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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

July 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Another Mountain, Hot Fishing

Monday Aaron the cook and I went hiking, this time across the tundra to climb a mountain to which I’d never been and of which I don’t the name. The hike across the tundra was a journey of exploration.

Tundra looks flat. Ha! It actually is full of holes, quite spongy, and in many places very wet, with ankle deep water in places. The flowers are incredible but when you have a long way to go you can’t stop and smell the roses, so I didn’t photograph any that day.

Thar’s snow in them hills…

We got to the mountain at 1 PM, and commenced climbing. I stopped at the first outcrop. I knew I needed to save something for the return trip. Aaron left his pack and almost ran the rest of the way up and back, taking almost another hour. He reports the views were spectacular.

This one is for Aaron’s mom.

After a long walk back we reached my boat a little after 5 PM. Eight to five, humping it the whole time. I was beat.

John the Tundra Angel.

King salmon fishing is still excellent, with lots of big fish. Several of my fishermen have gotten king salmon well in excess of 25 pounds this week, including fly fisherman Steve Antanasio and Dr. Ron Bowerman, photos below.

King Salmon by Steve Antonasio.

King Salmon by Dr. Ron.

The chums and pinks are in in ridiculous numbers. Lots of methods will work for these fish, but small pink flies are easy to tie, easy to cast, and work as well as anything else. If they are very thick in the spot you’re fishing you can popper fish them.

This chum salmon was Katie’s first fish on fly.

John Pluhar joined me today, wanting to learn to fly fish. We started at the beginning with a little theory, then went to casting mechanics, then went fishing. He got several Dolly varden to five pounds, as well as numerous chum and pink salmon. Let’s not discuss the missed strikes!

John Pluhar learned to fly cast here, catching this pink salmon, and several chums and dolly varden.

The chums and sockeyes are about to start dropping eggs so dollies should go off the charts, as should the trout fishing. I love this time of the summer here.

Fishing Story of the Week- after dinner one evening Will the Brit and Aaron the cook joined me for some chum fishing. The cook got a pink and the Brit got a chum. I wanted a photo of them with their double. The fish weren’t cooperating. In the middle of trying to hold his wiggling salmon, Will smacked Aaron right in the kisser with it, almost laying him out. A hilarious photo sequence, sadly cut short for the blog.

 

Will smacks Aaron…

… and Aaron nearly goes down for the count.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

July 14, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Tsuktulig, Faith’s Birthday, Cha-wee-cha, and More

Word of the Week- Cha-WEE-cha! That’s a phonetic spelling for king salmon in Russian. I would write the word in Russian if I could remember how the Russians spell it in their very different from ours alphabet. More on the Russians below.

From the Inbox, an email from Nick Collantonio, a repeat Lodge guest for many years: “I enjoyed both weekly reports from the Goodnews. In each report was my pick for the Comatose Angler Award for that week: wading-shoes-on-the-wrong-foot-guy and dropped-spool-in-the-water-guy. Having established myself as a comatose angler in Florida, Alaska and Ireland, I take an interest in those who follow in my footsteps, and I take satisfaction in knowing that on the day that the award was first presented at GNRL I had landed three species of Pacific salmon in comatose mode — silver, pink and king — 60% of a slam.

“Seeya in two and a half weeks.” -Nick

Wednesday was Faith’s seventh birthday. The party was a gala affair. She got a Hello Kitty book, a set of fly tying tools, and a pair of waders, and several other gifts. I considered making and giving her drumsticks, a gift that keeps on giving. I also considered Mike and Kim’s sanity and held off, at least for another year.

Faith and Hello Kitty

JA- always ready for a party…

Is that Elton John?

Taylor, the fun guy.

Monday son Alex, Taylor Melville, and I took a day off to go mountaining. I was optimistic when we left but by the time we got to Tsuktulig it had clouded and the top wasn’t visible. We decided to go anyway.

We found a mostly clear path across the tundra, a fairly clear path through the trees, and then it was on to the summit. I am slower than I used to be. That may be a good thing, come to think of it, at least in some areas of endeavor.

We had lunch near the summit. I was uncomfortable. You could only see about 100 feet and it was steep down in every direction but one. I had no intention of going up on that knife edge just then.

Already at the top, we weren’t pressing our luck by going there.

As we headed down we got below a break in the clouds and had some incredible views.

