Bill Babler

Triploid Brown Trout, Lake Taneycomo September 4th. 2019 Girth 28 inches, length 41 1/4 inches weight Forty pounds 6 oz. Certified Missouri State Record. Really at this point I have no idea for a title for this post or a reason that God made it possible for me to catch it. It was simply his plan. For sure a day I will never forget, with a sad note in that we were not able to get it properly released even with the amount of care that we provided. Again it was not to be and there is a reason for everything. On a much brighter note, I just caught the State Record Brown trout and got a big congratulations call from the Director of the Missouri Conservation Department. Today was a pleasure fishing trip for me. Seems like there has been a few lately just getting back from Alasky with Phil, but never the less my long time best friend from Grade School came down to trout fish today and we were going to get him a couple of nice plump rainbows to take home. If you have been following our reports you know that the fish have been all over the Power Worm. Bubble Gum. Don't buy any. Both Duane and I have been fishing the same stretch of water just below the restricted zone for a week. Duane more than me, as a matter of fact I keep wanting to fish a scud in the restricted zone and he as they say, "made me do it." None the less, since we were going to keep a couple we started below the mouth of Fall Creek, with the Pink Worm. At this point I will tell you there is never a day that my equipment is not gone totally over. I never fish terminal line or tackle two days in a row. Never. Everything is broken down and rebuilt, everyday. Never fail and what I and Mark were fishing was put together last night. Main line on the Daiwa Fuego, BP Excel mono in 4 lb. to a carrot float. Below the float a Spro, sampo style swivel and then 7'6" of Orvis 6X tippet 3.1 lb. test at .005 diameter. All fished on a Rod Shop 7' Signature White River Outfitters Custom Rod. We were using of course the pink worm. Worm was on a 125th. oz. full micro jig. First super glued and then cemented. Prior to Turner Jones passing, he made me 100 heads with out bodies on size 12 mustad hook. They are very good, in the Full Micro size but a bit weak in the half micro size of 14. These were the Full, they work perfect with the PW as the head glues directly to a wide flat jig head surface. We were running a bit late and not on the water till 8 as Mark drove down about 60 miles. Our first pass he put a nice rainbow in the boat while I got him going, just like I would on a guide trip. Here is the great deal. Very much unlike a guide trip I was going to get to fish. On the second pass I grabbed a rod after he was drifting nicely and about that time a cloud came over and it got kind of dark on the water. Looked great. My float dipped under and before i could even lift the fish came to the surface and just swirled. I told Mark this was a big fish, then I said a HORSE as the drag started whirling and buzzing, smooth as silk. We were fishing a trough and the fish immediately headed for mid-stream. By then just a 1/2 minute or so Mark had reeled in and grabbed the net. I hit my bow switch and trimmed my main motor out of the water and pointed my trolling motor to the middle and let it pull drag keeping the rod high letting it absorb the pressure instead of the line. The drag was set perfect, I never had to touch it, it just peeled off like string after a kite. The fish made 2 circles in front of the boat and then headed to the back. Went under the boat and then came out with its head up. We were not quite ready and back he went under the boat. He did the same thing again and we were ready. Right into the Fish Pond net. As we lifted him into the boat his nose went thru the basket as I lowered him and he rested on the carpet. We immediately put him in the live well and did our best to keep him frisky and he was fantastic until he wasn't. I have 3 people in this world that I would have loved to share that type of an experience with. First is my son Steven and the next two are my buddy Mark and of course Phil. However Phil and I have had similar experiences in strange lands. Just feeling so blessed and again, right place, right time. Good Luck View full article

Thanks Guys. Couple of things. You cannot even imagine the care that we gave that fish. The fight was quick and it was in the livewell pumping everything the AlWeld had and then right into the tank at Lilleys just pouring air on it. As far as a Triploid Shane would not say until further testing. It had two clipped fins and was not Frank. Measurements were 28 inch girth. and 41 and 1/4 inch length. 40.4 pounds on certified scales. In speaking to taxidermist Don Frank he said the color of the fish did not appear to be Triploid but he could not be sure either. There are no blocks for fish that size so Don wants to use it and make some along with the skin mount. Shane is doing research now and has the fish at the hatchery. He will let us know age and all the data as soon as his studies are done. I have fished taney since the late 60's and guided full time on it since 1989. My biggest fish prior came below Powersite Dam fishing for walleye when I caught and released a 16 pound Brown. My biggest Rainbow to date on Taney is 8 lbs. My biggest client fish are a 13 lb. Brown and a 8.7 pound Rainbow, but we have caught huge fish all year. I'll put in a little article after a bit with the story run down. As they always say, "right place right time, and it is better to be lucky than good."

