PDA

View Full Version : New Board For Me....2007 in Pics



DocSpotty
01-23-2008, 06:54 AM
Couldn't quite wait for the snow to clear home here in Alaska so in February I headed down to Corpus Christi, TX to do a few days of fishing for a trophy speckled trout. I took my stepson with me and we had a great 3 days fishing with Jay Watkins, a guide I met many years ago while there in the air force.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/AlexwBentRod.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/AlexRedRed.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alex2ndRed.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/AlexRed2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeRed2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeRed.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeRed3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/RedMe.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeRedBaffin.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeRed3rd.jpg

The first few days were off and on for specks but we hammered the redfish....what a hoot they are. Finally on the last day we got into specks pretty good. I must have caught near 50, when, yes, at the last ditch stop I finally caught my toad....a 28 inch hen....snapped a few pics and put her back in the water to fight again.....great time:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeSpeck.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeSpeckDay2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/DoubleSpecks.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BIGSpeck2.jpg


The season started in late April in Alaska, fishing the Talkeetna River about 3 hours north of Anchroage with my stepson, Alex:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/start.jpg

We begin with some small dolly varden (a char)
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alexdoll1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/firstdolly.jpg

Moved into some of extremely colored Alaskan coastal rainbows:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/talkbow2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/alexbentrod.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/bowrelease-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/talkeetnabow.jpg

This was followed in early May by a trip to the Kashwitna River which, just like anywhere else, was very tough fishing and we only managed a few on the float until we got to the confluence with the Big Susitna River....not everyone's morning drive has Mt. McKinley prominently sitting in the foreground:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Drivingtowork.jpg

At the mouth of the river I decided to get away from conventional wisdom and changed to a large 4-5inch green sculpin pattern.....on the first cast it was demolished by a 40 lbs king salmon which I managed to hold onto for about 30 seconds on my 5 wt flyrod.....but I gave the guide one of those flies and he said the next night he came up and caught 15 kings with that fly in the one evening....screw convention....I did manage a nice little jack king there and about a dozen other trout:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/ALexcasting.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Alexfish.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/1stoftheseason.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/KingJack.jpg

After the first two trips Alex had his wisdom teeth extracted....pay back for the fish!

In June did 2 floats down the Willow River as some of the first king salmon of the year were showing up:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Lunch.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/LunchBow-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MikeBow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/RodNBow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Release.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Sculpin.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/WillowBow2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Willow3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/WillowBow.jpg

Near the get out point, due to flood waters last year there is a inpenetrable logjam which stretches for 600 yards solid on the Willow...my friend and guide Mike figured a way around it....but it required some skinny portaging:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Portage1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Portage3.jpg

Some cabins left wiped out and one in the middle of the river after the flooding:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/IslandHouse.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Floodhouse.jpg

While going to and from this last fishing trip I had about an hour to stop at a local hole where a few king salmon had been moving through...fortunately was able to tag one after 30 minutes (which garnered me some hard stares from the rest of the crowd who had been there for hours without seeing a fish...hey...I thanked everyone. Bled it, bopped it and filleted it and it was on the plane with me that night to a family reunion in Montana where everyone had very fresh king salmon the next night.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/EkTRKing.jpg

I spent two weeks at my parents and inordinate amounts of relatives on Flathead Lake in Montana every July. We get to set off fireworks .... anything short of a thermonuclear detonation is okay....fish and increase our chances of getting skin cancer....the fishing can be pretty fab there also. These first set of pictures all on a single day fishing the Missouri River below Holter Dam....it was dang hot too:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriHolter.jpg

These next group of fish all came from the stretch above:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriBow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriBow2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriRB2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriBow3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriH20RB.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriReleas.jpg

After a quick lunch at a local dive in Craig we fished a backwater I know and picked up some brownies with the bows:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Brown2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownGras.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MissouriRBGr.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Brownie-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownGrass.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownReleas.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/waterbrown.jpg

My brother in law and I then spent a day driving way out in the bushes to the extreme northwest corner of Montana where the ONLY native strain of rainbow exists....in the small upper reaches of the Yaak River. These are Columbia Basin Redband Trout....oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri.....we caught several of the cute little devils and some westslope cutts also:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Redband-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Redband2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/YaakWF.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/YaakWSCutt.jpg

Spent the only other few days I fished treading up and down the Swan River and trib to Flathead Lake...have been fishing it since I was 10.....over 4 decades. It still has a very strong, nearly untouched, run of the threatened bull trout. What has endangered the bull trout in the Swan was introduction of nonnative brook trout 100 years ago....as the brookies will hybridize with the bull trout and in some streams there are no pure bull trout left. They fish and game would love for everyone to smack all these hybrids on the head but know that most people can't even tell the brook trout from the bull trout...let alone the hybrids. Here's one of the biggest hybrids I ever caught.....has intermediate markings from a bull and brook but the easiest giveaway is the dorsal fin is mottled.....pure bulls have absolutely no marks on their dorsal fin....if you are into taxonomy, as I am, there are several other characteristics too. I have had F&G wardens question me on a kept fish....some of them don't know the difference:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/UpperSwanSalmonPrairie.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/UpperSwanSPBullTrout706.jpg
The second pic above is of a young bull trout....we all know what brookies look like.