Alex, on Tsuktulig.

The boys going wild on the mountain.

Alex and Taylor- the intrepid mountain crew.

We even had enough gas left after getting down to stop and do a little fishing on the way back to camp. We got one bite between us. I lost the fish.

At the beginning of the week I spent a couple days doing king salmon/sockeye salmon splits. Bob Wohlborn and Cary Campbell combined for a king salmon double with two fish that together easily hit 50 pounds. We then got 15 sockeyes.

King Salmon Double

Bob and Cary did some damage.

Wednesday the Russians arrived, nine of them from St. Petersburg. My first assignment was with Mikhail and Dennis, father and son. They spin fished, but they were among the best anglers I’ve run into anywhere ever, just awesome. They tuned up eight kings on Wednesday afternoon, and four more on Thursday. Sadly it has been cold and rainy since they got here (high of 46 Fahrenheit today) and I have not been carrying the camera in the boat.

Last night I took Aaron the chef and Will, chief bottle washer, fly fishing for chums. The fish were right where they were supposed to be, and both guys had a great time. There are again stupid numbers of chum salmon in the river.

Fish Story of the Week: Today Nikita and Pavel graced my boat. As already stated it was cold, rainy, and windy. Pavel’s gloves were crap and Nikita didn’t have any. He asked me as best he could (which was good enough, since I eventually figured out what he wanted) if I had an extra pair of gloves. I did, a nice fleece pair with the fold-down mitten top, a wonderful thing during the Alaskan summer. I gave them to him.

Of course they got wet. While we were in for lunch he put them on the propane heater I his cabin. My son Alex was walking by a short time later and heard the smoke alarm. My gloves were on fire.

Nikita showed them to me after lunch. He was very apologetic, as you could imagine. We made up and were fine!

My mittens- up in smoke.

Nikita and Pavel took three big kings, all on plugs. One salmon weighed eight kilos as measured on their scale. Nikita likes a lot of drag on his reel. He locked down on my Ambassadeur and pulled the hook off of two plugs. It was an entertaining day in spite of some very crappy weather.

Spo-cee-bo for reading…

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

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- If you can’t come fishing here, at least 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, Alaska Fishing Report

July 8, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
king salmon, goodnews river

Larry Hillis took two salmon like this one day this week.

Goodnews River, Alaska Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 7/7/12

Phalanxes of fish swim up the river, wakes visible even through the fog. Eddies are packed with salmon. They roll like miniature tarpon, jump like crazed mullet. The air temperature swings wildly, sometimes changing 40 degrees in 12 hours. It’s summer on the Goodnews River.

The king salmon are running in the Goodnews River, which apparently is having the best run of any river in Alaska. The numbers of fish have not been huge, but the size of the fish has- there are very few jacks. More fish are in the 35- to 40 inch range than below that size. The fish of the week in my boat was caught by Larry Hillis, who got two 36 inch kings on the same day, using an articulated purple fly on a 300 grain line. Larry’s best fish of the week was taken with another guide, a 42 inch beauty.

The chums and sockeyes are pouring in by the thousands. Chums take almost any small, brightly colored fly quite readily. Since they run between eight and twelve pounds, a fly caster with a seven- or eight weight can have a field day, easily catching 20 or more.

Pink salmon are in the mix. This is supposed to be a “pink year” but the main part of the run has definitely not hit yet.

Sockeyes don’t strike lures or flies very well. Most of those caught are not hooked in the mouth. Most salmon connoisseurs prefer sockeyes for the table, though, so we go sockeye fishing fairly regularly.

sockeye salmon, goodnews river

The Aronson brothers and their uncle Paul all limited out on sockeye salmon, a fine mess of fish.

Trout and grayling fishing dropped off this week for reasons that remain unclear. We have had some nasty weather. Perhaps that has affected those species. I’m sure it will get better. Trout fishing here is consistently excellent.

rainbow trout, goodnews river

Son Alex caught this nice rainbow this week. A flesh fly did the trick.

Dolly varden catches have been sporadic. They have not started entering the river in any numbers yet.

Fish Story of the Week- Jeff Arnold reported that one of his fishermen was complaining all morning about how much his feet hurt. His fishing buddy finally told him, “It’s no wonder they hurt- your wading boots are on the wrong feet!” When Jeff looked the guy’s boots were all splayed out like a duck’s.

