Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Fishing 2016

This trip is a bit high end but if you want to try catching Dollies....Big Dollies check out the Wulik and the Kelly Rivers. Mid Aug spawn and fish in the 15-18 pound range all day long with a few in the 22+ range.

Shoot me a pm and I will fill you in as needed.


Link: http://www.flyfisherman.com/canada/northwest-territories/lonesome-lands-arctic-char/

I agree Calvin. I only stack my riggers when I'm prospecting. Once I find the fish I pull the top 2 and adjust my depth with 2 rods. I'll run a third shallow line off the center. I got one of my bigger fish last year off that and it always got bit when the others died.

The difference in trailer prices between the east coast and the PNW is stark. You can find better quality for cheaper in FL, but by the time you ship it up here and pay taxes/registration, it eats up most any savings.

I'm going to replace my old painted steel Calkins next year. Plan on building my own I beam trailer.

One things for sure, fishing the great lakes is a lot different than fishing SE AK for kings. I wouldn't expect to keep up should I head to the great lakes, and I wouldn't expect them to do well should they come here. So, maybe using a ton of rods is superior over there, I don't know.

Downriggers are a powerful tool, mainly because they allow you to fish an 11" flasher at a specific depth. Nothing outfishes an 11" flasher day in and day out. Other things work well, but when it comes to putting fish in the boat and making a living, it's done with flashers. I will say though that it is fun to play around with other things like spoons and naked herring.

The thing about a flasher is that it will draw salmon from a good distance. I've seen them come up 100+ feet on the sounder to strike a hoochie behind a flasher. So, when scratch fishing, I actually like less gear in the water. Less gear allows better maneuverability, and keeps you motivated to pull gear and bail to another spot should things not be working. It also keeps you motivated to cycle through gear to check for bombers, jellyfish, or kelp that might have fouled you up. Electronics are so good these days, it takes not much time at all to size up a bite and know when to get out of there. But, I look at things from a production point of view, and not really a recreational point of view.

Last year I did a few trailing lines for cohos. I'd run a full hearing behind a banana plug. It worked great. And, I cant' stand having trailing rods..(grin)

10/4 on the flashers as I catch many of my larger kings on Flasher/fly and Flasher/meat rig.

Some custom flashers I had made up



My go to Flasher and meat rig

Nice fish. Weird looking King...almost has the body shape of a triploid rainbow.

Just a staging and fatten up turning dark King

Steelhead on flasher



2 more kings on Flasher can you tell what was the hot paddle?

Nice fish George. Are those flashers made by Oki Tackle? I use hotspots or Gibbs but mostly Hotspots.

Spin Dr.'s made by Dreamweaver
Custom painted by Bobby Fuller Fingers Lakes Tackle,I pro staff for him

Interesting George. I'm not familiar with them and I always enjoy the regional variations in gear and technique

Used to see those flashers used in CO on small lakes, and to catch small rainbows... always amazed me that the trout could be 12-16 inches and the flasher about the same size and they'd still strike....

I know rost. Always hate releasing a shaker that is smaller than the spoon that hooked him

Can you tell the hot color and pattern on Lake O ?
This is just the green Mag size box

Are those all NK's George? I thought I had heard a rumor that they had gone out of business.

Nope most of those are Finger Lakes tackle spoons with a few Dreamweaver and Michigan Stingers thrown in, NK did go out of business,I still have a whole slew of their spoons

Ah ok, the shape looks similar. Real nice looking spoons. I have a few NK's also. Caught my biggest king up here in AK on one. Does Finger Lakes tackle have a website?

Sure do

http://www.fingerlakestackle.com/

https://www.facebook.com/FingerLakesTackleCo/photos

Good posts guys. I'll post some pictures of my gear once I get a little more time. Had tickets to go up and grab my troller for right now, but forgot it was Easter weekend. Snuck up on me. Changed my tickets to Monday. I'll snap a few pics of the trip down. About 100 miles of outside running. Weather looks to be spectacular.

You guys and your big metal hardware have no ideal how gut-reaching and fun a 30 pounder can be in a river.....when you've caught it on a 1/8 oz Roostertail and 6 pound line. (The five-piece pack rod might have added to the 'fun'. )

Yeah, lousy production rig I know.