Here's a few other Swan River pics:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanPtP5.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanPPCutt.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanPtP3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanPtPl2.jpg

This big hen was unfortunately gill hooked and bleeding and did not revive....she did herself well on the dinner plate:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanPPBigRB.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwapSP.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SwanSPRelea.jpg

It was back home to Alaska and the annual trek on Montana Creek in the Mat-Su valley with my good friend Corby, the pshrink.....nicest guy....plus I can run faster than him so the bears will always eat him first. From those not familiar with Alaskan waters everything is connected to the salmon runs....here is a picture of 3 different species of salmon...spawned out, rotting and doing what they do (a king, a chum and a pink) they smell great too:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/KingPinkChum.jpg

The chum, or dog salmon were ready to go and gave quite the tussle on a 5 wt rod:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Chum3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BowRelease.jpg

Spawning chums:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SpawnChums.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Scenery2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/CorbyBow2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Chum2Release.jpg

A pink, or humpy salmon all morphed out:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Pink.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeBow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Chum1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/FishCentral.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/1a70b4af.jpg

Matching "the hatch":
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Salmoneggs.jpg

We started coming across alot of these bruin prints and decided to head back after a little lunch:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownieBack.jpg

Tried to tell the pshrink it wasn't good to be marking territory with the bears around but I obviously got nowhere:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Relief.jpg

That moved me into August where I took a break from "my" fishing and took the family and a close friends out for some silver fishing on the nearby Little Susitna...the silvers were in and big...the kids had a blast:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Louisa2coho.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Kristencoho.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Stewartcoho.jpg

Keeping everyone hooked up and happy (notice the only guy in the water is me) gave me only 20 minutes to cast...fortuantely I picked up my 2 silver limit in that time....very fun
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Mecoho2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Nettingcoho.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MattSilver.jpg

My daughters first solo silver:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/LyssaSilver.jpg

Back at the landing for the gratuitous group picture...actually my best friend and kids with the biggest silvers:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/IMG_0062.jpg

The next weekend my boss invited me on a "Blast N Cast"....we headed out in his homebuilt landing on a high mountain bluff below MT. Redoubt, an active volcano, behind the airplane:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/GlastarMtRedoubt.jpg

Even his labrador, Eider rides with ear protection on:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/EiderEarmuffs.jpg

Bob, Eider and I set off in the thick bushes (hoping the bears wouldn't eat us) and shot several extremely good tasting willow ptarmigan...the state bird....the little buggers turn snow white in the winter:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Bobbirds.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Ptarmigan.jpg

We had some lunch and then hopped down in the plane to a small grass, dirt landing strip on the Kuskatan River for some afternoon silver fishing...spectacular scenery along the way:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BelugaGlacier.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/KuskatanIntl.jpg

Here's the 3 silvers I kept out of a dozen or so hooked....it was great fishing...
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/KuskatanSilver.jpg

On the way out I took this picture....little reminders of the teddy bears which are everywhere:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownFrontPa-1.jpg

At this point I broke for a few weeks and actually worked so I could pay for my ongoing fishing addiction. This brought us into September and the always necessary halibut trip...went with some friends out of Homer and up until the last hour it didn't look like we were going to get anything bigger than around 20 lbs:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/HalibutKing.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/30lbsbut.jpg

Beautiful view of Mt. Illiamna across the water....another active volcano:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MtIlliamna.jpg

Then we got lucky....nailed one about 35 and then grandma came in at 135 lbs...caught with a group effort.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/ButBoys.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MikeBigBut.jpg

You have to admire the choice of names for the gals who fillet these things....you don't want to mess with Becky cause she can gut you in about 5 seconds:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Buttwhackers.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Beckyfilleting.jpg

Cheek meat is the best:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Cheekmeat.jpg

Now were cooking again....the reds (sockeye) are up all the streams laying eggs and the trout fishing is starting to go crazy. A good friend took me to his "secret spot" and made sign a blood oath if I ever revealed it. Small stream off a big lake on the Kenai Peninsula...difficult to find and totally infested with brown bears....there was bear poop every two inches on that stream and you could hear them everywhere in the bushes around us....always a bit eerie as you fish with the chance to become bear poop at any given moment....the fish were mostly dollies, beautiful color and dumb as a box of rocks in their little stream:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/2ndcast.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Ed.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/UnderTreeDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/JoeRelease.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/FightingDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/EdsBigDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MaleKype.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/AnotherRedBuck.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/SpawningDolly-5.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/EdsDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/FemaleSpawner.jpg

