Fishing in Alaska

[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Fly Fishing for King Salmon in Alaska
Getting very close to the next broadcast featuring Pete Parker. Pete will be answering your questions about fly fishing for Alaska's largest salmon - the King Salmon.
Pete has fished all over the world and has 4 IGFA world records on the fly as proof of his expertise. Join us and learn about fly fishing for the king of north the Alaskan King Salmon.
Go to his 'ASK' page using the link below and ask him a question:

[/size][/green][/font][url "http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/pete"][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/pete[/size][/green][/font][/url]

[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Then tune in on Wednesday, December 6th, to hear his answers.

6:00 PM Pacific
7:00 PM Mountain
8:00 PM Central
9:00 PM Eastern

To access the show using the Internet just visit our home page at
the time of the show and you'll see a link to start up our media player.

One click and you're listening in LIVE.
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[Thudpucker]

[sly]See the fish in my avitar!
That's a 97Lb King that Mrs Frank Mrukowski is holding up. She caught that one in the kenai River, just a short drive south of Anchorage.

I believe it's the World Record or near world record.

Alaska still has an enormous number of places to fish. Fish till you drop and see only a few other folks, if any at all.
Out on the West side of the state you can be dropped off with a Raft, and fish or Hunt for a week.

Yes, be sure to watch it. You'll drool.
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[Dryrod]

[center][cool][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]I was wondering about that King and who caught it. Heck of a brute isn't it?[/size][/green][/font][/center]
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[Thudpucker]

[unimpressed] Those big Kings are usually caught from a Drift Boat.

There is no such thing as 97 Lb Salmon fishing gear.
Usually we used 20-30Lb test line.
So you have to be able to chase the big ones.

The guides pull up the Anchor when the fish goes down stream and drift along with him.
When the Fish finally makes his last dash toward the Up stream spawning grounds he was headed for initially, the guide will skid the drift boat over to the bank and try to reach an Eddy so he can row up-stream to stay with the fish. Sometimes that works.
The Raw horsepower in a big fish like that will flat out amaze a person.

Your fishing for Fun, not for meat.
when you've set the hook, and you think you might have a chance to boat him, you stay with it.

But when it feels like you've hooked onto the back end of somebody's Pickup Truck, you know it's gonna take a long time, so they just break it off and go after another one.

Out with my Grandson, when he hooked into a good one. We stayed with it. Just me and him in the boat, and I wasn't about to make him give up that fish.
When we finally got it to the Boat, It had Seven of those Expensive Spoon Rig's stuck in his jaw and two bare Hooks with long leaders.
He was dragging some serious hardware with him.

My Grandson called him "the money Fish"

When I left, the limit was 2 Kings. There's a very long story behind that too.
Over in the western drainages of the Big Susitna River it's "Catch and release only" in most of the popular rivers. Those you have to ride an Air boat or Jet boat for 30 to 60 miles.

So I fished for Red's (Sockeye) most of the time. The limit was Six per day.
They dont eat at all in the Rivers, but for some reason they will hit a fly. Or a reasonable facsimilie therof. They will hit a bare hook with some Red, Yellow or Green Yarn tied on at the Eye just about as well. The secret is getting that Hook to the Bottom and in a place where the Red's are running.

There is NO better eating fish than a Red.
Nothing in this world smokes better or Fries better or Bakes better than a Red.
The absolute best way to enjoy a Red is to eat it right on the Bank.
It's done the "Back log method" at a campfire and he's skewered on some Willow sticks.
I have stories!!!!
PS: Even though I have new PC, I cant get any down streamed things. They come in little short blurbs. Too much trouble to deal with.
Besides, I lived there and did all that. I have memories.
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[Discman]

My sister-in-law and her husband live in Anchorage. Actually, it was her husband taking me out fishing for coho (silvers) a few years back that renewed a love of fishing I had lost since I was a kid. Since then I have fished for kings in AK a few times, but no luck. In California we get runs on Chinook, not as big, but we do get good runs. So I have been trying for those using the bead/yarn/hook method, saves money on air fare.

When he took me out fishing up there once, he told me that a trophy king is over 40lbs in all other rivers in AK, except the Kenai. On the Kenai river, a trophy king has to be over 60lbs.!!!!

Or something to that effect, it was while back. But man, those are some big fish!

He mostly uses FF gear, I don't have anything big enough, it's all 5wt trout rigs.
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[Thudpucker]

[crazy]I Hooked a King in the Salt water off Deep Creek while trying to impress somebody with my Fenwick #9.

I say I hooked him, and got him near enough to the boat to verify it was a King, but in the end I lost my fly and part of the leader.
That's just too much fish in too much open water for a light rig to haul in. Trying to hold a bit of tension with two fingers is good for some burnt skin too.

Then if your able to lift him in a little for some slack line, you just cant reel the slack in fast enough with that fly reel. (Phluger 1495)

It was a 30-40 Lb fish. We call them "Punkin seeds" because they feed up pretty good on Herring and gain a heckuva lot of weight while they are waiting for conditions to lure them Up-stream to the Spawning grounds.

The next time Your Sis/Bro in law invite you back to Alaska, go in August and fish for Silvers over in the Seward area.
Trying to catch a Silver on that #9 was a little like trying to hold onto a Scalded Dog with a piece of Spaghetti.

All Salmon pass through the Salt water in different places and depths.
BUT... All the Salmon that go up the same streams, all pass through the same places.
So, when you find those places, you'll find thousands of other fishermen.
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