Jordanelle Rainbows and Small Mouth Bass 8/24/17

Thursday Shifty and I hit the water at Jordanelle Reservoir. We launched at 6:30 and had gear in the water before 7 am. We trolled pop gear and worm for the trout. The water was nice and clear with little debris in it, 67 degrees when we started off. Jack-of-diamonds and rainbow pop gear were the colors, Shifty was out 135 ft and I was out 100 ft. 

Starvation Fishing 8/17/17

Thursday morning I picked up Shifty and we headed for Starvation. We made it on the water by 7 am and fishing in trout lanes quickly after that. I was trolling pop gear and Shifty was trolling a Gulls Custom dodger and squid. I got a fish on in a few minutes of setting my line. Don't know what it was, it released right at the boat. We made our way through the Rabbit Gulch lanes and back into the same spot as the last fish and I got another fish on. This time I took a little more time to get it in and made sure Shifty could net it. A nice rainbow trout to start off the limit.

Evening Fish with Family

Last Wednesday evening the boys asked if I was up for a fish. I of course said yes! We met up at 5 pm with my grandson Harrison along for the trip and we headed south. The boys wanted to go for Kokanee at one of our favorite Colorado Cutthroat lakes. Parker had been up there in the last couple weeks and got a couple plus a few cutthroat. We made it to the lake by 6:30 pm and we quickly got launched.

Salmon Fishing - Kenai River - Soldotna, Alaska! Part 2

Part 2

Sunday - Day 3 - the routine was same, on the river early, breakfast, fish, snack, fish, and dinner. I landed one fish, Gary limited, Jim and Rulon got two fish. We worked on the pavers during the day when we needed a break from casting.

Monday - Day 4 - the routine was the same. We landed 3 limits and I got skunked!! The beginner luck had worn off!

Tuesday - Day 5 - was a hard day only two fish were caught for the day. The Fish and Game allowed the boats and netters set up at the mouth of the river on Monday and not many fish made their way upstream to us. We worked hard and long on the pavers today and got the whole project complete laying over 400 pavers.

Wednesday - Day 6 - we were all extremely tired from the paver project but we managed to get on the river by 6 am and the fish we were in. Jim and Gary had limits before breakfast, Rulon had two and I had one. Rulon and I fished the rest of the day and I managed to land one more and Rulon ended with two on the bank. After breakfast we went to Homer and did some sightseeing. Homer is a port town with many charters taking people out for Halibut and Cod. We thought about chartering a boat until we seen the catches coming for the day. We went to the Salty Dawg Saloon and walked around the "spit" for most of the afternoon. Gary was fishing the lagoon where the silvers were stacked up. That was a sight to see, these fish were jumping all over the lagoon. The tide was out however and the fish weren't actively feeding, so Gary didn't catch anything. We learned that the show "Alaska the Last Frontier" is filmed just a few miles outside of Homer.

Processing the fish, we filleted the fish on the bank of the river on the deck that Will had put on the bank with a cleaning station. After filleting the fish they were taken to the garage where they were de-boned and packaged each day. This process took a couple hours each day depending on the number fish caught that day. The processing station was awesome! Sink with counter tops stainless steel tables and vacuum packing machines at the end. They have four full size freezers to store the fish in until it was time for us to leave.

Thursday - Day 7 - We each limited out pretty early with 3 fish each. This was an epic day on the river according to Jim and the others. Will joined us for few minutes and got one banked as well and we ate his fish for dinner that night. Not much better than Salmon fresh out of the water to the plate. We worked on the paver project to level and sand it.

Friday - Day 8 - What a day! Jim and Gary limited out before breakfast at 10 am and Rulon limited out right after breakfast. I on the other hand hadn't had a hit. They worked on the rain gutters another thing that was always done during the stay at Will and Jane's. Service for others is great especially when those you are serving are such great people. Back to the river I was casting for hours before I had a hook up. Landed my first fish about 1 pm and I started at 7:30 am. My second hooked up about an hour later, figuring I cast 12 times per minute, we figured I was casting near 800 times an hour. My third sockeye came into the bank foul hooked and was released. About 4 pm I finally landed my third sockeye and had my final limit of the trip!! You figure the math for how many cast I made for the day.

Saturday - Day 9 - Heading home. We cleaned and disinfected the fish processing station and the floors of the garages, cleaned our apartment and had breakfast. Gary and Jim went to river early in the morning and landed a couple more sockeye to give to Will and Jane for their freezer. Rulon and I stayed at the house and cleaned up and packed. After the day yesterday I was cast out and didn't hit the river. We left the Madison's around 2 pm and headed for Anchorage. Stopped for ice cream again at Wildman's in Cooper's Landing. Along Highway 1 we came to what we thought was an accident, but no it was a bear and her cub in a tree alongside the road, just like we were in Yellowstone. Making to Anchorage we stopped at the Anchorage Temple. We then went to the river and watched the combat fishing along the banks. That was crazy. We ate and went to the airport met a few others from Utah waiting for our red eye flight that left at 1:00 am Sunday morning.

What an experience!! I hope to get to go again with the party had so much fun and never worked so hard for a limit of 3 fish. It was definitely different style of fishing and until you do it, you won't understand.

