Saturday, November 30, 2019

Of Many Names...




Lota lota, aka burbot, bubbot, mariah, freshwater ling, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, freshwater cusk, or the eelpout is the only freshwater gadiform (Cod family).

I love a fish with a lot of names! I think that the number of names a fish has is an indication of its interest to people. Anyway, We were having a slow morning and the Silver Salmon bite completely shut down by mid-afternoon. Earlier that week, I noticed an eel-like fish coming up to the surface and sipping air just below the silt line; where clear runoff river water met the cold glacial runoff river water. The night before, I had a client sink some salmon eggs to the bottom in an attempt to catch newly arrived silver salmon. However, we hooked two fish that were a little too small to stay on the hook, definitely not Salmon! I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was, so I talked my crew into deadsticking some lines on the bottom over lunch. 

Needless to say, lunch did not go well that day. Burbot slime everywhere! The Burbot bit was on! However, it was a blast and landed loads of Burbot. 

Friday, November 29, 2019

A Peice Of History.


The Longnose Sucker!
In Ichthyology at Frostburg State University, I first learned about the interesting range of the Longnose Sucker. I was immediately enamored by the idea of a few isolated populations leftover from the ice age; that were located right close by! While I am not a so-called, 'lifelister,' I do enjoy encountering new species and always wanted to go fish for one. Unfortunately, I moved out of Frostburg in May and was kicking myself the whole ride back to Jersey for not trying to catch one. 



Check out that little speck of green in Western Maryland, WV, and PA!! I was surrounded in Frostburg!

Fast forward a month, I am guiding in Alaska and what do I see creeping along the bottom of the river, Catostomus catostomus. I knew the moment I saw it, that the longnose was the only sucker within range. It was a little piece of Frostburg that had followed me all the way to Alaska, I had to get one. We, pretty much, only fished for Salmon and I knew I would have very little opportunity, if any, to try and catch one, but it couldn't be a coincidence! 

While in my personal time I almost always fly fish, I was a guide and had to fish a variety of ways. This particular week, the Salmon were almost exclusively hitting eggs, this was my chance. I had spinning tackle, I had Coho salmon eggs, and I had a fish I needed to catch... the Longnose Sucker, Catostomus catostomus. 

I am not going to lie, I was pretty excited to see my first Longnose Sucker. I may have been more excited to catch this fish than any other in Alaska. I think that they are beautiful and cool and can not wait until I catch another one. 








Saturday, November 23, 2019

At the Beach..

 Stripers continue to be caught throughout the oceanfront in Monmouth County. The fish seem to be on sand eels for the most part. There are a few fish in the keeper range being caught, however, I have only landed very small fish to about 25". I have not been out as much as I would like and have only been fishing from the beach. I will be out here and there this week. I have to say it has been a little boring. I have not found the excitement I have come to expect from a fall run, which is partly my fault for not getting out enough but also partly because it has been plain old boring.  This week should be pretty decent. 


Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Walleye Suprise.

I was very surprised when I caught my first walleye in a trout stream but now it's no surprise. Walleye have established populations, via state stockings, in many of the larger Western Mayland Reservoirs. These Reservoirs are the source for the big tailwaters of the state and must be pumping a few walleye through the dam- Enough of them to be catchable! I would imagine that this is the case for most tailwater rivers with an established population of walleye in the feeder reservoir AND without hydro-electric power. My experience is that many fewer fish make it threw dams with hydro-power.  So, If the trout fishing slows down, put on a heavy streamer and prob the depths of the deepest pools and you may be in for a treat!




Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Summer Situation.


Here is the only photograph of our summer guide crew. Me (Left), Jim (Middle), the owner of Deshka Landing Charters and Lodge and Capt. Tom, an accomplished guide who has bounced around a number of different pretty cool U.S. fisheries.


Deshka Landing Charters and Lodge is located in Willow, Alaska within Deshka Landing. It is an all-inclusive fishing lodge that also runs charter fishing trips when not catering to all-inclusive guests. Launching the fleet of 3 jet-boats from the boat ramp at Deshka Landing, we were able to access most of the lower Deshka River, the 4 mouthes of Willow Creek and the mouth of the Little Willow Creek. All of which receive runs of King, Silver, Chum, and Pink Salmon.


Fresh Silver Salmon Filets ready to be shipped home.


The entrance to the Deshka Landing Community

A precocial King Salmon.


A Nice Buck Silver Salmon.

A Colorful Hen Chum Salmon.

A Beautiful Deshka River Pink Salmon.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

PreFreeze Stripers.


Stripers are here on Monmouth County beaches! There have been many blitzes on peanut bunker up and down our coastline. I have yet to see any really big fish come within casting distance of the beach, but it could happen. However, there are plenty of big fish around, you just need a boat to reach them. I have been too busy to get out on the boat to hunt some of these monsters but maybe next week. Over the last 24 hours, we have experienced a dramatic drop in temperature. You could see the steam pouring off the ocean. This drop should get the bait moving. Get out and fish! 


However, if you do get out and fish please respect all fish. These two bait fishermen caught, killed, and left about 8 spiny dogfish on the beach. Striped bass exist within an ecosystem that took millions of years to evolve, every indigenous organism plays a vital role within that ecosystem. You can be almost certain that needlessly killing any organism in that ecosystem is ultimately bad for striped bass. 


Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Soooooooo, I went to Alaska...

I spent the summer guiding Salmon fishing in Willow, Alaska @ Deshka Landing Charters and Lodge. 

I arrived on July 1st to record heat and some tough fishing conditions.  With King Salmon fishery closed in all the rivers accessible to us from the Lodge, we spent the early part of the summer waiting for the pink salmon bit to heat up.  
 However, my favorite thing to do was to get way upriver and hunt for Arctic Grayling and Native Rainbow Trout... Yes, I said NATIVE RAINBOW TROUT! I was pretty stoked about catching Rainbow trout that were not derived from some hatchery stock.  






However, Greyling were totally my favorite.  This was the first one of the season. Much more on Alaska later... 



A New Direction.

 I have been super busy and my Instagram account has taken the place of how I previously used the blog feature on this website. While I have not totally neglected this site,  I have updated some of the page stream flow page and created a salt conditions page, I have really slacked in creating content for this blog. So since almost no one visits this site (even fewer since my lapse in posts), since Instagram has taken over as the 'photo gallery,' and since I have been going non-stop since my last post, maybe, I will try to come at this a little differently than I have in the past. So here it goes... I will do my best to keep this updated. -Sk