fishing report week ending 6/23

Roller coaster ride. Plain and simple. Fishing was good one day, not so good the next day. To me, that is the difference between May/June fishing and July fishing. We've had some of the best catch days ever in May/June but it's inconsistent. Day in day out July is more consistent for king salmon.

The beginning of the week I fished some friends from Minnesota, Jerry Hoffman, Greg Johnson, Jim Vandeputte, and Randy (sorry, forgot the last name but soon to be Jerry's brother in law?). The first day the fishing was slow. We managed a few trout, a small king, and had a few other hookups but did not get them to the boat. The next day wasn't red hot but Greg managed to boat a nice fish that came under the slot and Jim did as well (Jim also caught a small king). Jim's fish was a classic. We were just about to wrap up the day (they were flying out that night) and Randy missed a nice fish. Instead of putting the poles away we decided to keep trolling. BAM. Almost immediately Jim hooked his fish and had him to the boat in short order. What a great way to end the day. It was too late in the day to process the fish so Jim put his fish in a soft cooler and checked it in as a carry on bag. Anywhere else in the world it would be strange bringing fish as a carry on but not in Alaska. What a great State.

On Thursday I fished Brad, Brian, Bob, and Robert and the day could best be characterized as a few missed opportunities. Everyone had a take down but we just couldn't get a hook to stick. "Should've been here yesterday" definitely applied but as Brian said, "Hey, that's fishing."

Rick Zweig and his group fished on Friday. Great, great group who know how to fish but once again the day was slow. A few trout and a small king was all we could produce. These guys were from Minnesota so quite a few stories were swapped all day long. I sure enjoyed having them in the boat.

Saturday featured "Team Nebraska" with Tod, Benny and Brian and the fourth guy is a good friend of mine/customer who moved up here from Minnesota. We caught a couple of nice kings but the bites were few and far between. We worked hard to get the two. And, after a full day of fishing Tod is now an expert on how to catch Dolly Varden. "Team Nebraska" made it to BJ's to see Hobo Jim and they definitely enjoyed the entertainment.

Once again, a great week of people and camaraderie.

Update on the red fishing on the Russian River. All of our guests that have been up there have been doing extremely well. Limits every day.