Travis I saw zero boats above Andy's the last couple of days. Chartered Waters, Sappington, Grise and Welch all four were fishing the lower zone so i'm thinking it might be close as all 4 of those guys like to fish the cable down. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 77,68,57 rainbows caught and released from the lower restricted zone thru Short Creek with a few below Cooper Creek. 2 clients per day each morning from 6:30 to 10:30. Used Crawlers on Friday for about 40 of those and egg patterns for another 20 in the lower zone but the rest on the pink power worm out of the zone. Saturday with the flow I went up first and drifted a scud and egg. Every fish came on the egg no matter the color or size of the scud. Most all the fish were just fantastic with lots of them being in the 15 plus inch range. Not a ton of fish early Saturday but just outstanding quality. I called Duane and asked if they were on the PW and I think his words were it is a "blood bath" or in other words get down here they are tearing it up. We drifted the egg scud combo to Fall Creek and switched, running the PW 7' under the indicator with the flow. Just silly, enough said Today I had a father son team with Dad on the fly rod and Son on the spinning rod. Dad was down 15 to 4 and decided to change to the Spinner. Ended up 36 to 21 in favor of son. If you fish a fly rod a lot on big water gentle flow no problem, If you don't the spinning rod with a strike indicator will hammer you. Reason is distance and controlled drift. If you let that fly line lead or drag you they no likey. For the novice the spinning rod set up like the fly rod is the way to get rich in a hurry on upper Taney right now. Good Luck

Bo they were coming up from as far as 70’. There were also shad down that far at Twin Rivers. Lots of shad from the surface clear down There is a big break at the first bend up the Kings. There were huge schools of shad from 40’ to the bottom at that 70’ range. Don’t know about the O2 and I don’t think the fish did either

Had not been on the Rock since early August. Went to SK yesterday and it was crazy on Top. No size what so ever, biggest at 17" but lots of fish in the 13 to 16 inch range. There are shad of of all sizes roaming from on the Bank to mid-lake. I think you could just pull out in the middle of the lake and start throwing and catch fish. Caught them on everything I threw and after a while just threw a Keitech and then ended up with a 1/2 oz spoon with a single hook as the treble hook was just to hard to get out of them. They really liked the jet, but I had a couple of Kastmasters with single hooks and they ate them also. You could also drop shot them one after the other suspended from 10' to 50' Kings River area at depth. My only problem was I just kept getting pulled in on by other fishermen. As soon as someone would pull in on me I would snatch up the troller and drive 1/2 a mile and do it again. Have not a clue why on a big lake folks cannot give you some space. Some guy in a big deep V pulled in on me twice. I think he was guiding as he was assisting 3 people in the boat. If he was, he should have known better. Off the water by 10 AM and up to Harter House for their breakfast casserole. Best I have had anywhere. I always order 1 scoop and they give you three. Had 2 pieces of link sausage plus a biscuit and the casserole for under 4 bucks. It is amazing. I think they start picking up the breakfast deli at about 10:30. One day they just gave it to me. If you have not tried the breakfast deli at SK Harter House, it is a must stop when fishing there. I think you can get it as early as 7 but I usually grab it after the early morning bite. Good luck and give everyone space on the lake

