Dollies and the Shrink.....

[DocSpotty]

After working on Friday, normally my day off, I was forced to go down and fish on the Kenai Peninsula on a Saturday……not only that but the Labour Day holiday….which is considered the last big holiday of the summer up here. Many businesses close after Labour Day for the winter as all the tourists have packed up and left by then. But it is when the trout fishermen come out in droves….I generally only fish down there on weekdays.

Anyway, after a long week at work I invited a good friend of mine down for some dolly fishing on Quartz Creek like last week….he’s a “mental health” professional…..I need all the shrink time I can get. Although he is probably whackier than me. We had a nice drive down….inspite of his complaining about the 5 am pick up time. As we drove down the inlet from Anchorage….like last week….we were pleasantly surprised by running into beluga whales for a second time. There were a good number and they were spread out for nearly 20 miles going up the inlet on the incoming tide…..this has them moving darn fast as the change in tides can be over 30 feet. We watched them for awhile and I was able to get one decent video with my digital camera:



We arrived at Quartz Creek a bit after 7 and there were already a considerable number of our “closest” friends fishing there. I beat my friend Corby getting outfitted and had landed two dollies before he got to creekside:





Corby is a darn good flyfisherman and it wasn’t long before he had his first dolly:



But this wasn’t like last week…the dollies were present but the number of spawning sockeye had decreased by about 70% and with the number of people fishing there they were very tight lipped. All told during the day we probably caught about 20 fish apiece but what a beautiful day it was in a long, dreary summer. Realizing these fish by the campground had just been traumatized to death we decided to head upstream a ways to find less “disturbed” fish. About a mile upstream we found another pocket of spawning reds and a whole bunch of dollies. They still weren’t ravenous like last week but some of that probably had to do with dolly spawners showing up….they only spawn every 2 or 3 years up here because of how cold it is…..takes longer to develop the gonads. We could see quite a few fish out behind these spawning reds and Corby was casting at them. Directly behind him I spotted a nice dolly sitting in this little pocket water right up against the bank. After casting to this dolly about 20 times and having him move over and look at the bead everytime but not take it, I decided to try a little different angle. My bead barely hit the water and another dolly pounced on it:





I continued fishing that little pocket and caught 3 more dollies out of it but that initial fish was still sitting there under the bank giving me the fin. I got Corby over, cause he had a different colored bead on, to give this fish a toss or two….first cast and he was onto a cool looking dark dolly:



But the original fish still remained tightlipped. So we fished upriver for about an hour catching nothing, and then waded back down to the car. Corby got another nice fish:



As I came across my little pocket hole I gave the fish one last cast and for some reason he gobbled it up….it was a beautifully colored dolly and probably the largest of the trip:





So I finally got the fish which had been dissing me. As we were wading downstream I had stopped for about 5 minutes fishing one spot and noticed the largest dolly I had seen feeding in my wake. I kept dropping the bead literally at my feet for about 10 minutes when he finally horqued it down. Was I stoked….this one was 24 -25 inches and after playing him for about 2 minutes the hook just pulled….was I bummed. It was a beautifully colored fish and I would have loved a picture….and I am sure by next week it will be much larger.

I’m sure Corby would shoot me for including this little video of him….he didn’t know I was filming…..not so delicately handling one of the fish….of course, he claimed they are really slippery:



We still had some time so decided to try a spot on the Kenai River. It was pretty good….although I lost another really big dolly….same old story. Caught a couple of nice ones but they just don’t have the color of Quartz dollies:



Corby finished the day with a nice rainbow and we headed back home.



To our delight the belugas were cruising the shores again and people were being just a bit crazy stopping right on the highway and running across to see them.

Next week I will be fishing with my father…..3 days on the upper Kenai and a day halibut fishing. Hopefully I will have some good pictures.

Brian

[troutdog]

Awesome looking fish and scenery, makes for a great way to spend the Labor Day weekend! Good luck on the halibut fishing next week Doc.


TD

[Troutman65]

Hey Doc, I see you have been at it again.

I sure love the color of them Dollies From Quartz Creek. Those are some of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen.


Thanks once again for sharing on FNN.

[chris]

awesome pictures

[steve092]

Those Dollies are beautiful fish.

[DCCTrouserTrout]

When I grow up, I want to catch me one of those... Nice looking fish

[chivo]

Nice fish awsome pics. keep them commin'

[Greg Madrigal]

WOW! Outstanding report as usual! Thanks for all the great fish porn!

GM<><

[DccFISHerMan]

all i got to say is.... LUCKY!!!