Kings, still very few fish in the rivers.......

[Ard]

Today is May 30th and I've been on the waters for three weeks hoping to catch some early Kings. Today I did actually see a few fish but they were in an area closed to fishing so no help there. When I say I saw some I mean in the neighborhood of 25 - 33 fish, they're hard to count when moving but I've gotten good with my guesstimates.

The beauty of blundering into some in May is that there are very few other people out this early and it is fishing the way Alaskan fishing should be, quiet & uncrowded. The day was spectacular with a cool start and brilliant sunshine by 11 AM. A few puffy white clouds riding high in an azure blue sky and everything all green along the rivers made it just a fine day to take a boat ride.

I'm headed out again tomorrow and plan to take my Nikon (serious pictures) and tripod so that if there are few fish I can concentrate on getting some good landscapes to post up

 

[smp005]

It has been quite a few years since I chased Kings on the Lower Kenai and the Anchor...

Gonna have to make it back up when the Silvers are running soon - I could spend a week just fishing Quartz Creek for 'bows and dollies

I'd forgot till I posted this - my avatar picture was taken on the Kenai!

 

[Ard]

Hi SMP,

I don't get down that way too often, honestly I can't handle the crowded conditions on the Peninsula. I do go down late fall once it gets cold, that cuts the numbers greatly. The trade off is that sometimes I don't have many fish around me but I'm OK with that because there are no people around me either. I'll post up tomorrow evening with some pictures from the day.

Ard

 

[smp005]

A buddy of mine and I spent a week on a houseboat in Bear Trap Bay in I think it was 1999. The silver fishing was incredible - caught them fresh coming in, but you had to wade thru the pinks to get to them!

Broke three 8 weights that week.. LOL!

It was with Ketchum Air Service - don't think they are around anymore..

 

[Ard]

Heck, I don't even know where that place is but then it's a big place. I live 6.5 miles from Wasilla and the cabin is out near Skwentna so most of my fishing happens within 100 miles. I do get around a little and was just shopping air taxies for a trip over onto the Seward Peninsula last night. When I do travel I like to do the drop off and pick up in a week trips.

 

[smp005]

It definitely is a big place that's for sure! Bear Trap Bay is sort of hidden in between Cordovan and Valdez - near Port Gravina..

Unbelievable Silver fishing! Bright, tail dancing fish!!

Ah.. The good ol' days!

 

[Ard]

It sounds good to me, is there a river entering the bay there? I'm looking for some destinations. Still no joy with the Kings here. I just came home, left this morning at 3:50 A.M. and was at my destination before 6. I did have one grab but it didn't get hooked and didn't come again. I also saw 3 fish jump today. Those are the first that I have seen come out of the water this year. There were 6 other boats on the river so it was a quiet morning.

I'll look for your reply about the bay.....

 

[smp005]

Our houseboat was anchored in Comfort Cove, which was FILLED with Pinks and some Silvers.

We used the skiff to run up Bear Trap Bay and into the river which was full of Silvers. In most places up the river it wasn't very wide - 20ft or so.. Have to watch the tides - we stayed abit too long one day and had to drag the skiff over some sandbars coming out - greenhorn mistake! Best part - there was NO ONE ELSE near us for many many miles!! We had all the fresh silvers to ourselves!

There were a couple excellent spots up on the points of Comfort Cove to camp with good boat access..It would awesome to anchor out in Bear Trap bay and run in each day to fish.. Ketchum had a Turbo Otter so on the way out we went up and over from Anchorage to the houseboat. Coming out we went into Valdez in a Beaver..

I recommend a minimum of a 375 H&H just in case - they don't call it Bear Trap Bat for nothing and the grass along the river was about 4' high We did not run into any but the scat and tracks were big and everywhere.. Would be a good place to hunt browns too!

I need to find some pictures from our trip and scan them (before the days of digital cameras and Google Earth) LOL!!!

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[ptarmigan]

I'll be getting out for the first time on Monday. My wife and I will be doing an overnight trip on that busy valley river. It's fun for us to set up camp on a gravel bar, start a fire, and fish until 11. We'll get up early and hit the 6 am opener. Should be a fun trip. I'm ready to put the boat in water instead of working on it getting ready for the summer.

 

[Ard]

Hi Matt,

If you're talking about the river that gets the big numbers every year then keep an eye peeled for me. I've been everywhere but the cabin since May first, I haven't been to Hewitt and the creeks and rivers out there due to extremely low water conditions in the Yentna drainage. The creek is so low that you cannot get a boat into Hewitt Lake.

Unless there is a change in conditions by Monday I'll be fishing the Valley, the boat is an ATEC Sockeye and there is generally a German Shepherd standing up front. Give a wave and I'll stop.



He makes me nervous but insists on standing up front most of the time. He's been doing it so long that now when he sees another boat or any sort of broken water ahead he jumps down and braces for either the wake or the bottom. I've been known to bottom out time to time, boy if he could talk..



We've been looking for the early fish since April 30th. We have found a couple but when there's only a handful of fish in a 150 yard long run and you can't see them they can be very hard to find. Wednesday I had my first grab of the season from a salmon but it never got onto the hook solid. Within seconds of the triple tap I dropped about a foot of line and there was no second hit. I dropped another foot and did a little jig thing that sometimes draws a second look but there was nothing...............

If you can, make something similar to this (been working for me for 8 years now)



Front cone or no cone, if you make them broad at the front they do a good job of pulsing if you bump the rod a bit as they swing. Total length only around 2.5 to 3" but they get skinny when under hydro stress and pop out big and fat when the hydro stress is reduced by the rod bumps. Hope that made sense,

Ard

 

[ptarmigan]

Well I'm not sure how far up we'll go, but we'll be out there. We'll be shacked up in this tent.



And cruising around in the (most likely) only Alweld out there.



Hopefully we can connect. I'll have coffee on in the AM if you're headed on up by us. Should be a few more fish spread out by Monday I hope.