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Silver Salmon Kick-Off Alagnak River Fishing Report

August 10, 2019 by · 1 Comment

Silver Salmon Kick-Off Alagnak River Fishing Report

We had a day off and got a little silly.

Thank you for reading this Silver Salmon Kick-Off Alagnak River Fishing Report from Katmai Lodge.

Jason with a pink streamer-caught chum salmon.

Chum salmon are still coming, not quite as hard as they were. Bright ones can still be found, though. Pink streamers swung in the current still do the job. And they are still a blast to catch, and delicious smoked.

Charmel got this chum on a Vibrax spinner.

The silvers are still hit or miss. The large numbers of fish that were predicted to move in on last week’s big tides did not. The summer has been historically dry. The river is exceptionally low. Places we caught silvers last year are dry. So whether or not the fish will show up in numbers is anyone’s guess. If they show like we hope they will fishing will be outstanding!

The silver salmon, the beast we await.

With the kings and the chums starting to spawn, trout fishing this week is all about the bead. Find a fine primer on bead fishing at this link: https://www.alaskaflyfishinggoods.com/beads/bead-fishing-201-the-next-level

Even with a leech. adding a bead isn’t a bad plan.

That’s this week’s Silver Salmon Kick-Off Alagnak River Fishing Report from Katmai Lodge. Thanks for reading!

Running by a bluff.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

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Alagnak River Fishing Report featuring Matt Cicero

August 3, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Alagnak River Fishing Report featuring Matt Cicero

Our man Matt.

Thank you for reading this Alagnak River Fishing Report featuring Matt Cicero.

Matt fly fishes, too.

Matt, a resident of Edgewater, Florida, guides here at Katmai Lodge. In other lives he plays bass and guitar, and guides in Florida. He looks like a rockstar, but is a down-to-earth, righteous kind of guy. We are lucky to have him here.

Fishing
The chums still pour in. It’s the time of year when your arms ache from catching too many, big fish after big fish. We’re still swinging cerise streamers for them.

Matt battles the mighty tiger salmon.

 

The tiger, nearly vanquished.

 

Matt with a tiger.

King salmon season closed as of August 1. No more fishing for kings.

The silvers have been very hit or miss because they have not appeared in any numbers yet. Mr. Ed Wasicki kindly gave me several spoonflies to use for them. Haven’t tried them yet, Ed, no fish yet! We’re looking at 24 foot tides this weekend- prognosticators predict the fish will move in on these big tides. We wait eagerly!

With the kings and the chums starting to spawn, trout fishing this week is all about the bead. Next week’s report will feature some details.

Trout fishing now is all about the bead.

That’s this week’s Alagnak River Fishing Report featuring Matt Cicero! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report, Fishing Reports · Tagged: , , , , ,

Bears Everywhere Alagnak River Fishing Report

July 28, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Bears Everywhere Alagnak River Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Bears Everywhere Alagnak River Fishing Report.

The river is as low as has been seen in several years. While there’s rain falling now, it will take a lot of water to raise the river to “normal” levels.

Here at Katmai Lodge on the Alagnak River we live in bear country. We’re talking Alaska brown bears- large, powerful animals, wild and unpredictable. It’s thrilling seeing them. We see five or six every day. Respect the bear if you want to stay out of trouble. Trouble may find you anyway.

The bear swims out, possibly to join me.

I went to a mid-river gravel bar today to clean fish. All alone, I wanted a place that a bear couldn’t just pop out of the bushes and surprise me. It turns out the gravel bar was a perfect location.

The bear gains shallow water and starts to run- towards me!

In the middle of my task I looked up to see a bear swimming towards me. “Hey bear!” I shouted, to let him know I was there. Surprisingly, he changed course, swimming across the river downstream of me.

This was as close as he got.

Apparently, when he hit the far bank he came back up the river through the brush, reappearing on the shore uncomfortably close to me. He climbed in the water and started swimming my way.

I started yelling at him again, and prepared to cede my location. It was a small brown bear, but he still had 300 pounds on me! To my surprise he again changed course, stopping on a nearby gravel pan. He eventually swam to the far shore again, and I finished my fish cleaning. So no trouble today.

Fishing
The sockeyes are for all practical purposes done. May they have a strong and successful spawn.

The chums are here in strength. We had our limit this morning by 1000 AM, swinging cerise streamers. Big, strong, and aggressive, I love the chums!!

A young Jack Walker with a chum salmon.

Kings are still being caught. The run was not strong, but if you persevere you can get them by casting Vibrax in soft water. Green has been the best color.

Nice kings like this one are still being caught.

The first silvers of the season have been caught this week. I have not seen one, but I have not looked for them yet. Silver fishing is my favorite as far as salmon are concerned. I look forward to doing some wogging!

