duckydoty

Took a guy out and got him a big king then went out and got myself a limit of sockeye in 20 minutes. Got a little video of it. The mamba was 30 feet wide.

The Naknek gets 20-25,000 kings a year. You can only keep 5 all year. It is a highly regulated fishery that is constantly being monitored by fish counting stations. If the numbers are not close to traditional runs, they immediately stop all sport and commercial fishing. Both the Naknek and the Nushagak have been healthy and growing runs over the past 4-5 years. Other places are suffering such as the Kenia and that system has been closed to sport fishing for 3 years in a row now.

The kings have moved in the Naknek the last 2 days. MonaChari and I got out this evening for a bit and she caught her first one ever. Right around 20 pounds. The reds are still pumping by. New groups on the river tomorrow.

I do live a blessed life. Sockeye salmon were in the full black mamba mode today. 300,000 swam by today. Limits in less than 30 minutes.

Living the dream one last time my friend

Been killing lots of sockeye salmon and kings the last few days. Rainbows have been in a bit of a slump, but did catch a 25 1/2 and a 24 today. No, I'm not eating any....

Got 3 short king passes in close to the lodge yesterday. Caught a small king in the 25 inch range and a little jack. Have two guys on the river today.

Limits of sockeye salmon and 27 inch rainbows on the Naknek yesterday. Change over day today so I might get some fishing time in.

A little slower on the Naknek River today. Only boated 31 fish with the biggest being 27 inches. Did get a 25 inch and 24 inch. Everything else was a little smaller. Finally got some clouds and rain for the first time in over two weeks.

Big day on the Nush yesterday and today. Limits of 25 pounders and great slotters. I got to fish the Naknek again today for rainbows. Went all the way to the top and crushed giants most of the day. Boated two 29 inchers, several 27's and an un countable number of 24-26 inchers. To tired to fish tonight.

Been real busy last couple of days fishing for kings on the Nushagak and a change over day yesterday. Kings on the Nush were there but we had to work for them. We ended up with one short of limits and a bunch of bonus jacks. Got to chase rainbows in the Rapids again last night after dinner. That was fun. Caught 3 on the fly rod that were over 25 inches and two on the spin rod that were 26 and 27 inches. I was able to get some video of that last night. I will mail it to Phil so he can upload it to the Internet. Headed back to the Nush for kings again today.

A few Dolly's in the Naknek, but we fly out to the Becharoff and Ugashik systems to target them, char and greyling. Yesterday we had a 14 year old boy catch 34 dollies on the dry fly at Ugashik Narrows.

No pictures to post but figured I would give a report. Yesterday I guided a 91 year old man and his daughter on the Naknek. We started trolling for kings for a couple of hours and not one bite. Took a quick bathroom break back at the lodge then up the river for rainbows. Stopped in the Rapids and asked them if they wanted to fly fish or spin fish. They said they did not care how they fished they just wanted to catch fish. I put spinning rods in their hands and on the second cast , 91 year old John caught a 25 inch rainbow. His first trout ever. John and his daughter proceeded to catch fish after fish for the next 2 hours as crashing rainbows would would work thier way down the Rapids in wave after wave smolting. We ate lunch in the Rapids then headed up the river to explore. Up at the top we found some more smolting bows. John and Carita doubled up on a 28 inch and 26 inch bows up there. I had 54 inches of rainbow trout in my net in one scoop. Absolutely incredible. We caught another 27 and a few 25 inchers up there. One of the best big bow catching days I've ever had on the Naknek. I did see about 100 sockeye salmon working thier way through yesterday. The guys that flew out to the Nushagak limited out on kings yesterday with the largest being 25 pounds.

Sad news indeed. He will be missed.

Have not been able to get one to bite up here in 8 years.

Got to fish for a hour again this evening. Picked up 3 fish. A 24 incher, a 25 and a 27.5 incher. Pretty intense hour of fishing.

Not catching any greyling on the Naknek right now but they are in there. We do flyouts to remote areas that have been producing 19-20 greyling this week on dry flies.

The regs for the Naknek from the Rapids up to the lake are single hook only with hook gap no larger than 1/2 inch. You can legally keep one rainbow per day as long as it is under 18 inches. We are strictly catch and release only on all non salmon species though. Phil, send me some if you can find a mushroom head with a hook gap of less than a 1/2 inch.

This is a view from my front porch over looking the Naknek River at 11 p.m. The summer solstice is getting close and you can see why they call it the land of the midnight sun.

Got back out this evening on the Naknek River. Smolting was good again. Picked up a nice 28 incher in the Rapids. Caught several others in the 24-25 inch range.

These are resident bows. No steelhead in the Naknek River. They migrate in and out of Naknek Lake. I bet the Ned rig would work up here if you could get it in a two tone color of silver and black or silver and green and thrown on a 3/8 ounce head. Would have to jig it fast though. We should be getting kings in any day now. Think I'm slotted to take a guest back out on the Naknek River this afternoon when he gets back from fishing for kings on the Nushagak River this morning. What a cool day....kings in the morning, bows in the afternoon.

I have been up in King Salmon over a week now. The lodge is up and running and the first guests have been here a couple of days now. Fishing on the Naknek has been good. The river is a little low but the smolting action has been good. Got to fish with My MonaChari for a little over an hour in the Rapids today. Lots of birds diving and big bows crashing. I had on little stint where I took 8 casts and landed 7 rainbows with the smallest being 22 inches and the largest was 29 inches long. Lots of jumps and good solid runs. I'll try and keep you all posted on how the season is going.

Had a lot of fun out there fishing with you guys today. Glad you came down and thanks for the goodies!

Just got off the water a bit ago myself Marty. Got 15 hours of fishing in today. After dropping off my MonaChari, I went out with Ryan. We went back up to the cable and had a blast. Midges were coming off pretty good on the boat ride back.

Size 10 and 12 are working the best right now. I would even go with a size 8 if you can get them. Caught quite a few this morning in brown and grey pheasant tails also. Pretty much anything big and buggy.