Bead season in Alaska

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Truly enjoyed your report! Alsaka is a mystery land for me and visiting and spending some time there is on my bucket list!

Thanks for sharing. It ia amazing how those sokeyes change shape and color in such a short time! Wonders!
 
AKnook said:
Those are all sockeye salmon. They are chrome silver when they are fresh from the ocean arriving in the rivers. They then start to turn red with green heads and have humped backs with hooked jaws as they prepare to spawn in the rivers. Pretty awesome sight to see in the rivers. Some areas they stage in are blood red with the amount of them schooled up.
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Thanks for the reply!
 
ChaseChrome said:
Yeah I hear that...if we ever see you in these parts, and guns don't dissuade you from returning to TO, we'll be sure to square you away with a good therapist....
ohmy.gif


CC
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Ha! The gun is just another tool I use in certain areas I fish. Not always. I tell you, it is nice fishing without it! It kills the shoulder after a long 10 hour day on the water.
I'm shooting to be back this winter. I make it back every year to visit the family. On those trips I will be bringing the fly rods from now on.
 
All five species of pacific salmon here go through some crazy physical changes. My all time favorite though is the chum salmon. They start off chrome and turn into a tiger! Both in the stripes and attitude. These fish are so aggresive and will strike at anything. They have a bad rep here as a trash fish but I specifically go out and target these fish. Their aggressive nature and brute strength when fighting them make for a great day on the water. Also there is no shortage of them either. Some rivers are stacked with them making it very easy to teach the kiddos how to fish and keep them interested.

Sometimes these fish don't even let the fly sink and strike right when the fly hits the surface of the water. Pretty cool to see.

Montana Creek Chum salmon




 
Hey there awesome post!
What time of year were you fishing for those Sockeye on the Kenai/Russian?
I know that russian has a late/second run of sockey but not sure on the timing..

I just got back from Kodiak Island myself and learned how to sight fish for the chrome sockeyes and pick them out of the crowd for the freezer.
fun stuff!
 
s4ngh4n said:
Hey there awesome post!
What time of year were you fishing for those Sockeye on the Kenai/Russian?
I know that russian has a late/second run of sockey but not sure on the timing..

I just got back from Kodiak Island myself and learned how to sight fish for the chrome sockeyes and pick them out of the crowd for the freezer.
fun stuff!
Click to expand...


Nice! Kodiak is definately a trip I will be doing soon for silvers (coho). I didn't hit the Russian river for sockeye fishing. I usually don't unless I see a chrome fish while I am targeting dollies and rainbows. I usually just fish the Russian for dollies and rainbows. I always begin my sockeye fishing up north at the Klutina river. We fish there weekend of 6/10. The next trip is the Kenai at 6/18. These times are times that in the past have produced a lot of fish and easy limits so we tend to hit it the same time every year. There are more day trips done throught June to Kenai but we hit it first around 6/18. The sockeye picture with all the sun was taken on 7/18 during the Kenai's second sockeye run. Again, you can hit all through that week and before. Work just gets in the way for me sometimes. The picture of the "almost tomato" was taken on 8/3. There were a lot of chrome fish but they were amongst all the tomatoes. A buddy of mine went to the Kenai a week later and said that there were more chrome than the week before. People were still catching sockeyes on the Russian still during this time.
 
Your reports just make me more and more angry that the US somehow own Alaska! Im gonna need to buy a place out there on the river when I win the lottery.
 
NADO said:
Your reports just make me more and more angry that the US somehow own Alaska! Im gonna need to buy a place out there on the river when I win the lottery.
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Haha..I know right! That's my goal here. A little place by the river that I can get away from things for awhile and fish till I drop.
 
salmotrutta said:
Cool how do the chum's taste? Similar to pinks?
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Thats exactly how I would compare them. The meat on a chum is a little bit more firm than the pink but tastes similar. The color of the meat is also similar. I only keep pinks and chum fresh from the salt. I use them for smoking and for chowders and soups. They are great used this way. All other species I keep as fillets and eat it that way. Coho fillet is what's for dinner tonight!
 
It has been raining here for the last 5 days straight with winds up to 100 m/hr. Horrible weather that has many of my rivers flooded and blown out. Bummer since I was planning on hitting the Kenai river next weekend and perhaps a few Matanuska Valley streams as well. I did however manage another Kenai trip a week ago and a trip to a Valley creek.

It wasn't an epic day thats for sure. I only managed a few fish but the day was beautiful. Can't beat a nice day floating a river and being with great friends.

This fish smashed an 8mm bead. I set the hook and couldn't believe how many times he jumped in the air. It was everything you want in a fight.....then all of a sudden the line doesn't move. The fish wrapped the line around an underwater log! I walk up to it and as I get to the log it screams off again. I dunk my rod and slip the line out from under the log and watch this fish go airborn again! It isn't the largest fish I have caught or anything massive but I have to say that it was a fighter!



Another shot...


A sweet dolly


We took another back channel off the main Kenai river and stayed a few hours fishing and just hanging out in the gorgeous day. This stretch of river wasn't that deep and I waded up to my waist in water to get to a good hole to see what lurked below. Well......this is the only fish I could get there......


Because of this guy.....


After catching that small dolly I get back in the middle of the river and continue to fish. I am about 15 feet from the bank on the other side of the river. I am completely focused and just happen to look up and see this blond brown bear sitting like a dog staring at me. He was looking right at my eyes. Of course I was shocked and just slowly walked backwards while not taking my eyes off it. The bear slowly climbs into the water where I was casting to and proceeds to catch sockeye after sockeye taking a couple bites from each. What a sight to see. I don't know why it was looking at me and sitting there....perhaps waiting for me to have a hook up and get a free meal? I alert my buddy who then alerts a drift boat just starting to pass. They bank to let some tourists take some photos of their first wild bear. They stop and chat and get a little taste of Wild Alaska. Pretty cool to see their excitement. No other bears seen the rest of the weekend.

Visiting my father in law in Wasilla I decide to hit a creek that is walking distance from his house. I know this time of year there are spawning cohos in there but I am going for rainbows. Turns out that there were more cohos than anythin else. They were so agressive that it was hard keeping them off sometimes. I would even pull the fly away from them as they screamed for the fly. They must have been harrassing the rainbows because I only managed one.

Alaska fall colors




My one little rainbow..


I hope this crappy weather is over with quick becuase I am jonsing to get out again!
 
wow great post,thanks for sharing the info and pics.i really like the shot of the dolly varden on the rocks :D
 

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