No one has been trout fishing this week, so I have no report. I suspect beading will be in full swing during the coming week.

That’s this week’s Bears Everywhere Alagnak River Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report, Fishing Reports · Tagged: , , , ,

Brooks Falls Alagnak River Fishing Report

July 21, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Brooks Falls Alagnak River Fishing Report

Take-off from the Alagnak!

Thank you for reading this Brooks Falls Alagnak River Fishing Report from Katmai Lodge.

Subscriber Sandra from Michigan sent me the following-
“Please post a pic with Lucas in it. My son and I love looking at your posts.”

So here is a pic of Luke, taken last year-

Gratuitous pic of Lucas…

The observant reader may have noticed the title of this week’s post includes the “Brooks Falls” word sequence. Wikipedia says this about Brooks Falls-

Brooks Falls is a waterfall located within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Located on the Brooks River a mile and a half from Brooks Lake and an equal distance from Naknek Lake, the falls are famous for watching salmon leap over the 6 foot falls to get to their Brooks Lake spawning grounds.

Consequently, large populations of brown bears and grizzly bears are attracted to feed on the spawning salmon. Brown bears usually congregate at the falls in July and early September, and many well-known photos of bears have been taken there. Bears in July are the greatest concentrations seen at any year at the falls; up to 25 bears have been seen at one time at Brooks Falls in that month. In September, a smaller number of bears (maximum about 18 at one time) can be seen at the falls to feast on the later salmon runs. July and September are by far the best months for viewing grizzly bears in the Brooks Camp area.

Brooks Falls

Katmai Lodge guests frequently take a float plane to Naknek Lake and walk to the falls to view the action. I was included this week and got the photos below.

 

Pilot gets shut-eye while guest views bears.

 

You can get serious lens envy here.

 

Kayaking with bears.

 

Fishing bear.

 

Snacking bear.

And, in an unusual turn of events-

Tammy with toddler Cash. Is she considering adopting???

Fishing
Sockeyes continue strong. That can’t last much longer. But everyone is filling their fish boxes in the meantime.

The chums have showed up in strength. People are having exhausting 30- and 40-fish days, mainly by swinging pink streamers. I love the chums!!

Kings are still being caught. The run was not strong, but if you persevere you can get them by casting Vibrax in soft water.

Trout fishing is in that transition period when they’re waiting for the egg drop. As a result the trout bite is slower than is was. It will pick up again as the chums start dropping eggs.

In non-fishing news, some blueberries are ripe. We spent nearly an hour today picking and eating blue- and salmonberries. Yum!

That’s this week’s Brooks Falls Alagnak River Fishing Report from Katmai Lodge! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report, Fishing Reports · Tagged: , , , , ,

Sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report

July 14, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report, fresh from Katmai Lodge!

The extraordinary hot, sunny weather we have been experiencing continued through the week. Salmon don’t like the sun. They come into the river out of 100 feet or more of water in the ocean. Suddenly they’re in a river only a few feet deep, with that blazing orb hurting their eyes. Small wonder they don’t bite well.

We went out after supper one evening, to “sockeye school” run by Jamie. Stupid numbers of fish were coming upriver, moving while the sun was low in the sky. Our photos show what a strenuous, stressful time we had on this outing.

Instructor Jamie shows how it’s done.

 

Sockeyes come out of a riffle.

 

Matt casts to sockeyes.

 

No surprise, Tammy caught on fast.

 

SCORE!

 

Matt scores too!

I spent the professional part of my week back-trolling for kings (with zero success) every morning, then trying to catch sockeyes during the brightest, hottest part of the day. We did not do well.

Last night we finally got a small blast of cooler air, accompanied by rain that lasted until about midday today. With the clouds the salmon started moving well, and my new guests both got their sockeye limits in only a couple hours.

A few chums and kings are being caught. We look forward to the impending incursion of chum salmon into the river. I love those beasts!

That’s this week’s sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report ·

Independence Day Alagnak River Fishing Report

July 6, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Independence Day Alagnak River Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Independence Day Alagnak River Fishing Report. Hope you had a safe and happy Independence Day!

Anchorage is in the upper right, King Salmon in the lower left.

Last week I wrote, “For those of you not up-to-date on your Alaska geography, the Alagnak River is about 200 miles southeast of Anchorage…” A kind reader pointed out that I was directionally challenged. The river is southwest of Anchorage, not southeast. Sincere apologies to any who suffered due to this error.

Speaking of suffering, we are experiencing historically high temperatures here at Katmai Lodge. I brought long underwear and fleece. I need board shorts and Tevas. We have fishermen who are wet wading, unheard of around these parts.

The king salmon run has been historic too- historically low so far. Quite a bit of effort was expended this week in fishing for kings.