About this time we came across a freshly steaming bear dropping and decided to turn and head back:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Bearpoop.jpg

A week later found me bouncing beads on Quartz Creek which is a trib to Kenai Lake and runs right along the hwy. The reds were in thick and so were the dollies right behind them:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/QuartzCreek.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MoreReds.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Reds.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/QuartzDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Dolly1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Dolly3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Dolly4.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/DollyNet.jpg

The following friday I was floating the upper Kenai River with my pshrink friend and a guide I have known for many years. The fishing was fabulous and I lost count after 50 fish.....dollies and rainbows:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Corby.jpg

This one I caught at the launch waiting for the guide:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BuckatJims.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Dolly2-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Corby6.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Corby27Bow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BigBuck.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Kenai1stGate-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/CorbyBigBow-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/DollyFlyrod.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/HenDoll.jpg

Right after shore lunch this teenager showed up giving us some real attitude:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BrownieEyeingUs.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/CorbyBear.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/HenDolly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/DollyBuck-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/ShoreBuckDoll.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BeautifulHen.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Seagulls.jpg

We spotted this old boar eating crow berries along side the lake:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BerryEatingRock.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/LargeBlackBoar.jpg

The next weekend I bounced around Quartz Creek:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/IMG_0008.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/IMG_0016.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Dollly.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/KenaiDoll.jpg

Forced myself to work another week then back down floating the upper Kenai with another friend:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/RobBow.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/24inchDoll.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/MeBow-1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/DennisBow23.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Rob1stgate.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/LunchBow-2.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/JuvenileBald.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Backup1stgate.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/BigDoll.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Bow10.jpg

That last bow did me in.....5 wt flyrod....a healthy 11-12 lbs and I had to quit fishing cause my shoulder was in so much pain....had surgery on it 5 weeks ago....hopefully it will be ready by summer

Hope you enjoyed 2007 in review.

Brian

one_leg
01-23-2008, 07:23 AM
Brian, welcome to the FNN message boards, and thanks for the travelogue with pics.

I hope to someday be able to catch at least some of the beautiful fish you showed us in this thread.

I wish I had never given up flying after seeing your buddies homebuilt. That is soooooo cool.

One_Leg

eldo69
01-23-2008, 08:09 AM
great report, i wasnt sure it was every going to end

ThemBastards
01-23-2008, 08:17 AM
:shock:

Nice pics

tacklejunkie
01-23-2008, 08:21 AM
Holy cow man!
Amazingly beatiful and awesome fish pictures! I've never even seen half those fish, and you caught some bull trout! :shock: The DFG site said those are just about extinct!
Way to go man, I can only hope I am 1/4 as lucky to get out and see a small slice of some of those fish one day. Very impressive! :thumb: 8)
Makes me wanna go fishing :lol:

IncredibleHuck
01-23-2008, 10:09 AM
Brian,

Thanks for that great report of your fishing trips last year! First off that 5wt rod of yours is amazing. Being a custom rod builder, I know some good work when I see it, and I love the handle on that thing! After my trip to Alaska this past July, I can't wait to go back, and you hit up some areas I want to do sometime, the Mat-su valley, across cooks inlet by Mt. Redoubt. I heard the streams over there are amazing for reds.

When we fished, we had everything set up through this lodge, and the time of year we went, when we got there they told us they were experiencing some of the worst King Salmon runs ever on the Kenai. However when we were at trustworthy hardware in Soldotna, we picked up some cheap outfits, and made it over to the Kaisloff, and all of us hooked into Kings there. However mine came off after a nice run of 50 yards or so of just pulling drag.

We also fished Homer, and went out on the boat, Northern Lights and did well, but nothing big. We stopped at Buttwackers the day before we were going out, and sure enough saw some nice big butts there, from a trip earlier that day.

You are on lucky man to be living in an area with such great beauty, and adventures. Hopefully i'll be back up in 2009 for another week long adventure!

Jason

saintarv
01-23-2008, 10:45 AM
Beautiful fishies!

Trout-Slayer77
01-23-2008, 10:56 AM
wow....Brian....best pics in a report ive seen yet !! so many great pics of awesome looking fish. way to go :wink: love those hybrid trout and browns / bows you caught. the color on those fish are ridiculous. :) welcome to the board, looking forward to more reports.

BakoBassin
01-23-2008, 11:15 AM
This post is just sickening 8) :wink:

So many different colors in some of those fish.

IncredibleHuck
01-23-2008, 11:27 AM
This post is just sickening 8) :wink:

So many different colors in some of those fish.

One of those rainbows is one of, if not the best rainbow i've ever seen! I thought the ones I caught up in Alaska had colors, till I saw the one he had!

reelhigh
01-23-2008, 11:49 AM
Damn, you guys tore it up last year. Nice job.