In general fishing has been pretty darn good, as evidenced by this photo of the Trover family-

a day's catch, goodnews river

The Trover family took some salmon home- one day’s catch on the Goodnews River.

We had a nice evening and some of the staff hiked up Lookout Mountain-

goodnews river lodge

Goodnews River Lodge, as seen from Lookout Mountain

That is this week’s Goodnews River, 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 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Goodnews River, Alaska Fishing Report

July 1, 2012 by · 1 Comment

The kings are running in the Goodnews River, but to this point the run has been inconsistent. Some days have been good, followed by tough days in which a few boats went king-less. Some boats have been running plugs, others have been tossing flies on fast sinking lines. The fish of the week in my boat was caught by Chuck Trover, who got a 36 inch king, using a cerise bunny leech on a 500 grain line.

Monster King Salmon, Goodnews River Alaska

Chuck Trover was real happy with this fish.

The salmon slack has been taken up by chums and sockeyes, with an occasional pink for good measure. Today we caught two sockeyes fairly, one on an articulated bunny streamer and one on a synthetic silver salmon Clouser Minnow. Chums aren’t usually very fussy and pink flies will produce a lot. Gary Vasques and Gordon LaFortune got four salmon species on fly today, all of the Pacific salmon except for silvers.

Chum Salmon, Goodnews River Alaska

Chum Salmon, courtesy of Gary Vasques.

Trout and grayling fishing has been consistently good, with catches in the double digits for fly casters who know the drill. Grayling have been taking dry flies, rainbows black streamer flies.

Fish Story of the Week- one of Drew Rosema’s fishermen, while fighting a king salmon, had their spool fall off the fly reel into the water. Drew grabbed the line and started pulling. After he pulled all the backing off the spool (piling it in the bottom of the boat) the runaway spool was recovered. Drew started coiling the backing back on the reel by hand. A huge wad of it came up, too complicated to untangle while the guy was still fighting the fish.

Double hookup, Goodnews River. Drew is winding line like crazy.

Then his second angler hooked up on the spinning rod. Drew was too tied up with angler number one to help him. He lost the fish when it got around the anchor line and broke off. In the meantime Drew had cut the tangle out of the line, tied the ends back together, and wound the rest of the backing back onto the spool.

When he put the spool on the reel they quickly realized Drew had wound it on the wrong way. It all had to come off and be wound on properly.

Happy ending- the angler caught the fish, a king salmon of 10 pounds or so.

Drew is happy, his angler caught the king salmon.

That is this week’s Goodnews River, Alaska Fishing Report. All my reports until mid-September will be from the Goodnews River.

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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Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and Goodnews River Fishing Report

June 26, 2012 by · 1 Comment

Monday- Rodney Smith joined me for some scouting in the Mosquito Lagoon. A “hot tip” had been had about fish in the Glory Hole. The tip proved unfounded, although Rodney did get a nice trout there on a Chug Bug.

We found a school of fish at another spot, big reds, about 100 of them. Rodney tossed a faux crab at them. I would like to report that the fish eagerly gobbled the fly but that, sadly, would be untrue. They fled like scalded dogs. We got exactly none.

I got a few trout on a DOA Shrimp at another spot and exactly nothing at the final spot we checked. The Mitzi was cradled at noon.

Tuesday- Dr. Patrick Campbell, intrepid fly caster from the great state of Ohio, joined me for some fly fishing. It was windy, 15+ out of the east, and quite cloudy most of the day.

Of course we started where the big reds had been the previous day. And of course they weren’t there. “Ya shoulda been here Yesterday!”

We fished the shoreline near Vann’s Island. Patrick got a small slot red on a slider.

I soon put the boat on the trailer, relaunching at Parrish Park. We fished for a couple of miles along the east side of the Indian River Lagoon. It was hard to see, although slot redfish were present in fair numbers. Many fish were flushed by the boat, a few were harassed with casts, and one succumbed to a Son of Clouser that Patrick dropped right on his face with a cast that was all of 12 feet or so.

It was a tough day that Patrick took with good grace. Nice guy, that Patrick. Hope he comes back.

Wednesday- the first day of summer, AND the dreaded flight to Alaska via US Air, through Phoenix. Left Orlando at 530 PM. Got to Anchorage at 1230 AM Thursday, and had four hours time change. Crashed in the airport, had a rotten night.

