Hey guys, it’s game time! (Sorta…🙄) We just got back from Alaska on Sunday afternoon and found out that the guys at the shop have been inundated with calls already about Salmon, and even Salmon in the fly water spawning, among other things. (The internet will do that.)
FYI – When reading the internet, you should always keep in mind that it only takes a half dozen (Or even less.) fish in some of those early season holding pools up further for some people to “hook fifty” and share a few photos. In other words, don’t get too excited just yet, but yes, there are some fish around…
Don’t get me wrong, you can all run right up here right now if you want to, but please keep in mind that it wasn’t us that told you to do so! We would absolutely LOVE to have your business right now, (We really do want your business!) but “I personally think” the reason we still have a lot of your business is because of our reputation for honest reports over all of these years since the internet first became a thing and my father built our very first site for us.
That being said, as long as your expectations are realistic, and you are familiar with the early season holding water, (Not saying there’s “none”, but not so much where you can “see” them just yet.) you can scratch out a pretty good day!
I took my brother-in-law Mark (Pictured above.) out for a short mission yesterday morning downriver pitching crank baits on spinning rods. This can change from day to day, but Storm’s Deep Jr. ThunderStick in the good old reliable Fire Tiger was our hot bait and we tried many.
As daylight broke we saw a fair amount of wakes and movement going upstream from new arrivals and that continued in our area until the sun got higher around 8:30-9am or so, but I understand they kept moving well into the afternoon a little above there. Fish continued to roll in the holes around us all the way up until we left around 10am and probably longer.
Watching him fight those fish was “almost” as much fun as watching him try to man the net when I finally brought one to the boat myself that is. 😂👊😎
I really thought that we were not going to get any photos to share when we had both lost 2 supercharged fish each after great battels by around 8am, but then we managed to hang onto one each shortly after that putting us at 2/6 on fish that actually counted and probably another half dozen or so rod jerking “short strikes” all before 9am.
I’m sure that had we stuck it out we could have hit at least a few more, but it was a planned short mission with other things going on around here. I did get another afternoon report from a friend and colleague who fished well below where we had been in the afternoon, and they had a pretty serious rod bending party just floating bait the last I heard…
I’ve got this guy coming up for Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday of next week and I’m seriously looking forward to it! Dennis is my most highly trained assassin, always comes early before the crowds if there’s fish or not (If there’s not, we catch pike!) and this year should be extra fun for him…😎🎣👊
Another guide buddy was fun fishing the pier heads yesterday morning where some fish were being caught and he said that the boats they could see were busy with their landing nets also, all good news!
This morning was not “quite” as spectacular as it was yesterday with an even shorter trip as Stu had to get back to finish the computer work at the shop for us, but we did see a fair amount of fish moving/rolling again and, if I could have held on to them, we’d have had 4 in the boat… (In other words, I got my ass kicked and taken to the wood four times in spectacular fashion and I’m now down several lures! 🙄😂🤣)
Every section has its few special places that are holding some fish right now, but there are still blank spots throughout the system as well and these areas can change on a day-to-day basis. (Here today gone tomorrow for a little while yet.) If you move around enough and fish the right water, (Not some empty gravel bar with a perplexed look on your face that we see so very often early season. 🙄🤷♂️🤣) you should find some fun!
Please remember to respect one another and keep in mind that a smile, a wave or even some brief communication can go a long way towards everyone accomplishing the shared goal of having a great time. The shop is fully stocked, (And we hope you’ll help us empty it!) the water is normal and clear, and the fish are coming home right on schedule unlike last year!
I personally have no dates open that I want to book at this point until late October and onward for Steelhead/Trout, but we do still have some great guides open between now and September 8th if you’d like to get in on the action! (Open Motel dates are scattered throughout the season also.) Give the shop a call to check on or book any of those… (231) 745-3529
Below here is a 95-picture slide show of this year’s Alaskan adventure. (Hit the arrows or swipe to scroll thru.) I actually have hundreds of photos that are not included here as I tried to keep this under 100! (That’s a lot of resizing and such for the internet! 😂)
As always, we can’t thank the clients that joined us, (Paul, Norm, Lisa, Bill, Jeff, Brian & Lars) owners Jim and Phyliss, all of the seriously professional guides and the awesome staff at Alaska’s Naknek River Camp enough for another fine experience! Click here for next year’s dates and rates if you’d like to lock in a spot on this epic trip, our “BBT Special” rates did not go up for 2025 and spots should fill nicely…
That’s all I’ve got for now, but we’ll be keeping you posted and hope to see you around the shop, motel or on the river soon! Till then, be safe, be well and above all, get out there and have some fun…
Steve
