wading too. I heard a splash and Alice was down in the water, trying desperately to get up. You can’t move fast enough I these situations, but I got there as fast as I could and Alice was soon upright. Fortunately she was well dressed and only her sleeves go wet.

In spite of the real shaky start we had a wonderful day, with lots of trout and dollies and a nice grayling caught.

Rainbow Trout, Goodnews River Alaska

Capt. Paul Souza (USN, Ret.) got this beautiful rainbow trout while fishing for silver salmon. Nice accident!

And that is this week’s Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

Silvers and Dollies and Pinks, Oh My!

The silver salmon run is picking up steam here on the Goodnews River. Boats whose captains pick the right spots are logging 25 and 30 fish days. The less fortunate souls have to hunt for two here, three there, none at this other place. One good thing about silvers is that if they are there they bite immediately. You don’t need to waste time fishing where they ain’t.

silver salmon goodnews river

Orlando’s Don Boardman with a fine silver salmon.

Fly casters generally use floating lines and weighted streamers in cerise, orange, chartreuse, blue, black, or some combination of those colors. When the run gets near the peak, gurglers and poppers will work, exciting fishing, but we’re not quite there yet.

Spin fishers usually use either Pixie spoons or Mepps Flying C spinners, although of course other lures will work. My favorite go-to lure, when I absolutely want to catch some fish, is a 3/8th ounce leadhead jig equipped with a soft plastic curly tail. I prefer those jigheads made by DOA because of the stout hook and the eye-catching eyes, but other heads work too. I also like the DOA CAL tails. They hold up fairly well to the toothy attacks of the silvers, and the elicit those attacks with startling regularity.

silver salmon on jig

Jigs are deadly on silver salmon.

Buzz Livingston borrowed one jighead and a couple of tails from me and boated 18 silvers in two hours while out with Kevin Rogers. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!

A staggering number of pink salmon are in the river. We don’t usually target pinks, but catch loads while fishing for both silvers and dollies. They annoy a few anglers when they’re fishing for silvers but I appreciate the bent rods. They are usually a hoot when caught while fishing for dollies because they give an excellent account of themselves on a six-weight or smaller. They are handsome little fish. I really like them.

Likewise dollies are everywhere. Some are getting their spawning colors, which are breathtaking. When you get a four or five pound fish with the spectacular colors of a spawning dolly you understand why you come to Alaska to fish. While streamers and beads are more effective, I still prefer to fish them with a gurgler. The visual aspect of the follows, misses, and occasional hooked fish are all part of fun of using the floating flies. Besides, how many dollies do you need to catch?

Dolly varden in spawning colors.

Mike got this beautiful Dolly in Barnum Creek.

Dead and dying chum and pink salmon are seen everywhere. Flesh flies will be effective on trout and dollies. We’re getting to the time of year when the river will start to stink badly at every bend.

Dead salmon are everywhere.

Long Fish Story of the Week-
Bob and Gennie Johnson, part of a four-couples group, were out fishing with me. Bob had some money riding on the big fish of the day.
I was working with Gennie, who was happily catching dollies. Bob had walked about 200 yards downstream, where he was casting a streamer fly for silver salmon.

Bob bellowed up to us, “Big Fish!” Fine, I thought, just beach it on the gravel bar. He clearly had some other idea though, because he kept yelling at us. So Gennie and I interrupted her fishing, trudged back upstream to the boat ,and got in. I pulled the anchor and proceeded to row downstream.

The water got shallow and the boat grounded, necessitating disembarking and pushing until it began floating again.

In the meantime not only had Bob beached the fish, he had unhooked it and gone back to fishing. He neglected to kill the fish, which did not wish to suffocate on the gravel bar. It flopped its way back into the water.

When Bob noticed his fish was escaping he took immediate action, throwing his fly outfit (Abel reel, Loomis rod) into the river so he could run down the fish. He was successful in this.

About this time we finally arrived on the scene. Bob was almost panicked because he could not find his rod and reel. Hell, the current is strong and the outfit could have been half a mile downstream already. Fortunately he was using a floating line, which he finally spotted. Rod and reel recovered, we got a photo of the fish.

All’s well that ends well!

silver salmon goodnews river

Bob got the fish, and even found his fishing rod.

And that is this week’s Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

King Salmon Season Ends, Dolly Varden the Fish of the Week

July 25 was the last day of king salmon season. No more cha-wee-cha! We still see them and of course flies and lures meant for other species get attacked by kings.

Several of our anglers made the most of the last days of king season. Jeff and Mike from Missouri wanted to go fly fishing for kings, at which we spent the morning. Jeff didn’t get one, but Mike got two big ones, beautiful fish which were both released.

King Salmon Mike

One of two king salmon Mike got tossing flies.

Then they wanted some dollies. We traded the 10-weights for five-weights and went dolly fishing. I showed them how to skate the gurglers and they proceeded to catch fat dollies until Jeff said, “Can we got catch some rainbows?” We changed flies and locations and they got four nice ‘bows on black streamers before suppertime. Quite the day they had.

Rainbow Trout Mike

Mike got the big trout this day too, a lovely fish of about five pounds.

The Barnes family from Toledo is currently visiting us. I fished Annette and Hannah, mother and daughter. Hannah wanted to try to get a slam, difficult because so few silvers are around. She got a nice king first, then we tried sifting through pinks and chums for hours, looking for that silver. We didn’t find it, and my fishermen have yet to get one.

king salmon Hannah

Hannah got this king salmon first.

pink salmon Hannah

She took this pink salmon on a Pixie spoon.

Chum Salmon Hannah

She took this chum salmon on fly. But the silver salmon eluded her.

The Gretkierewicz family, mostly from the Detroit area, is also visiting. Yesterday patriarch Dr. Paul and son Russell fished with me. We were looking for grayling and rainbows, but what we found were zillions ( not really but it seemed like it) of big dollies. At first they were tossing a Pixie and a Dardevle and raising complete havoc with the dollies.

Dolly varden Russell

The Fish of the Week, the Dolly varden. Russell G. got this beauty on a Dardevle, and then got several more on gurglers.

Neither of them had ever fly fished before. I talked them into trying and set Russell up with a six-weight and a gurgler. He was soon tossing solid 40 foot casts and catching even more than he had been with the spoon. Dad was a little more difficult, but he also managed to get his first fish on fly.

OK, run status update-
kings- slowing down a lot. Season is closed now.
sockeyes- slowing down a lot. we’re still getting a few bright fish but you have to work.
chums- seem to have peaked. Lots still around.
pinks- everywhere, lots of pinks, fun on light tackle.
silvers- just getting started, about a half dozen caught so far this week.
blueberries- coming in very nicely. Ate a bunch today while hiking across the tundra.

And the Fish of the Week is the Dolly varden! There are tens of thousands of dollies in the river with a lot of fish over five pounds. Catching a dolly pushing ten pounds is not unusual- Russell did it on both spin and fly tackle yesterday. I put one of his dollies next to a silver salmon and they were exactly the same size. Fast fishing for beautiful, delicious fish, what more could you ask for?

There is no fish story of the week this week. I didn’t have anyone do anything very weird- no fires, no smacking someone with a fish. I’ll have to be more diligent next week…

That is this week’s Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

|All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.
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