INDIANANGLER

High on my bucket list was my desire to fish for salmon in Alaska and I read up every article I could lay my hands on with regard to the techniques (spin fishing only) and lures used there.

I further tried to extend my knowledge by seeing You Tube segments on Alaskan salmon fishing and by the end I had a pretty good idea as to what was involved.

My opportunity came during an Alaskan cruise last month and I arranged for a Hummer with a guide to be ready for us when we had a shore excursion at Ketchikan, which is known as the "salmon capital of Alaska".

I had my trusty 9ft. Shimano travel rod,Penn 4500 Spinfisher V reel and a small selection of lures with me (Mepps Flying C,Mepps #5, Blue Fox Pixie).

When we docked at Ketchikan, I was pleased to see the Hummer ready for us ,driven by an extremely knowledgeable American gentleman who was an ex-Sapper in the US Army and had served in the Gulf War.He genuinely loved Indian food,was fond of samosas and curry and had a fund of stories about Alaska and some of the old,colorful local characters that lived there.

He was fortunately a keen angler and knew the ropes...our first step was to obtain an Alaskan fishing licence for me at a nearby sports store .

I also bought a couple of lures used locally, after discussions with the store clerk .....I find that spending a bit of money in this fashion allows me to glean a lot of friendly, local information on where the fish are biting and what lures to use.

Our first stop was at a steep cliff face, where the water immediately became 100ft. deep..the guide told me to use the newly purchased Buzz Bomb lure at this place.

This is a heavy 2oz. upward, long,multifaceted lure with a hole running right the way through it. One runs the line through it and a small round rubber stopper,before tying on the hook.

The weight of the Buzz Bomb enables you to cast it out a long way,say beyond 50-60 meters, and one then let's it sink to the sea floor.

You lift the lure off the bottom, by raising the rod ,and then let it fall again...because it is multifaceted and running freely on the line now, it will flutter down to the bottom,resembling a wounded baitfish to any salmon or cod within the area.

It took me a while to get the proper feel and technique,with help from our driver cum guide.....however, there were no bites and we then went looking for salmon in the nearby streams.

Upon reaching the shallow stream just outside Ketchikan, we found it to be choked with pink salmon on their way to spawning, with an occasional steelhead (sea run rainbow trout) amongst them.

There were gulls by the gutful feeding on the dead salmon and the stench was overpowering.... fortunately there were no bears at this stream although we did see a black bear weighing some 300lbs.feeding at another nearby location.

I knew from past experience that we would not be able to catch these pink salmon in a sporting fashion and therefore refrained from angling .... one could have easily snagged a bucketload,as was being done by a native angler next to us (to them this was their winter food supply when the land became frozen,so it is understandable that they would stock up with salmon when the opportunity arose).

Unfortunately, time was running out and the family wanted to see a bit more of the area around us and also see the totem poles at a nearby
site, so my angling was over...... however, I had no regrets and can rest easy that I have angled in Alaska and can cross that off my list!

P.S. In the pictures below you will see a" Fish Woman" carved on a totem pole holding two salmon, she is credited in ancient lore with supplying salmon to a starving Red Indian tribe ....maybe I should have invoked her blessings first before fishing in Alaska!

Kingfish


Our little red Hummer


Fishing deepwater from the rocks for salmon or rock cod


Pink salmon going upstream to spawn in ankle-deep water

Continued...

Seagulls having a feast on dying or dead salmon




I was lucky to purchase this beautiful Mac's Field Guide for salmon and trout






This is the Buzz-Bomb, the chartreuse colour is for dark waters and the silver one in the original packaging would be good on a sunny day

Guys - full credit to ImageShack for the pictures but we are having considerable problems with entering the message - after putting in the links and adding commentary, and hitting the preview button, the message will just disappear. Any ideas why this is the case?

Really sorry that most of the pictures now cannot have a narration because of the above issues.

Regards

Kingfish

Nice pictures KingFish!! Alaska in one of the beautiful places to be. The crystal clear water and the pink salmon and their upstream migration are a treat to watch.

I have never faced issues while entering and previewing message. It may be due to browser incompatibility. Try with a different browser.

Thank you, Venkat.

We are also having problems resizing the pictures on Imageshack .... it seems that one now has to pay in order to compress these to forum size ? What is going on?

By the way, the 3 large "pink salmon" in the 3rd last picture are fakes!! Just a small joke on the forum members ... Hope no one minds!