Thursday- 640 AM Alaska Air flight to Bethel, then a layover and a Yute flight on a Cessna to Goodnews. Getting to the Goodnews River Lodge is not the most fun part of my summer. Was in the lodge at about 1 PM

The Lodge presented many of the usual suspects and a cast of new characters. In many ways it was good to be back, it was certainly good to re-unite with son Alex. But I already miss Susan.

Spent the afternoon unpacking and cleaning, settling in. And of course anticipating wetting a line in that most fabulous of rivers, the Goodnews.

Friday- Alaska has outlawed the use of felt-soled waders in its waters. Goodnews River Lodge has about 30 pairs of said waders. G and I spent Friday morning pulling felt soles off of boots, a sad and ridiculous task.

Alex, Taylor the cook, and I got out on the water for a couple hours of plug pulling in the afternoon. Not many king salmon are coming into the river yet. We did not get a bite.

Saturday- The Hunt Brothers, Chuck and Tom, joined me for an excursion up the Goodnews to Barnum Creek. They had been there a week earlier and done well on grayling and rainbow trout. I was looking forward to seeing both.

Rainbow Trout, Goodnews River, Alaska
Tout fisher extraordinaire Chuck Hunt with a beautiful rainbow trout.

Alas, it was not to be, as they did not catch a grayling. The trout bite, however, was pretty darn good and both of them got fish in the 24 inch range, solid, fat, beautiful leopard rainbows, using black streamers. It was a wonderful morning. We were back at camp by 2 PM to help with the many chores still needing completion before camp opens for guests on Wednesday.

Rainbow Trout, Goodnews River, Alaska
Tom Hunt got this fine ‘bow.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and Goodnews River Fishing Report. All reports until mid-September will be from the Goodnews River.

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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Still More Bears and Silvers on Alaska’s Goodnews River- Goodnews River Fishing Report

September 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 9/4/11

Upcoming Events- I will be available for charter in my usual stomping grounds in central Florida around the 15th of September. Word is the water is very high and very dirty, hardly ideal conditions. But the mullet will be running, so fishing along the beach could be outstanding if Katia doesn’t mess things up too much. Stay tuned…

Also, I hope to be running Show and Tell seminars on October 29 and 30. The 30th will be an on the water seminar. I will post more details when I get better internet access; i.e., after I get home.

Now, back to the Goodnews!

This is my last week here. We have only two guests this week and several staff members have already gone home. We’ve been getting camp ready for winter, pulling boats and attending to other necessary chores. In spite of that we have still had some time to fish.

A few days ago Jeff Arnold took Alex and I up the south fork for some trout fishing. The stream is just gorgeous. It was overcast and cold with intermittent showers, not an ideal trout day. The water temperature was only 44 degrees. In spite of that Alex got a couple of nice fish on streamers. I got one redded up silver salmon on a flesh fly, on my four-weight, pretty cool.

Even the more modest rainbow trout here are visually stunning.

Bears are searching hard for food. When we fillet fish gulls show up. They make a lot of noise, screaming excitedly, waiting for us to feed them. The bears hear them and come running. We are not cleaning fish by ourselves, and we keep a Remington handy in case Mr. or Mrs. Bear tries to get too intimate.

This bear was fishing for salmon carcasses. I had just finished filleting at this spot.

I nevr see bears catch a beaver but it's entertaining watching them try.

Yesterday Chris and Debbie, two school teachers from Goodnews, joined me for a day of salmon fishing on the middle fork. We caught a lot of fish, on both fly and spin tackle, many of which still had sea lice. Silvers are still coming in in good numbers.

Chris got this slob Goodnews River silver salmon while spey casting.

Chris used a spey rod with a sink-tip and unweighted flies, I used a seven-weight with a floating line and weighted flies, and Deb used a spin outfit with a Pixie spoon. We all caught fish. Late in the day Chris tried the Pixie for a while and got what may have been the smallest fish of the season. We vacuum packed it so he can eat it later this winter (just kidding).

This fish? A trifle more modest.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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More Bears and Silvers on the Goodnews River- Goodnews River Fishing Report

August 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 8/29/11

Upcoming Events- I will be available for charter in my usual stomping grounds in central Florida around the 15th of September. Word is the water is very high and very dirty, hardly ideal conditions. But the mullet will be running, so fishing along the beach could be outstanding if Irene didn’t mess things up too much. Stay tuned…

Also, I’ll be running Show and Tell seminars on October 29 and 30. The 30th will be an on the water seminar. I will post more details when I get better internet access; i.e., after I get home.

