The Stanislaus is flowing quite heavily this week. This week may even be the highest volume of water flowing down the river so far this year. As there was snowfall all the way until the end of May, it appears as though there will be tons of water all summer long in 2010.
Finding some nice slower water is a bit of a challenge right now. There are several fly fisherman who are having some luck with dry Griffiths Gnat.
Right now, it seems that the fish counts from some of the other locals are less than usual for this time of year, but everyone is optomistic that it will turn into some much better fly fishing on the Stanislaus really soon, hopefully before the 4th of July.
Fishing just South of Boards Crossing on Stanislaus
If you get excited about spin fishing the Stanislaus, you will still have some great luck using live crickets with a bobber or some light weight on 6lb test in many parts of the river. The water is moving fast, so make sure to use propper hooks so the crickets stay on as best as you can, otherwise you will be casting out your bait all day long without any trout.
And of course, if you land a large trout from the Stanislaus, be sure to make a comment on this post and send the picture on over.
We took hundreds of pictures on the trip to Deep Creek Fishing Lodge in Kenai, Alaska. Here are a few of them. The pictures are all from early June 2010. During the fishing trip, we fished the salt water for halibut, the river for king salmon, and a remote glacier fed lake for lake trout. Some of the greatest times were spent just sitting around the fishing lodge which was located just next to Deep Creek, Alaska. The staff and the guides and the owner of the Deep Creek Lodge are all excellent people. With the views across the channel that were to die for, it was a vacation of lifetime that will not ever be forgotten.
One of the most spectacular parts of the fishing lodge experience was taking the float plane to the desolate lake to go fishing for trout. We caught all kinds of trout within just a few hours and then we fried them all up afterwards. It was super tasty and alot of fun at the same time.
CJ Catching Another
We had a great Poker game after fishing all day
Capt. Steve has read 100 poker books, don’t worry though
CJ was a pretty big winner at poker
Leaving the lodge to get some Halibut
CJ and Adam in the middle of halibut fishing
Halibut from the top side
in front of the Kasilof River
kasilof drift boats
Watching the rod, common scene
other boaters drifting
Todd rowing the drift boat
Scoot catching his first salmon on the Kasilof
Dad getting ready to make another phone call on the river
Doing what he does best, right before his evening massage down below
Captain Crusty was learning how to BBQ this week, but still in Crust we Trust
CJ getting ready for the Cowboy Dinner
That’s BJ fishing there folks
BJ doing some early morning fishing
I was up with BJ about 3am to fish Deep Creek. Of course good old Crusty was passed out still.
taking off in the bush plane
Glaciers out the window
Great picture of the plane and the fishermen
Fishing the shore of Lake Crescent Alaska for lake trout. The fishing wsa pretty darn good, and tasty!
Captain Steve cooking tacos
Jeff figured out the wine opener
Our fish were caught and cooking within 30 minutes
The fishing lodge is called Deep Creek Fishing Club and it is located in Kasilof, Alaska. There is another deep creek fishing lodge so you need to make sure you fish the one with the captain called Captain Crusty. Otherwise you won’t be getting the same experience you see in the pictures above. The first night that you spend at the lodge, you will probably dig into a massive dinner of Alaska King Crab legs which should get your fishing vacation started off right.
The first morning of our Alaskan fishing trip, we decided to go out on the salt water and try out halibut fishing. We were fishing in the Cook Inlet just south of Kenai, Alaska. We had been told that the halibut fishing was great, and yes, there were tons of pictures of one hundred and two and three hundred pound halibut all over the fishing lodge, but you never really know what you are getting into.
The lodge that we stayed at (Deep Creek Fishing Lodge, owned by Steve Moe and his wife Vivian) has two 28 foot boats that they use on the salt water for halibut. These boats are awesome to say the least. Below is a picture of the halibut boats so you can get a feel for what I am talking about. They are perfect for halibut fishing and the potentially nasty Alaskan weather too.
halibut fishing on Cook Inlet
Once we started our journey just a mile away to the launch site, things got really interesting. I have used many launch ramps before, but nothing quite like the deal they got going in Ninilchik, Alaska. Basically, you trailer your boat down to the “launch site” and take your boat off your car trailer. Then the crew down there completely takes over. What they do is they use a crane that has a trailer hitch on it, and they back your boat up into the water. Next, you start your engine and pull off the trailer and away you go.
Here is a video of the Ninilchik launch ramp for small boats:
It was wild to see, and amazingly quick and easy. The same deal when you pull your boat out later in the day. And the total fee for this service is $55 per day.
Once we got out about 20 miles, we started our day halibut fishing. The deal was each of us had our own pole. Our captain Skye and Jeremy did a great job of loading up our hooks with weights and bait all day long. The halibut bait that we used was cod fish, herring, and octopus. The fishing line was pretty heavy duty. The leaders were about 30 feet long and the final portion was some 300lb test line. So I wasn’t too worried about anything every breaking free on us. Here is a picture right before we started catching halibut.
We were fishing in about 180 feet of water, and there was about two knots of current. So we all had some considerable amount of fishing line out. But, within a few minutes of dropping down our poles, we started noticing that something was beginning to bite on our halibut poles. My pole was the first to go off, so I began reeling it in. After a few minutes, and not too much of a fight at all, it was a false alarm, just a couple pound cod. But we pulled it overboard, and the deckhands began cutting it up and said we could surely use it for bait for the halibut.
It wasn’t too much longer until some of the other fishing poles went off, and this time it was halibut action. Some of the halibut that we caught were between 20-50 pounds. No 100 pound halibut today, but we limited out our 2 halibut per person within two hours, and that was pretty good. The weather was starting to pick up with some relatively heavy winds and some light rain and moderate seas, so we decided to call it a day right after landing the final fish. And back in we went to put our boat back on the trailer.
Alaskan Halibut Fishing near Homer,AK
A super great day halibut fishing, and I was most excited about being able to bring a ton of fish home and share it with family and friends, and especially my wife who told me to make sure to come home with some halibut or else… Here are some more fishing pictures from the day we caught all the halibut in Alaska.
The halibut fishing has been pretty hot. Take a look at the guys filleting their day’s catch below. This group of guys went out on their private boat on Sunday before Memorial Day and caught 4 halibut. This was their first day fishing for halibut of the season, so my guess is that fishing must be pretty good right now if you know where to go for the halibut. They mentioned that they caught the fish just right off the Santa Cruz point, which I think is just south of Santa Cruz harbor less than a few miles.
Some other halibut fishermen from Santa Cruz harbor said they too had some good luck over the past few weeks fishing for halibut at the Santa Cruz Point. Most of them seem to be using live bait when its possible to get that. Others are using dead anchovies or sardines as bait and then just bouncing that off the bottom until the fish strike. The guys from the halibut video said that all of the fish gave them a pretty good fight, so get prepared for a little workout.
One quick fishing tip, be sure to only gaff the halibut that you are positive are legal fish. If you are bringing up a fish and you are not sure it is of legal size, you are better off netting it, and then measuring it. That way, it will if the fish is undersized, you will have a better chance of releasing it alive compared to if you have gaffed a hole inside of it already.
