leaving in 10 days

[traveler]

Just a fairly quick trip this year; no family, just me and a buddy. No charters....we have a good amount of halibut vac packed left from last year, kings are still not worth chasing, so this year it'll just be reds.  We'll spend time in Seward, have 4 days reserved at the Russian, and if either of those are dead we'll drive to the Klutina and give that a whirl.

Either way, it's Alaska:)

[fivebucks]

I've got 54 days to wait.  I would bet you will not need to make the drive to the Klutina unless it is just to fish somewhere else.  It would be a nice roadtrip anyhow.  Have yourself a good trip and let me know how you did.

[traveler]

sure will fivebucks. No, I expect we'll be able to do fine on the KP, and although I'd like to see the area around the Klutina, it will be hard to justify the fuel/mileage for the RV, not to mention the drive time. I expect we'll probably stick with the Russian/Seward.

[fishkid]

my buddy and i will be at the russian 11-14th dont have a campsite but we just bike in. maybe we will see  ya on the river

[traveler]

We have a campsite the 13-16th. Sounds like a heck of a lot of rain, or rain predicted. Looks like we might be looking at another high water year on the Russian like a couple years ago?

[fishkid]

i wouldn't be surprised if its about average.  we had about zero snow this year so i dont think a little rain is going to hurt much.  Forecasting a some rain in the next few days but who knows.  Either way there will be fish for the taking!

[fishkid]

curious on how ya did down there. we decided to go north and fish the klutina instead.  We did fairly good. wasnt fast and furious fishing but there was fish to be caught.  also pulled in a king from ship before work this morning

[fishkid]

traveler if your around anchorage i would suggest ship on out going tide

[traveler]

Made it home late Friday. Fantastic week, best weather I've ever had for an AK trip! 

We started in Seward, and I managed a 6 fish limit the first 2 days. I was checking the reports from the Russian and it started out slow there, so we decided not to leave good fishing and just stayed in Seward the whole week. Managed to come home with about 160 lbs of red fillets between the two of us...would have been even more but my buddies back was acting up and he couldn't go at it very hard.  Still very happy with the results, and Seward is just a great little town to hang around in for a week. Plus I learned a lot about tides and fish movement by being there every day for a week...should be able to do even better next time:)

[LoonASea]

Im heading to Sitka in 10 days ,,,Im hoping to have the same luck as 2 years ago and bring home 2 50lb boxes of fish ,,,this year I picked up a Go Pro camera to film some of the fishing/catching/scenery the area has to offer ,,,,Thinking some of the cohos I catch on Superior could be used as bait  up there where the kings run 20 to 60 lbs on a good day and then there's the halibut, rockfish and lingcod too boot 

[fishkid]

i would be careful doing that. not sure if its legal to use sport fish for bait.  i know in some places you can use pinks or the skeletons of some salmon for halibut though

[LoonASea]

That comment was made in reference to the difference in size ,,,,The coho from Superior are quite smaller then those I've seen in Alaskan waters (that was just my twisted sense of humor)

[fishkid]

ahh i got it now! ha ha i skipped over a few words

[traveler]

Not to mention he'd be facing permanent excommunication from the Duluth fishing elite if he were to be caught wasting one of our delicious lake superior coho's as bait!

Have a blast in Sitka LoonAsea:)  I'm jealous already....!

Edited June 26, 2015 by traveler

[fivebucks]

Glad you had a great weather and fishing in Seward.  It used to be that a 70 degree day and sunny was as good as it got in Seward - that's becoming much more common.  Having lived in Seward for several years I can agree with you that it is a great place to hang out.  You guys did good on your reds and you saved some travel time to the Russian.  My countdown is down to 24 days.  I am glad the Card Street Fire did not go west as it could have taken out the cabin we are staying at for our week.  We will still get 2 nights in Seward and do a charter and spend our last day hanging out with a friend of mine who lives there.

[live4chrome]

Glad you had a good trip. Russian was Hot on and off but the worst crowds I have seen there. Kasilof is fishing very well too. Now we wait on our kenai reds to show in good numbers.