Just for general information, Phil and I flew on Alaska Air out of KC. We chose to fly first class for several reasons, one being the distance of the journey and others being very marginal price difference when you took into account we were taking lots of weighted luggage, especially a gun. Alaska has very similar baggage restrictions as other airlines with the exception that you may include in your luggage an oversize bag if it is caring sporting gear. Not overweight, but oversize at no additional charge and this really helped us. Also we were fed and watered in a proper manner and not thrown a sack of chips or peanuts. Makes a difference when your in the airplane for nearly 8 hrs. Nice Breakfast on Alaska Airlines We arrived at about 11:45 in Anchorage and hustled a bit to get a couple of loaves of bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. to take on our float. Food was going to be provided but I'm glad we took the bread as it really worked out well. A note on the Mountain House food provided. It was really good. and a two person portion is really for 3 people. It is filling and easy to prepare. I think the only meal we could finish without leftovers was the B&G. I did take lots of condiments and extras and they highlighted it very well. I would not be afraid to take Mountain House for a couple of weeks at a time, its that good. Especially the Biscuits and Gravy, simply outstanding. We had fish two nights and Phil cooked the fish. I made most everything else. He cooked Char fillets on the grill and fried Sheefish. Both were excellent. We mostly boiled our drinking water or used water purifying bottles. Alaskan Adventure Lodge at Sleetmute, formerly know as the Holitna River Lodge is owned by Dan Paull and girlfriend Jami. It is not an easy place to get to. Really there are only a couple of bush flight companies flying in there. We flew with Sound Aviation. Bill and Beth. It is quite an operation and they fly non-stop daily to most of the villages in the area, hauling food, sundries and lots of people. We had a dog on our flight home that had a fish hook in its tongue so they get passengers of all types. It is the Bush. They fly a 6 passenger retractable sheel Piper and by next year will have a 12 passenger online hopefully They seem to always be a bit late and we were late both going and coming. We really pushed it coming out as we got to our terminal only 25 minutes prior to boarding for our home flight. SOUND AVIATION The flight to the Lodge via Sleetmute was just about as interesting a flight as I have had in Alaska, with the diversity of geography just outstanding. The peaks and ruggedness of this area is simply an unforgettable site. Flight from Anchorage Picture Arrival at the Lodge we were met by Dan, Jami, Terry, and Rodney that is their main staff with also another staff of 3 guides. We stayed in the Trapper Cabin. Small useful and to the point. Table, chairs, wood stove and bunk beds with comforters, pillows and small sheeted beds. Phil in front of the TRAPPER CABIN Their Lodge and big garden was just to the right. We had several meals in their lodge served family style and very good, especially the garden vegies and rasberries deserts fresh from that garden.. Jami has cooked in Alaska camps for several years. The dining hall is at the rear of the lodge and their kitchen and living quarters are in the front. They don't seem to mind a bit about coming into their space but we were cautious about it, as we both know how that feels. They have a community restroom and shower house attached to the back of the lodge with two sinks a shower and potty. Nice hot running water during generator hours, which I believe are 6 AM to 1 PM and then again from 4 PM to 9 PM. Everything is on a generator and gas is 5 bucks a gallon. Not really bad but logistically its hard to get. It is delivered once a week from an air carrier out of Sleetmute, about 40 miles down stream. View from the front of the Lodge. We saw Moose in the river bend and also a pair of Beavers Tuesday morning we packed up our considerable gear along with their camping and food for the several day float and packed the boat. Rodney their camp handyman and general great guy was going to take is 60 miles up the river by boat and we would float back. He took us about 55 and Phil saw a gravel bar he liked and I will tell you that one move by Phil really made our trip. More later. Boat packed for Holitna River trip The river is quite large at the lodge and gets larger as it heads for the Kuskokwim Going up river it starts to change to a more traditional fly fishing wade able type of water and really this is what we found we were looking for. Where Phil and I camped that first two days was the best water for our type of fly fishing. This water held huge amounts of spawning chum salmon and grayling and char were feasting