While some nice fish were caught, every one has required a lot of work. Some boats experienced very little success.

Back-trolling and casting Vibrax spinners have been the best techniques. Fly fishers have only caught jacks.

Fellow guide Karl Baird with a nice king salmon.

The sockeyes are just beginning to filter in. I expect we’ll be fishing hard for them next week.

I brought Larry, Matthew, and Andrew up into the Braids yesterday, where we fly fished for rainbow trout and grayling. Lodge policy prevents me from posting photos of guests, so I have to share file photos. But we got some beautiful fish, on articulated leeches and egg-sucking leeches.

My guests next week are from Brasil. Tudo bem!

That’s this week’s Independence Day Alagnak River Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report, Fishing Reports · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Pre-Season Alagnak River Fishing Report

June 29, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Pre-Season Alagnak River Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Alagnak River Fishing Report! And I don’t mean we’re fishing before the legal fishing season. We’re fishing before our Katmai Lodge guests begin arriving.

For those of you not up-to-date on your Alaska geography, the Alagnak River is about 200 miles southeast of Anchorage, and is part of the Bristol Bay drainage. The nearest town is King Salmon. Katmai Lodge is our base on the river.

Ken caught this jack king on a Vibrax spinner.

Speaking of king salmon, some effort has been expended fishing for them. All we’ve caught so far are jacks, precocious males that have not spent much time at sea. We’ve yet to hit a full-grown adult. Back-trolling, spin-casting, and fly fishing have all been tried, with varying degrees of success. The big ones should be arriving any day now.

One of the Lodge’s boats passing us on the river.

Another anadromous fish that has begun showing in the river are sockeye salmon. Hundreds of thousands of these fish will run up the river to spawn, then die. Many people consider them the finest eating salmon species.

Tom got this rainbow on a leech pattern.

Tom Van Horn and I ran up the river last week looking for rainbow trout. We found them, and grayling too. Trout were caught on articulated black leech patterns and egg-sucking leeches. Grayling were taken on dry flies.

Fishing around lumber is a tried and true way to catch trout.

I went up the river yesterday with Luke and Dan, Michigan natives both. Those Michigan fellows know their trout fishing! We did well on leech and mouse patterns.

Luke fooled this nice ‘bow with a mouse pattern.

The weather all week has been spectacular, cool in the morning and bright, sunny, and almost Florida hot in the afternoon. Our biggest weather-related problem has been sunburn.

Tammy used a nymph to catch this Indian Love Stone.

That’s this week’s Pre-Season Alagnak River Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Alagnak River fishing report, Fishing Reports · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Father’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 16, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Father’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Father’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report! And to all you dads, Happy Father’s Day! I just spent my morning cutting grass.

FISHING

Tuesday
The skiff was not available while the trailer was being repaired. So early Tuesday morning I met Bob Reed at Snow Hill road for some Econlockhatchee fly fishing.

It’s been raining a lot. The river was blown out. So we just went home.

Once home I checked the gauge – it was over 5 and still rising. The river won’t fish for a while.

Friday
Ed Wasicki joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. We did not stay anywhere long. There were several places to check before the storms started. But I got a slot red, and Ed lost one. Ed also got a couple nice trout, one well over 20 inches. And there were a few dinker trout too. We were off the water a little after noon. The skies opened up shortly afterwards.

Saturday
Sebastian Fasanello, a fly fisher from Buffalo, joined me on Mosquito Lagoon. We went to a spot, fished tailing redfish all morning (!), and then left at 11 AM.

Hadn’t seen this in quite a while!

Sebastian boated three slot fish and missed a couple strikes. The fly of choice was a black and purple streamer. It was a pretty awesome morning!

Sebastian was happy with his redfish!

I have a lot of non-fishing things to do this week. There may not be a report next week.

That’s this week’s Father’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Mixed Bag Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report

June 9, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Mixed Bag Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Mixed Bag Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report!

Thanks to all of you who bought books. Shipping all those books reminded me of the good old days!

FISHING

Tuesday
Tammy and I took the Mitzi out of Port Canaveral. The ocean looked like a pond. I tossed the net a few times north of the jetty, and was finally rewarded with a couple dozen pound-and-a-half menhaden. Truly, I’ve caught much smaller fish while using hook and line. But we had some bait.

As we cruised along the beach looking, there were scattered outbreaks of Spanish mackerel and little tunny. I got a nice mack on a Sting Silver.

Finally we saw what we were looking for- rolling tarpon! I shut the boat down and dropped the trolling motor. For a couple hours it looked like Sea World- strings of tarpon cruising just under the surface, monster jacks running by, five foot sharks making their presence felt, even a few king mackerel attacking the baits. There were loggerheads copulating all around us. We had several tarpon bites and Tammy put a big one in the air a few times.

copulating sea turtles

Turtles were copulating all around us.

