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Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

August 28, 2012 by john kumiski · 4 Comments

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. Dollies- 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.

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.

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

August 20, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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.

Janie Axton again, this time with a big grayling.

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.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, fly fishing, Goodnews River, salmon fishing

Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

August 12, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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?

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!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, Coho salmon, DOA Lures, fishing tips, fly fishing, Goodnews River, salmon fishing

Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

July 29, 2012 by john kumiski · 1 Comment

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.

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.

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.

Hannah got this king salmon first.

She took this pink salmon on a Pixie spoon.

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.

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.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, Dolly varden fishing, Goodnews River, salmon fishing

Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

July 24, 2012 by john kumiski · 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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Fishing for Kenai king salmon shut down(juneauempire.com)
Alaskans wonder where the king salmon have gone(seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, Chinook salmon, fly fishing, Goodnews River, Salmon

Goodnews River Lodge, Alaska Fishing Report

July 14, 2012 by john kumiski · 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.

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, Chinook salmon, Goodnews River, Oncorhynchus, salmon fishing

Goodnews River, Alaska Fishing Report

July 8, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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-

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, 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, fly fishing, Goodnews River, salmon fishing

Goodnews River, Alaska Fishing Report

July 1, 2012 by john kumiski · 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, 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Alaska, Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, Chum Salmon, fly fishing, Goodnews River, Salmon, salmon fishing

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

June 26, 2012 by john kumiski · 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.

: 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.

: 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: Alaska fishing, Alaska fishing report, florida fishing, Goodnews River, Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing report, rainbow trout fishing

Wildflowers of the Goodnews River Valley

September 8, 2011 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The flowers of the Goodnews River valley dazzle the eye on even the dreariest day. Sadly I don’t know the names of many of them, or even the family of some, but they present a photographer with a never ending range of subjects.This is a type of Eriophorum grass, commonly called Alaska cotton, near the base of Tsuktulik.