on eggs. Great for beaders, nymphers and jiggers. We used a bead a jig, a mop fly and streamers to catch chum, and silver salmon as well as char and grayling, with the grayling almost at will. I had 5 on my first 5 casts with a bead and then 5 more in 5 casts with a mop. Phil could catch them one right after the other on a Lilleys Jig. Holitna River at our first camp site, traditional fly fishing water After unloading and sitting up our camp we caught quite a few fish. The idea was to pack the raft and start down the river on Wednesday morning. We got up to a flat raft that had a leak Rodney had pumped it up with an electric pump and left us a hand pump that we later found out had the guts out of it. We texted the lodge for a new pump or a raft repair and of course they could not arrive until Thursday so we had two nights at the first camp. That was super as it had the best fishing. If we were to do it again we would have gone up to the confluence of the river another 35 miles and made that float picking us up just about a day downstream from our first nights camp. We didn't know this. I'll talk about the Sheefish in a minute but they really need to accessed if that is your primary fish on the lower river from the lodge. The second night a two raft party floated by that had started on the upper river and said the grayling and char fishing were outstanding also further up. We both surmised at the end of the trip that a 5 night float from the confluence and then a two night lodge stay would be the best of both worlds. Raft set up ready to float Rodney got us floating by 11:30 on Thursday and that first day was fantastic on the upper river. Phil was catching char and grayling at will and we found a slack that was totally full of red salmon and silver salmon. We caught just about all the silvers we wanted to and could have continued to catch and catch but we strolled on. Great day on the water. Nice 4 person tent with fly, provided by the lodge We slept dry and comfortable every night. Phil had a cot and his pad and I just used my pad and bag. I never got into the bag as it was quite warm. I just spread it over me like a down throw. We also had some fantastic camp fires that Phil built every night that were a pleasure to watch. Nice Camp Fire Our camp was elevated on Friday night and we caught several silver salmon and pike. It was on a beautiful turn in the river and you could see for several miles down stream,. Phil with Pike Saturday we got into a more traditional Sheefish location and caught 3 sheefish and several silver salmon. Mostly caught on a jig in a deeper hole. Also the NE wind started to blow and we thought we might be in trouble as we were rowing right into the teeth of it. Sheefish Our Saturday night camp was on a wind swept bank and Phil did a magnificent job of anchoring our tent. He had to reanchor in the night as the wind was howling. We had to be picked up on Sunday as it was just to tough going right into that stiff N. wind. As I stated earlier the reason for the Holitna float was for sheefish. We wanted the Kobuk for lots more sheefish, but could not make that happen, it is at least a year in advance for that type of float. The upper Holitna is beautiful and I hope one day to perhaps see the upper river beyond where we started but again there are so many rivers to run and probably not enough years left to make a dent on them. I will tell you we were both in very good shape for this float and shared completely in the camp work and rowing. I had been on a 4 month fitness plan getting ready and Phil is most always in good shape. I was doing 200 setups, 200 15lb. weighted arm curls a complete stretching and loosing program and a 40 minute exercise program on a bike with a lot of cardio prior to the trip. It made a huge difference as we were both very strong rowers and had energy left over at the end of the day. Phil is a way better lifter of weight and he handled the heavy lifting. Either Phil or I would be happy to help anyone on this trip so just email us if you want to go. Also here is the best jig that the lodge used for most everything from salmon the sheefish, I tied this one this morning. I also got a kick out of one of the guides saying he lover the Whopper Plopper for Pike. They caught most of their sheefish on the jig, hardware and soft swimbaits like the Keitech. I think they said they used the BP brand as they were longer lasting. I also saw bags upon bags of Zoom Flukes lying around. Jig The brand is Jake's Jigs and they are popular through out Alaska and the pacific NW. I have seen them on Kodiak and at times they use them in the salt for mooching. I have several I'm going to send up to the Lodge for Dan to tie. Jake's Jigs Thanks for watching and a big thanks to Rodney, Terry, Dan, Jami, and Bill and Beth at Sound This post has been promoted to an article

