John Day Float, Service Creek to Clarno, 2016

So much for plans.  The plan was to take advantage of spring flows and spend Memorial Day weekend on the North Fork John Day.  Well, spring must have ended a few days early, the snowpack was gone and the flow dropped like a rock during the week leading up to the launch.  The night before departure the flow dropped below 800 cfs and we pulled the plug and looked downstream for an alternative.  Friday we found ourselves at Service Creek and off we went.

John Day River
John Day River

Service Creek to Clarno is a popular float for Memorial Day, the flows are usually good and the weather hasn’t turned out quite too hot yet.  This is the perfect recipe for crowds.  Fishing wasn’t red hot the first day but there were definitely bass to be found.   (more…)

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A Week in Alaska, 2016, Part 4

The weather turned sunny overnight and Thursday morning was beautiful.  Wait, it’s Thursday already?  Where did the time go?  Anyhow, we were ready to get back out on the salt and see what we could do now that we could cover some water.  We trolled our way out of the Cove with only a few fish marked on the finder and headed north.

Alaska 2016-257
The Triplets

We tried a few other areas on the way north looking for kings but we couldn’t find any takers except for one colorful rockfish.  We ended up at tide island mid morning and got rigged for halibut. By the time Ole found the bottom he had a halibut on.  After that quick one we moved around a lot and it wound up being afternoon before I hooked up into something a bit more meatier.  This thing did not want to come up off the bottom.  And bottom happened to be about 175 feet down, so there was some reeling to do.  Bit by bit I drug that thing up until we could get a look at it and it was the nicest one yet (and the biggest fish of my life).   (more…)

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A Week in Alaska, 2016, Part 3

After two sunny calm days the weather was turning on us.  It was a bit overcast and drizzly while we got our tour of the rental boat and it stayed that way most of the day.  Due to the moderate winds we stayed in the Cove and the water was nice and calm.  Every time we ventured out as we were trolling we ended up turning around after fighting the waves.  We didn’t light into the kings like we did on the first day.  We did set some crab pots out that would be a future days bonus.  Other than that it was trolling the cove with nary a fish in sight.  We did manage a couple of rock fish and that was our Monday.

Coffman Cove
Coffman Cove

Tuesday the storm was upon us.  We had planned for a couple of days of exploring the island and fishing the streams.  30 – 40 knot winds easily convinced us the next two days were it.  Not too far from Coffman is a stream that runs out of Luck Lake all the way to the salt named Eagle Creek and that is where we started our day.   (more…)

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