The bite slowed down and we made the mistake of thinking we could find more fish by searching again. We were wrong.

copulating sea turtles

More copulating turtles!

We returned to the hot spot to find only an occasional roller. But there were thousands of five pound jacks, many with fins in the air. A fly rod appeared, and several fish cooperated by crushing a Krebs popper.

Tammy lays the cast out.

 

A fish cooperated.

 

Mission accomplished!

All-in-all it was an awesome day, as fishing with Tammy usually is.

Thursday
Scott Radloff and I took the Mitzi back out of Port Canaveral. The ocean did not look like a pond. It was choppy and sloppy. I could not catch any bait.

I used the tried-and-true tactic of returning to the place where the fish were last time I was out. The fish did not use that same tactic, however. NO one was home.

We ended up off the tip of the cape. Northern sennett were thick and aggressive. Bluefish and blue runners were there. We got a few small jacks and ladyfish. We saw a few tarpon roll. So we caught a lot of fish, but they were all small ones.

Friday
Nils Johnson and Allen Dronko joined me at Port Canaveral for some ocean fishing. We cleared the jetties. It was choppy and sloppy. There were three of us the skiff instead of only two. So I turned around, loaded the boat, and went to Mosquito Lagoon. The trout bite had been good. It seemed like a solid plan.

The trout had left the building.

We worked it hard all day for exactly two slot trout, basically touring most of my trout spots in the process. It was a tough, frustrating day. But thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

As I left Haulover I realized that I had blown a wheel bearing on my trailer. Jim Savage used to tell me, “Trailering is the weak link in boating.” I had been meaning to do bearing maintenance, had procrastinated, and now probably have to replace the axle. Argh!

That’s this week’s Mixed Bag Central Florida Saltwater Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Optimistic Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 3, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

An Optimistic Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Optimistic Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report!

Summer has certainly arrived in central Florida, with the thermometer hitting the mid-90s every day. Start your fishing trips early!

FANTASTIC OFFER
This is the final week we run the book offer- three of my book titles are now available for five cents each, only from my website. Thanks to all of you who have already taken advantage!
–Flyrodding Florida Salt
–How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System
–Fishing Florida’s Space Coast
Shipping is still $5.95 each. The mailers cost money, the post office wants a cut, and the mail boy has to bring the package to the post office. But you can have each of these titles delivered to your door for six bucks. Act now!
———————

FISHING
MONday
Just did some retention pond fishing with son Alex, only for an hour. We got three bass between us, all modest size-wise. Alex hooked a larger one, but you know what happens to the Big One.

Tuesday
Alex and I took the Mitzi out of Port Canaveral after waiting for a submarine to sail. We ran south, close to the beach, as far as Patrick AFB, finding very little other than two rolling tarpon. Alex caught a small bonnethead, using a jig.

I turned east and headed out to sea a couple miles, then headed north. The water was BEAUTIFUL, clear, blue, oceanic water with Sargassum. But we did not see any bait or fish.

We ran to Cape Canaveral, fishing around the breakers for a while. I got a dink ladyfish, also on a jig.

We followed the beach back to the jetty where we anchored, tossing out a chunk of mullet. That resulted in a sizable ray, and an exit from the fishing excursion.

Wednesday
Scott Radloff and I took the Mitzi out on Mosquito Lagoon. Recognizing I had been in somewhat of a rut I looked in places I had not been in a long time.

The first fish we saw was a tailing redfish. We did not get a shot. We found a couple dozen reds in water shallow enough that I was pushing the boat through mud. The fish were very spooky, giving us only two shots, neither of which was converted. But it was so good to see them!

Changing locations, I was happily surprised to find the water was much cleaner than it’s been lately. We hit a few dink trout. Then I saw a real one. It struck my bait (soft plastic shad) without hesitation. It was at least four pounds, perhaps more. I did not take it from the water before releasing it.

spottedtail.com

The best fish of the day, caught and released by Scott.

The best part was, it was one of four that size, plus several smaller ones. So while we did not hit a red we got about 20 trout including some real nice ones. And the water was cleaner.

Nice day!

Sunday brothers Chance and Charlie Moore, Texans both, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We first went to the redfish spot. I thought they would be tailing- WRONG. There were fish there, hitting bait. I thought we should have gotten a few-WRONG. Nary a bite. So we changed it up and went fishing for trout.

Trout fishing was pretty good. We got about twenty, with the best a fat fish close to five pounds. All were taken on 3” plastic shad, and all were released.

orlando fishing charter

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

The water looks pretty good, as clean as its been in quite a while

That’s this week’s Optimistic Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report. Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2019. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , ,
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