I'll add some stuff in the next day or so. We got back on Tuesday at 1;30 and I have had guide trips on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My head is still spinning. Off the next couple of days and I will give you my perspective on a nice trip with one of my best buddies.

Completely self-guided trip as we always take. We are dropped by wheel plane on a gravel bar and we float out. Pelican Vault Gear List. Water Proof TSA approved transportation Case. We are flying Alaska Airlines and they have very liberal regulations on sporting good transit. Including guns and fishing equipment. Wader Repair Kit, leaders, tippet, filet knifes and steel, fire starter , cap light, pliers,saw, pencil wt. spoons, spinners and hardware, 1 Orvis med. 7' travel rod. 1 4000 series shimano sustain spinning reel 2 spools 8# and 12# Orvis Fly rods 8-7-7-6 wt. Fast tip 10' 4 piece. 4 Orvis reels 6-7-8-8 Wt. One with a predator leader, one with a mirage carbon 16# leader 1 with a 8# Hy-Flote for dry flys and one with a shooting line for beads Also in the case of course is a Remmington 870 synthetic pump with Brenneke 3" magnum slugs. This is for mosquitoes. We also have some 6 shot as ptarmigan season is open and they are a tasty treat if we see some. Fishing Tackle: We have lots of Salmon flies and I have been tying some big patterns for Sheefish and Pike. We are also taking beads and drys for the char and grayling Some food and camping items we are taking include: Utensils, lite set of pots and pans, coffee, sugar, condiments, salt, pepper and spices, alum. foil and baggies cleaning supplies nails, rope, gorilla tape and glue, biscuit and pancake mix flour, fish fry, PB, syrup, dehydrated onions, and potatoes, package mixes of sauce and gravy, butter, oil, and milk, sweetner soy sauce, wasabi and ginger, rice and bouillon a few sweets . Notice the table cloth and water purification bottles. We are also taking trailmix in our carry on bags. Frozen food in an Engel Cooler. I have tested this Cooler putting it in the freezer and cooling it down for 24 hrs. I put 4 frozen bottles of water in it and set it in the garage. it will keep the water frozen for 48 hrs. it is fantastic. Breakfast sausage Maple, Bacon, Deer Sausage, 2, Eight oz. Prime Ribeye Steaks, Smoked Ham, cheese, butter, lunch meat and i will put 18 eggs on the top in their carton. perfect fit. Fishing and bedding gear; REI sleeping pad, Eddie Bauer Sleeping blanket pillow and blanket, 2 camp lanterns a first aid kit , wader boots belt suspenders, boots hats staff, and an extra set of hip waders We are flying 1st. Class and not only do you get the extra room but you can bring a carry on plus one personal item and 2 check in bags of 50 lbs. each for no charge. We are going to have 1 extra bag at $100.00 but Phil says he has it covered with his millage credit card Pictured are 2 Fish Pond Dry Bags, 1 Weather Sport Dry Bag, 1 Orvis Gale Force Dry Satchel and one Pelican TSA Dry Container. Phil will have 2 dry bags plus his carry on and a personal item mostly with lots of electronics. We are using an InReach and it will be interesting. We have both played with it some and of course cameras and GoPro's. From Anchorage will be flying to Alaska Adventure Lodge on the Holitna River. The flight is in a 6 passenger prop plane flown by Sound Aviation out of Anchorage. It is about 200 air miles from Anchorage to the Lodge at Sleetmute Ak. We will spend the first nite at the lodge and then be flown up the river for our float for Salmon, Char, Grayling, Pike, and Sheefish. More to Come

Yes but we don't entirely know the level of his gear. He claims everything is new including the entire camp and raft. I'll try and post the updated gear we are taking as soon as possible He also supplies the food for the entire trip, but he said it is Mountain House so we are supplementing,

Here is an update of my clothing list and how I'm traveling with it. My entire clothing for this trip will fit in my carry on bag. We are traveling on Alaska Air out of MCI and their carry on size in a total of 45 inches. I purchased the new Fish Pod totally water proof carry on which when loaded is 45 linear inches. Clothing list is as follows and this for a 9 day trip with 7 days of camping and raft floating the Holitna. Orvis Wader Socks 3 heavy 3 lite/medium. 2 Gage, silk long handles, 6 underware, 1 Hodgeman under wader suit.1 Orvis vest 1 Orvis Rain Sweater, 1 Orvis rain jacket, 1 Orvis hoodie, 3 Gage micro fiber shirts, 2 pairs gloves Columbia and Orvis, 3 Orvis trout bum shirts, 3 micro fiber UA shirts 1 short sleeve shirt . 1 shorts, 1 1/2 socks 2 hats, 1 Mizzou PJ's. and one jean and belt. I;ll try and get all our other gear posted today for this type of a float adventure.

This Spring when the water was coming thru the gates there was a group up at the dam really catching them on 3/4 oz white Dixie Jet flutter spoons. I was going to try it but just did not find the time.

