Alaska Report, July 3

[Phil Lilley]

Went from the 70's and sun to 50's and rain this week, weather I actually prefer here.

Sockeye are running strong and everyone is getting their limit of 5 pretty easy every day this week. They're running bigger too- about 9 pound average. Having a bunch smoked to bring home, plus a 50 pound box of filets.

Rainbows are running smaller than normal. Don't know where all the big bruisers are - I guess out in the lake. There are a few 30+ inchers around but they're smart and hard to hook. We've gotten rainbows up to 24 inches to the net on smolt flies and jigs.

Only seen a couple of bears on the river but more over at Brooks Camp. Went over the lake last week, skipping this week and letting my friends go over today... I'm doing laundry. I'll go again next week. Brooks River is low and not many big rainbows there either. But we fish dry flies over there and that's fun.

King salmon trolling yesterday - my friends Scott and Roger landed 2 kings about 25 pounds each. Caught them on the river in town (King Salmon).

http://youtu.be/6oCPIBt_cfY

[Quillback]

9 lb. sockeye is very respectable for sockeye. What do you folks catch them on?

[Phil Lilley]

#8 wooly buggers. Purple and black best colors.