Now, back to the Goodnews!

Bears are searching for that last hurrah of summer, trying to fatten up before the salmon disappear. We are seeing them almost every day. They get very close to camp and a few have felt the sting of non-lethal rubber slugs from JA’s shotgun.

This bear is searching for fish. She's got mouths to feed.

Fall is definitely here. We’ve had frost, seen stars, and are watching sunrises and sunsets, things you just don’t see here in June.

The rivers are full of silver salmon. Some of them aren’t so silver any more. They color up like the other salmon species, turning a beautiful shade of red. Silver, pink, or red, they are hitting the same stuff as always. The epic run of 2006 saw 42,000 fish pass through the weir on the middle fork, and this year’s run are the progeny of those fish. So we’re in the middle of another epic season of silver salmon fishing. Fishing has been outstanding.

Rob got this silver salmon on a fly.

Most of the chums and pinks are lying dead along the banks, as are many of the sockeyes and kings. Shawn, one of my fishermen today, caught a nice sockeye while fishing for silvers.

Shawn got this sockeye while fishing for silvers.

Finding dollies and trout is more difficult than it was last week, although we got some nice specimens of both species today, on both egg-sucking leeches and flesh flies. Ross’s anglers used beads and bobbers, and while I don’t like to fish that way his fishermen got more fish than mine. To each his own I suppose.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.


 

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Dollies and Silvers and Bears, Oh My- on Goodnews River- Goodnews River Fishing Report

August 22, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 8/21/11

This week and next mark the peak of the Goodnews River silver salmon run. Some fly fishers are tallying 50 fish days and we’re finding fish everywhere. Fish run up to 30 inches or so and strike streamers, poppers, gurglers, spoons, spinners, and jigs, with chartreuse, cerise, hot pink, orange, and various combinations of those colors being most effective. While most fish caught in the lower river have sea lice, a few are starting to pink up already.

This silver salmon just missed the popper.

A couple days ago Steve and Julie Butler, fly casters from California, joined me for a day of silver salmon fishing on the middle fork. They brought a Pyromid charcoal grill with them, a super neat little device. We got a small salmon, which I filleted. In spite of a steady rain they got the charcoal burning and we enjoyed a very civilized lunch of freshly caught, steaming hot grilled salmon while sitting in camp chairs in the rain. A thermos of hot tea was a nice addition. They caught so many fish…

Reaching for a silver salmon.

On Saturday Phil and Linda Shmerda, from Texas, joined me for some Dolly fishing. We went up the north fork a way and started off by tossing little crappie jigs. They ought to be illegal. Phil even got several silver salmon on them, quite the battle on his 6 pound spin outfit.

This fine dolly took an orange tube fly.

Phil had interest in trying for Dollies with fly tackle. I had a couple six weights aboard and set him up with a gurgler. To use a Lefty-ism, it was like rolling a wine bottle into a jail cell. The Dollies were all over it, and he got a couple rainbow trout as well.

We came to a braid that I have a history with. A deerhair mouse imitation was tied onto the leader of the six weight, then well greased. We walked over to the braid and Phil made a few casts. Wham! Suicidal rainbow trout. Another cast or two and Wham! That one was big, and of course he got away.

Linda and I went looking for unusual stones on a gravel bar. The sun was out and it was just beautiful, wonderful people, awesome day.

We’ve been seeing bears every day. I was cleaning fish on a gravel bar a few evenings ago and here comes a bear up the river heading my way. Oh, crap. I put all the fish back in the boat and launched it asap. The bear came over to the side of the river I had been on and went swimming for one of the salmon carcasses I’d discarded. I waited patiently in my boat, watching. The bear finished its snack, then re-crossed the river and wandered back the way it had come, so I went back and started cleaning fish again.

Of course the bear came right back.

The bear came up the gravel bar.

I said the heck with this, packed up the fish and my gear, and ran up the river a couple miles to finish the job in a more bear-free environment. Bears are wonderful critters, but I wouldn’t want to get in an argument with one, especially over a few fish.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Flesh Flies, Silver Salmon, and Dolly Varden on Goodnews River- Goodnews River Fishing Report

August 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 8/14/11

A fogbow down at Goodnews village.