Salmon Fishing - Kenai River - Soldotna, Alaska! Part 1

This trip was a definite bucket list achievement. I had been invited a couple times but was unable to attend previously. When Jim called me last October and invited me this year, I was going. I had my money to him the next day to cover the expenses of air and truck. Yes, last October is when the plans were laid for this trip the first week of August.

Friday - Day one Jim picked me up at my place at 5:30 am and we made our way to SLC airport. We checked boxes loaded with goodies that Jim had been putting together for the year and a gun he had purchased for the people we were staying with. Flight to Seattle and then Anchorage. We landed in Anchorage at 12:30 and we got our supplies and truck. We then picked up storage bags that the Madisons needed for processing the fish. We made our way out of Anchorage up highway 1 to Soldotna. We stopped in Girdwood, and then Cooper's Landing where we stopped to get some Ice Cream! Rulon always looking forward to getting his ice cream at Wildman's Store. We called Will and Jane to let them know we were close. This was about 6 pm, we arrived at Will and Jane's after a quick stop at the Fred Meyer for our fishing license. The dusk hours were beginning. We got to Will and Jane's around 7 pm and we unloaded the truck. I met our host for the first time and exchanged hellos. Will and Janes's home is beautiful and sits on the Kenai River. We stayed in the "caregivers" apartment above the garage.

We had a quick dinner and then we fished. I was fulfilling a dream and casting my line into the Kenai River was surreal. I imagined how it would be with fly pole in hand and working the fly through the columns and hooking up a salmon and fighting it into my net. Not quite that way, the fishing was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I had a 9 ft ugly stick fly pole loaded with 80-pound halibut braid and attached was a 1.5 oz weight to 50-pound leader tied onto a size 2 hook with some yarn to make it look like a fly. I was quickly given a lesson on the casting method and retrieval method. Not casting more than 6 - 8 feet of line out with the 6 - 8 feet of leader and getting the sinker to the bottom as quickly as possible and feeling it drag across the rocks during the drift and then quickly setting the hook with pull and set motion to hook a fish. I observed the others for a minute and then got after it. I fished until 11:30 pm that evening, the sun never set so it was dusk and I could see my line the whole time. I managed to land my first Kenai Sockeye Salmon that evening. Jim, Rulon, and Gary were surprised, most of the time it takes people quite a while to master the technique and get a fish onshore. I was elated!! My first fish before the end of the first day!

Saturday - Day 2 - I woke up at 6:30 to find the others gone! They were already fishing. I got to the river and found that Gary and Jim had already 2 fish each of their 3 fish limit. The fish were in. I quickly got in the water and started the repetitive motion of casting and pull-setting over and over again and again. We fished until Will came to the deck of his beautiful home said breakfast was ready, at which time everyone reeled in and retreated to the breakfast table. Jane had fixed us a nice breakfast! During breakfast, we learned what our service project was to be, a 20 x 30-foot paver project. Gary being a contractor would take the lead on this project and we would help by moving the 400 plus pavers.

The House - Will, and Jane are retired educators and built this house to their specifications for hosting large parties and fishing the river. Pulling in the first thing you notice is a large greenhouse filled with greenery. The driveway leads up to a double 2 car garage, with one side specifically set up to process fish and game, the other had the washer, dryer, and bathroom with shower. The garage stairs lead you down to the basement which is completely open and set up for storage, this is where you find a wall of waders of all sizes and fishing poles hanging from the ceiling. Upstairs you had three options, door one took you into the main living area, door two opened onto the deck and the outside main entrance and door three lead you upstairs to the "caregiver" apartment. The main floor is open and spacious with a hallway leading to the movie room, master bedroom and guest bedroom, and bathroom, with a steam shower in it. The apartment has a living room, full bath, and bedroom, this was built for when Will and Jane get older they can have a caregiver stay in it and take care of them.

After breakfast we were back on the river it didn't take long for Jim and Gary to limit out and they went up to start the paver project. Rulon and I stayed on the river, until "afternoon snack time".  I manage to get one fish on the bank and Rulon had two on the bank. After snacks, We went back to the river where I landed another sockeye. This was the end of catching fish for the day we never landed our third fish after hours of casting and dinner was being served Rulon and I called it a day.

Strawberry with Shifty Trolling for Kokanee

So on the 27th of July shifty and I went in search of Kokanee Salmon on Strawberry reservoir. We got to the lake early and started in some lanes that I learned earlier that held some Kokanee. I don't have downriggers set up on the Fish Steeler and don't know that I will. Today I tried a new piece of trolling equipment, a jet diver that holds your rig at 30 feet, using this so I can use the light gear rather than my lead line. Shifty ran his lead line. We fished until noon, so we put in 5 hours of fishing. I landed the first fish of the day, a nice cutthroat but not what we were targeting. I changed colors of my dodgers and squid using attractant gels the whole nine yards trying to get a Kokanee to bite.

Shifty changed out from the dodger to a Rapala and hooked up a chub of all things. He later landed a nice cutthroat as well. We both changed our presentation numerous times but couldn't find the Kokanee. We asked around and the other boats weren't catching many either. My conclusion is to get Kokanee on a regular basis you need to have downriggers and solid electronics to see the activity below. After not getting any Shifty wanted to go drift power bait back in the bay, so we went back into the bay and gave it a shot. I trolled worms and then threw some iron at them. To no avail, we didn't get a sniff. We called it a day and went home to pack for Alaska!!