Granny Fish
01-23-2008, 02:07 PM
That is fishing at its best! Thanks for sharing all those pictures. My husband always tries to talk me into moving to Michigan and my response has always been if I wanted to live in the figid zone, I'd move to Alaska. :lol: That's my kind of fishing!

johnsfishing
01-23-2008, 03:05 PM
:shock: amazing post! congrats you you!

johnsfishing

Gerald
01-23-2008, 03:42 PM
Now THATS what I call a report! Thank you so much for sharing. :notworthy:

cornbaitkid
01-23-2008, 05:07 PM
Got enough photo`s

britheguy
01-23-2008, 06:41 PM
Amazing report, Wonderful colors on those fish.

Also, amazing rod! My god that rod is sick! Way to go! Trip of a lifetime.

Britheguy (Brian) :lol:

Hog Caller
01-23-2008, 08:15 PM
Great report. I went to Alaska about 13 years ago and wanted to stay. It's unbelieveable. Fish in every stream and lake. I also lived in Texas a couple of years ago and know that there's not many fish with balls the size of those bull reds. Some of the specks in the photos are trophy once in a lifetime fish. Congrats and I need a job like yours. :lol:

richaaron
01-23-2008, 08:20 PM
Man o' man, that was one helluva report...Thank you. :appl: :appl: :appl: -Rich

DocSpotty
01-24-2008, 01:35 AM
Sorry for the lengthy post.....I have an severe insomnia issue and couldn't sleep so this post happened.

Tacklejunkie.....bull trout are virtually non existent in California waters they are only on the threatened list are there are still good numbers in some drainages of Montana and Washington.....tons of them in British Columbia clear up into the MacKenzie River drainage of the Northwest Territories. Montana has recently opened the south fork of the Flathead River for bull trout fishing as the law states you are not supposed to intentionally fish for them. On the Swan River I know two areas that hold 30 to 100 bulls at a time in August, on their spawning runs....have old pictures of fish to 32 inches. They are lake bull trout which spawn up the river.....fun fish.....they will absolutely crush rapalas.....and large lipped bass crankbaits. Have had them hit 12 inch rainbows I've had on the line and try to swallow them....they are fabulous voracious predators. But they are extremely sensitive to any pollution in the water and require small, cold headwaters for spawning. Over the 40 years of fishing that area the brookie/bull hybrids have shown up more and more.....I do what I can to thin out that hybrid population...they are quite tasty.

Jason....yes that 5 wt is my alltime favorite. I built it about`14 years ago on a Loomis 4 pc GL4 (now GLX) blank and use it way too much. Have a pic of a 40 lbs king salmon I caught on it while fishing one of the smaller rivers....she was well into spawning mode so the fight was not that terrific but I got a nice pic before sliding the hook out and letting her finish her business. Last year I had built a most fabulous Sage SLT 9' 7wt specifically for the large kenai bows and snapped the thing one inch above the cork on a big fish.....I was devastated as much time had been put into the handle:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Rodhandles002.jpg

I have been making rod for 25 years l.....contrary to what my wife thinks you can never have enough fishing rods.

If any of you have great about coming to Alaksa feel free to ask.....maybe even for a place to stay.

Thanks,
Brian

crivera175
01-24-2008, 12:01 PM
that was a great report :thumb: my hat goes off to you.i never seen such colorfull fish before :thumb: i'll be looking for your next post.again great report :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

fisherkid47
01-24-2008, 07:22 PM
That was one amazing report :appl: :appl: I never even imagined rainbows with colors like that, and those were some amazing fish. Keep the reports coming, I loved the pictures and reading through it.

fisherkid

JSAUCE818
01-24-2008, 07:42 PM
:shock: :shock: :shock: .....THAT REVIEW WAS AMAZING,...YOU ARE ONE LUCKY MAN.....

Mondo21
01-24-2008, 08:11 PM
Beautiful Pics.
Cindy

City Dad
01-28-2008, 12:33 PM
That is just... wow.

If you are interested in a swap, you can live in our place for a week in the summer! We're just down the street from the world famous Balboa Lake now with fewer dead bodies!

KILLA
02-01-2008, 04:47 PM
That is the best report I have ever seen. You are the TROUTMAN. Die hard, airplane flying, bear chasin, georgous trout catchin, best dad ever.

YOU ARE THE MAN. :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

Tight lines

Nice catch

Killa

steve092
02-04-2008, 05:38 AM
:eek2: What a post!!! :D
Thank you for sharing and way to go catching about 10 different species!!!

paintsn
02-06-2008, 02:34 AM
I'll read more of this post when i get back home from work.. you are living in someone else's dream..

thank you so much for this post

fishincrave
02-07-2008, 10:43 PM
All i have to say is WOW the more the post went on the better it got your are living a dream my friend
Sean