Spoons can and are effective, especially on fresh stocked fish. There is no stocking from Lilleys up and most of those fish are veterans You can generate 5 times the bites on any type of natural over hardware most any time. Either live or a natural appearing fly or worm i will tell you not everyone is catching at the rate I am. I have just been really dialed in and yes the fish move back and forth from the restricted zone to the upper catch and keep area. This is saying that fishing is very good if you know The Who, what, when , where and why. Phil dialed it up great in his report. You fluctuate much from what he detailed and you won’t like the results Good Luck

SUPPLEMENT: I have only been fishing the catch and keep zone as my clients have wanted their fish. The contents of the stomachs has been totally filled with scuds and sow bugs in the size 18 to as big as size 10 range. These fish have been pink meated and packed full to exploding with these bugs. The average size of the fish we have been keeping is 14 to 15 inches. My clients do not keep browns of any size and rainbows are not kept if they exceed 16 inches. There is no problem with that at all, as people are now understanding that catch and release is a part of preserving this wonderful fishery for future generations. Pictured is Ronnie De'Shon with a beautiful 18" rainbow catch and release Short Creek area Lake Taneycomo. Lilley's Landing Guided Fishing

So far this week starting Saturday my clients have had 5 browns over 20" and 3 bows over 20" mostly on a crawler rig that Phil mentioned. For the most part except drift rigs I'm using Orvis Mirage tippet on just about everything. 6X has been plenty good. Mirage Flurocarbon diameter is .005 in at 6X with a break strength of 3.1 lbs. Early my clients are catching them on a 1/2 TJ Micro in olive head olive body and of course the pink worm power worm. The power worm is placed EXTREMELY STRAIGHT on a 125 oz. jig head size 14 hook. It is super glued onto the shank and then after that drys its gets a drop of head cement. This method of attachment has really helped the longivity of the bait.

i'm thinking that is a great report.

Thanks Mark, and Dave I knew that question was coming. Of course I would put your wife and Marks mom as the tops of my favorites.

That is for sure one beautiful rig. Congrats to you and your gal.

Nice glad you all got a shot at it. Durn school starts so quick these days.

Just in from Fishing Taney. 80 plus rainbows up to 3 pounds today. Simply fantastic. The majority of fishermen and women that I take fish approx. 5 to 10 days a year and most either fish a pond or small stream near their homes. For the most part they are there to feel the pull and to catch as many in 4 hrs. as possible. Most of the time these are my favorite clients. They are sponges and will just do anything to get a bite including this time of the year on the Rock using live bait. Most times I have to tell them they have a fish on if its one pounder or a 5 pounder, but man do they have fun. I do have a hard time getting this group out of bed as they just don't understand that the best bite is low light and low traffic early in the morning. Very seldom do I lose trips over price, most times it is because they just don't want to get up early on vacation. Second group are fishermen that fish some and have taken guide trips and over estimate their ability and really over estimate mine. Most have fished in the ocean or fished Texoma and fished some on their own as well. This is by far my hardest group. They pretty much catch a fish when a guide hands them a rod with one on it or drops it to a school of vertical fish like Texoma and say reel it in. They are always more challenging but I get huge satisfaction on teaching them techniques and how to use equipment properly. I have had hundreds of folks say I wish someone else had told me this sooner or that I would have figured it out for myself. Locals and everyday fishermen, I just love cause they are there to learn and the catching is usually not even secondary. They love to learn seasonal patterns, baits and locations. They want to know and learn about equipment and electronics. They are most always my best fishermen and handle equipment extremely well. I never really worry about showing a local a location as they seem to never go back, but search out their own similar places. We have some great locals fishing this lake and I run into folks I have taken all the time and they most always stop me on the lake and say Howdy. Tournament fishermen or people with an agenda ie Corporate clients are folks I just do not enjoy as much. Anyone fishing for money or tournament results it seems does not enjoy even being out there. They just want to see how many spots they can look at and most times not even fish. Corporate clients usually these people don't want to be there. It is an activity that someone else has chosen for them and at times they can be a challenge. For the most part I love them all, regardless how much they fish. We both have a similar bond in just being out in God's creation and enjoying every minute and the catching is always the icing on the cake. On another note, I am slowing down some, a lot at the request of my wife. We have a 10,000 sq. foot log house with 5 guest rooms on 40 acres to manage, plus a guide business with one on Taney and one on Table Rock. I'm Going on 66 now it is a big work load. At times she will look at my book and mark out day, as she may need the help or she just feels that I need to rest a bit. At any rate I'm probably not going to be out there 300 plus days a year any longer. She would like to see me hold my trips to around 200 a year and from this point on I'm probably going to try and stay around that number. I have till May of 2021 on my current federal lic and then I will be retiring as I'm not going to renew it