[LoonASea]

Well made it back from Sitka ,,,didn't catch as much fish as 2 years ago but the weather was perfect  (except for the wind off the ocean)  got our limit of kings,  halibut  and ling cod but the silvers didn't really show up yet ,,,,Not sure where I will be going next time  but I will be back

[LoonASea]

Not exactly what one would want to encounter  while out fishing for salmon

[LoonASea]

There wasnt much I didnt expect up in Sitka but I sure learned a lot about  Okuma reels ,,quite honestly you couldnt pay me to fish with one of these reels after this past week ,,,Im not talking the magda or convector series  but the coldwater  reels completely convinced me to stay away from their reels  from poor drags to loose reel handles to bad clickers to lousy freespool engagement ,,,I lost more fish due to this equip malfunction then I have in a lifetime of Daiwa equip

,,,I wasn't  sure if  I needed to tip the capt more so he could go buy better reels  or short change him for making me put up with his poor choice  of equip

 

[fivebucks]

It is time for me to say I am leaving in 10 days now.  Have a combo charter in Seward on the 25th and then head to Soldotna area to tangle with some Reds.  We have a halibut charter on Monday but the rest of the time will be on the river.  We are staying in Sterling so anywhere from Soldotna to the Russian are all fair game as we will go where the fish are (in theory anyhow).  Will head back to Seward to hang out with a friend of mine for the last day and be back to work on Aug. 3.  I am looking forward to fishing hard and enjoying what the state has to offer.  If the fish are tough to come by we will call Live4Chrome and see if he has an opening on his guide boat for a day.  We might just do that for the change of scenery anyhow.  We will know more later.

[traveler]

Best of luck fivebucks! Sounds like the red run is doing about average so far...hopefully you'll hit some big days. Who/where  are you going butt fishing with?

LoonASea...I have my first and only Okuma reel (spinning, model Stinson) sitting by my chair with a busted handle. I bought it cheap-ish before last years trip, but it has about 5 days fishing on it total. It's a heavier series, think 6000, so it should have been able to handle a few reds.  Junk.

[LoonASea]

Good Luck up there fivebucks ,,,My nose and ears are finally done peeling from all the sun I got up there ,,,Hope you have nice weather and great fishing !!!!

[fivebucks]

Traveler - We are going with John of Inn and Out Charters in Seward and a place in Ninilchik my buddy used a couple of times and had real good luck but I do not recall the name.  Thanks Loon.  I have the wide brim hat and sunscreen packed.  I am all too familiar with the AK sun.

[fivebucks]

Another great trip is in the books.  We did very well on our saltwater charters with each of us getting about a 70 lb. halibut and the required halibut under 29".  My buddy also caught his first Ling Cod and another guy on the boat got an approximate 50 lb. toad of a Ling Cod.  Our first charter was out of Seward and our second out of Ninilchik.  As you can see from the pics the boat did well on both of them.  The Sockeye were a little tougher to come by as the run was not great while we were there.  We had some days with only a fish or two each and others with limits.  Our fishing ended on a high note with getting an easy limit of six each our last day of fishing.  I caught and released another 4 fish while my buddy cleaned his six.  We took a guided trip on the Kenai with FM's "Live4Chrome".  Andrew knows the river and we had a good day of fishing with him.  While we were both experienced at flossing reds we both picked up some helpful tips from him.  I would recommend him to anyone looking to fish the Kenai.  We had our places to bank fish for the price of parking but it was nice to get out on a boat, see the river, and avoid some of the crowds and combat fishing the Kenai is known for.  We spent our first and last nights in my old stomping grounds of Seward and the rest of the time near Soldotna.  It was good to see the mountains again and we even felt a nice earthquake (6.3 out west of Soldotna across Cook Inlet).  The rumbler lasted about 45 seconds to a minute and was probably the best one I ever felt.  We also had a rare thunderstorm so all sorts of good things came together.  We each brought back 100 lbs. of fish so I will have to work that down fast if I want to go back up next year.

 

[fishkid]

who did you go out of seward with?

 

nvm saw it above

Edited August 7, 2015 by fishkid