The silver salmon bite is going strong on the Goodnews River. We’re still using weighted salmon flies on size 2 hooks dressed in pink, cerise, orange, and/or chartreuse. Pixies, Mepps Flying Cs, and 5/8 ounce jigs with twisty tails all work, too. Although the run certainly hasn’t peaked yet anglers are increasing the excitement quotient by fishing with poppers. The fish will be found in soft water all through the Goodnews River system. As always, the freshest fish in the river get caught in tidewater and still have sea lice on them. We caught the first colored silver of the season today.

Leon Martuch with a fat silver salmon.

Dead chum and pink salmon litter the banks. Fishing around the dead salmon requires a certain tolerance for stink. Trout and dollies are still eating salmon eggs but flesh flies are taking a good number of fish. I have to admit to being prejudiced against beads, since they are not flies, but the flesh flies are tied with zonker strips. In other words, they’re real flies.
In a related vein one of my fishermen, Ed Bowman, caught a dead chum while fishing in the middle fork. Appropriately, he was using a flesh fly. He also managed to catch several live rainbow trout and dolly varden.

A gratuitous picture of Drew for his mother. Hope you like it!

Dolly fishing is still sensational. The size of the average fish has is still about 20 inches long. Most of the bigger fish have moved far up the river. I still prefer a small orange gurgler tied on a #8 long shank hook, but flesh flies, egg sucking leeches, and of course beads are all working.

Fishing story: Before his arrival at Goodnews River Lodge our breakfast cook, Chris Robb, was not a fisherman. He bought a $50 fly fishing outfit before coming here. Yes, rod, reel, and line, all for fifty bucks. Needless to say, it was a complete piece of crap. I cast it myself just to see how bad it was.
Anyway, I took him out for silvers with said piece of crap and he managed to get not only his first salmon ever, but several others besides. He kept saying, “I can’t believe that rod didn’t blow up! That was the best fifty bucks I ever spent!” Crap outfit, happy ending. Good stuff.

Chris Robb battles a silver salmon on the Goodnews River.

We’ve been seeing more bears, eating salmon on the river banks and berries on the hillsides. Bears are way cool, but don’t mess with them. Here at Goodnews River Lodge we have never lost an angler (or a guide) to a bear!

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Silver Salmon, Dolly Varden Fishing Hot in Goodnews River- Goodnews River Fishing Report

August 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 8/7/11

Silver salmon bite steadily in the Goodnews River, with five fish limits being caught daily by most anglers. Weighted salmon flies on size 2 hooks dressed in pink, cerise, orange, and/or chartreuse are working well, as are Pixies, Mepps Flying Cs, and 5/8 ounce jigs with twisty tails. While the run is going well, it certainly hasn’t peaked yet and there’s lots of room for improvement. We prefer to catch fresh fish in tidewater but folks well up the river, fishing for dollies, have been running into silvers too.

Chums, pinks, and sockeyes are still busily digging redds and dropping eggs. Dollies and rainbow trout are sitting just downstream gorging themselves. These fish are suckers for a dead drifted bead or glo-bug.

Dolly fishing is still sensational. The average fish has dropped to about 20 inches long. Most of the bigger fish have moved far up the river. My fishermen have been using a small orange gurgler tied on a #8 long shank hook almost exclusively, the most fun you can have with a Dolly (other than maybe eating one). Most are just starting to color up. A few are already sporting fall colors.

My man Kim with one of dozens of Dolly Varden he caught on the gurgler fly.

Dead chums begin to litter the banks. The gulls are sitting there, burping. Trout will be keying on flesh. Time to tie, and use some nasty looking flesh flies.

Dead salmon support life on the Goodnews River. This was a chum salmon.

The weather this past week has, with the exception of one day, been cold, rainy, and windy. Running the boat has not been fun, but the clouds swirling around the mountains have been very dramatic, just beautiful. This is such an incredible place.

The sun tries to make an appearance through a hole in the clouds.

Most days lately have looked like this.

We have a sow bear with three cubs in the vicinity of camp. We see them frequently. She seems to be a very good mama, as all three cubs look fat and healthy.

Mama bear with some of the kids.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report, Photo Essays · Tagged: , , , , , ,
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