Don't think I have ever blown anyone off and for sure never intentionally or I would never post locations, results and information here. In the Summer my schedule changes a frequent as the weather. I can be booked full and someone's grandma dies and I get an opening or I get a cancellation for any reason and an opening comes up. Usually from July 1st. thru August my book looks like a scratched up mess as it books and rebooks on a continuing basis. Truly sorry you feel this way, that is not the type of person I am and I'm sure a few will vouch for me. Glad your doing well and catching a bunch. As far as emails, texts, and personal messages, I have posted here repeatedly that I can miss those messages and do quite frequently. I try and respond, but I miss some. If you want to talk to me call the Lodge or my cell and you got me. Not a strange question at all and you can see from the answers, as most are totally different and everyone's expectation are different. I ask this question to try and improve the way I address my clients needs at certain times of the year, and yes after 29 years I'm still learning and hope to continue to learn.

Had not been on the Rock in more than a week, so with a day off today and a Rock trip in the morning, I thought I had better find some fishes. Reading reports and watching current video reports are so totally different depending on who is reporting right now it is amazing. Guides that are fishing the same water are telling totally different stories most being really tough but a few saying its a barrel shoot. Kind of found it in between. Launched at Baxter but fished from Campbell Point to the SK bridge. Caught a couple of dozen nothing special, with the exception of a nice 3 pound LM caught on a War Eagle 1/2 jigging spoon at 78 ft. on the bottom. Caught the majority on a Dixie Jet and a 2.8 Keitech. They would not touch a drop shot worm of any type for me. They ran from it like a horse in the Kentucky derby. I did drop a crawler to see the reaction and it was totally different. If I were on a guide trip they would have eaten the crawler. Fish are just suspended completely thru the water column. from right on the surface to depths unknown. Extremely had to find or put a group together, as it is just singles running just about everywhere. Surface temp at SK was 86 degree. Water lightly stained. Wake boats and Summer fishermen with no clue about how close to drive or fish around you are thick. OK, here is the question. On a Summer time July/August guided fishing trip what would you expect to catch, and what would make you happy if you were fishing the Rock with a guide tomorrow? Also, would you be willing to fish live bait or would it just be artificial? Would you be willing to start as early as 6 am if the guide said that was best? Just some ramblings, give me your thoughts

Phil and I are off on another Alaskan float fishing adventure. We are leaving August 11. You can follow the preparation and the journey on the Alaska forum. Going to be fun. Hope you all enjoy following us

It has been 9 years since our last big Alaskan adventure , "Kelly River Float Trip" other than either Kodiak or the Naknek River, so Phil and I determined before I get to old that we need to do something that neither of us had done. I had a plan. For years I have heard and read about a great white fish that prowls the circumpolar regions of North America, Asia and Russia. This fish is the Sheefish or Inconnu Though somewhat widely spread it inhabits regions that for the most part, you just can't get there from here. Alaska's Kobuk River and Selawik River house the largest breeding populations (about 60,000 fish) and that was to be our first destination. Trouble was we can't get there from here this year. The flights are out of Bettles Ak. and there is none available in 2019 as they are already booked for the season. It was going to be a huge undertaking transporting rafts and gear for the trip but we have done it before. Several years ago Phil had a guest come and speak on a river off the Kuskokwim called the Holitna. This is a large class 1 and 2 grade river that starts in the Kuskokwim mountains and flows 110 miles to the main river at the small settlement of Sleetmute, It has a very good population of Sheefish, along with pike, char, grayling and all 5 pacific salmon species. When we first found out about the river the owner of a small lodge, the only one on the entire 110 mile river was the gentleman that spoke at Phil's. The lodge was the Holitna River Lodge and the owner was Rocky McElwain, I believe. It has since sold to Dan Paull and he has renamed his business Alaskan Adventures, still with the Lodge on the Holitna River. Phil and I will get this blog going to show you what we are up to with preparation, gear, flight information and you will be able to join us on the journey down the Holitna in search of char, salmon and the mighty, Tarpon of the North, the Sheefish.

sold. Thanks Bushbeater