BOTTOM FISHING PARADISE

Tracey and I met up with Tim W and Tim G in Yakutak Alaska last Sunday morning .

we jumped on a bush plane and took the 60 mile flight to the remote Icy Bay camp.

Scenery was unreal , and only got better each day .

after settling in and meeting everyone that would make our stay there feel more like we were staying with family .

Capt Mike gave us the run down that we would bottom fish Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday.

wednesday halibut is closed . So we would bottom fish for rockfish, troll some for salmon and head off to see one of the local glaciers .

i could really write a book about how great this vacation was, but will try and keep it short, possibly adding more later .

Fishing in the Capt eyes was slow he said only a 5/10: well it was some of the most action I have ever seen .

we were into fish at a very steady rate for well over 8 hours each day.

we gathered glacier ice for the fish box daily to keep our catch cool

we caught yellow eye rockfish, black rockfish, long cod, halibut and  salmon .

we released a lot

of fish each day , just keeping a halibut each per day ,  black rock fish , a few yellow eyes as they have a yearly 1 fish limit on them . And we caught skates that pushed well over a 100 pounds.

 

fishing with both Tim’s made this trip a lot of fun as each angler got just as much enjoyment seeing others fighting fish .

due to us having only 4 in our party the staff each came and fished with us a day making this trip even more special . As they worked tirelessly each day for us.

the food was nothing short of 5 star , def exceeded our expectations daily with unreal 4 course meals.

wednesday mike flew a drone up through the glazier, and I was able to land my best catch of the trip.

followed by a special 4th of July feast made to happen by Tim W of gigantic king crab legs .

we also trapped spotted prawns on Wednesday.

 

i was sick as a dog Monday, travel and time changes really wrecked my system bad, but fished through it and made some of the catches even more memorable

 

 

enjoy the pics

Drop and reel Knuckleheads

Finally got a break and dropped the  Contender in today.

Headed out with Tracey and Eddie to jig some seabass.

Was drop and reel fishing with us catching well over a hundred sea bass .

We kept 16 nice knuckleheads over 14" throwing back everything smaller.

Colors on the bigger fish were stunning .

End of Shad 2018

Headed out with Tracey , and Eddie today for more than likely the last shad trip of the year.

Unreal amount of fish in the River above the gap.

Looked to be just miles of spawning fish , along with quite a few floaters .

Looked more like bunker lined up finning on top than the typical shad staying down near the bottom.

Was still able to catch some solid fish , boating just under 40 in a few hours of fishing.

But only half those fought as hard as normal.

Tracey and I also each had a catfish on a pink and white dart.

Eddie had the big fish of the day with about a 34" Stickerel ., which fought hard in the faster current we were fishing .

Shadfull spring

Been fishing the last few months for shad and having a blast chasing these great C/R fish .
been doing it from shore as well as on the jet boat.

little bit of different tackle used for each application def increases the success.
Been using Fenwick 7'6 HMG with a Pflueger 3500 President  Xt off the  shore.
And Fenwick 9' HMX with ABU Altum 12 DLC on the boat.

After using those outfits for the last three months they def are a great match for this fishery

Shad tourney 2018

Got to fish as far North as the Gap. and as far south as Lambertville over the 3 days I got to fish the tourney .

Friday Chris and I searched out a few spots to be able to take his two daughters to fish the tourney . Had a bunch of fish to 4 1/2 # and had a game plan for Saturday.

Saturday morning I shore fished at the Gap until I had to meet Chris to head out on the boat. I had 17/19 there all around 4 #

Saturday afternoon  we headed out with Erin and Brooke . They fished hard from 11 till 4 and combined for 27 shad to just under 5 #.

Headed back up to the gap to fish with Jack Saturday night to get swamped by thunderstorms.

Sunday Chris and I headed back out with Brooke on the boat where she caught another 17 Between fishing Lambertville and Stockton still all cookie cutter sized fish .

Sunday night had me back at a a spot I used to fish above Pburg.

Had four more fish fishing from shore the last hour there fishing right till dark.

Had fish on just about every different color combination using both spoons as well as darts depending on where we were fishing.

Betting it REALLY busts wide open this weekend with the warm front coming in.

NJ Salt Water fishing expo

Pretty good turnout at the NJ Salt Water fishing expo today .
def a lot of people just as ready for spring as I am