Kingfish

For those interested, the picture of my small backpack size tackle box shows the salmon lures ( Flying C Mepps,Mepps #5, Blue Fox Pixie ..) that I took from Australia.

It also shows a fair number of smaller Mepps 1,2,3 which I took for trout fishing in the Canadia Rockies.

Keen eyed readers will also note the small Leatherman Squirt Ps4 mini tool and a small but powerful button LED torch attached with it.These pint sized items were very handy for cutting line,hook removal,filing hook points or squashing the barbs on the hooks to make them barbless...the mini torch made it easy to work in the dark untangling lines or tying on leaders etc.

With careful selection, one can carry the essentials for an overseas fishing trip in a small package...helped by travel rods that pack into a 2-3 ft. roll and small yet powerful quality reels.

Kingfish

Thanks for sharing Kingfish!

Alaska is one of those places I want to visit sometime.
I'd like to catch some of those steelheads on artificials.

Any sturgeon fishing around where you were at in Alaska?

@ lure_fisherman

No sturgeon that I heard of but lot of halibut fishing in Alaska.

For sturgeon, suggest you try the Fraser River system around Vancouver or the Columbia River in Revelstoke in the Rocky Mountains.

Hope you catch your steelhead someday!

Kind regards,
Kingfish

@KingFish

Try using photobucket for uploading photos. It is way better than ImageShack...

Thanks, Venkat..... I think I will make the switch to photobucket as Imageshack is too complicated now.

Kingfish

awaiting pics dear kingfish

Hello Omesh,

No other pictures for this trip besides those posted above! Did not catch any fish but that does not matter,does it?

Regards,
Kingfish

As I was having problems entering a narration against each picture, let me try to fill in the blanks here.

The 8th picture from the top is that of "Deadly Dick" lures, made in Canada and quite similar to the Halco slice lure.

I intend to use this for surf fishing in Australia and elsewhere.... anglers in the US are full of praise for these lures for catching stripers.

The picture below that is of the " 5 of Diamonds" lure, self-explanatory.This is the go to lure for catching fish of any type in North America, be it salmon or trout,pike,walleye,lake trout amongst others.

I have bought several in different sizes and will try them out in the Southern Hemisphere on barramundi and other species ...will let the forum know how they perform in Australian conditions.

Below that is a picture of Gamakatsu Siwash hooks ..these are single hooks of extremely high quality.

The hooks have an open eye,allowing them to be used as replacement hooks for fishing where treble hooks are not permitted ( for example, on this Alaskan trip, ALL my lures had to have single hooks).

The open eye allows easy installation on to the split ring and then it is a simple matter to close the eye with a set of pliers.

Kingfish

Hello Kingfish
I am based in Toronto and I fish for Salmon in the rivers and stream using center pin reel and a long noodle rod(nearly 15 foot)...Not many in India know about the center pin reel but its an interesting way of catching salmon and trout and other fish like bass,carp,pike etc..The drag is controlled by the fingers and the reel looks like this : http://www.centerpinangling.com/centerpinreels.html
They are not fly reels but very very smooth reels that spin continuous for more than a minute when rolled..

I use yarn - pink, yellow and bright green are my favorite colors..i use them on size 8 or size 6 hooks with a bobber and a 6 to 8 feet fluorocarbon thin leader (with weights spread on the line )..
I have caught numerous salmon and steelheads on aluminium or tin foil..hahaha..they fish think them as some bait fish and strike them...I wrap the foil nicely on the hook and expose the hook to set the fish on..

Another interesting way of catching salmon is using the flossing technique..There are two ways, one using the colored yarn with a bottom bouncer leader..the other is by a fixed heavy weight with hooks tied in such a way that they catch in the fish mouth or body when the fish swim into the line..

if you happen to visit toronto during the salmon season, lets catch some big ones

@rocky_moin

Thank you...what an informative post!

I had vaguely heard of Center pin reels but had no idea how they are used as well as the long noodle rods.

It must take great skill to operate this equipment and also to control the drag with the fingers on a fast running salmon is no joke!

Unless one is careful and experienced, I would think the risk of hurting one's fingers or knuckles with the whirring handles would be quite high?

I have bottom bounced with yarn+heavy weights on the Fraser river for pink and king salmon but the other techniques are new to me.

I do have friends in the Toronto area,so perhaps one day.....!

Kind regards,
Kingfish