Kanektok River Fishing Reports 2007

 

Weather:

Though the summer months are Alaska's most temperate, the weather is still volatile and moody. A balmy sun-filled day can change quickly as the wind blows in the clouds and rain. Proper clothing can ensure everyone's comfort and enjoyment.

7 day weather forecast for Quinhagak,

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 18 TO 25, 2007

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
Water temps have been from 50 to 53 degrees. There is ten to twelve feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
We had a lot of days this week that you had to keep your rain jacket handy for short periods of drizzly type rain. Not enough rain to bring the river up or have any effect on the fishing. Nights are getting chilly and we are loosing a lot of daylight now.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
Small off colored Flesh patterns were the go to fly for bows this week. The mouse is still working well as are beads, eggs patterns and fry patterns. Silvers are playing a little hard to get. Pink bunny with silver tinsel was working pretty well. We spent most of our time trout fishing!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
The trout fishing was really good again this week! My favorite was sight casting to big rainbows! Like I have said before each week every guide at the upper camp has great fish stories it is just easier to tell mine. This week Larry King and John Wright and I went for a walk down a side channel and sight fished some nice bows. They were “not buyin what we were sellin” so we broke out the light leader and the fly boxes and went to work. When we finished Larry had landed a 24 four inch fatty and Johns best was a nice 23 inch bow. These fish were not easy to catch which made it all the more rewarding. I had a similar experience while fishing with Rich Fish and Steve Hardy. We walked a long side channel and we caught a bunch of rainbows. The ones I remember the most are always the big fish that are the toughest to catch. We threw everything we had at some of them and before it was over Rich and Steve caught rainbows on mouse patterns, flesh patterns, fry patterns, egg patterns, maggot patterns, beads, nymphs and even small dry flies!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
By far and away exceeded my expectations… Unbelievable!! Rich Fish, Englewood Colorado
This was the best week of sight fishing for rainbows that I have ever had!! Great outfit!!! Steve Hardy

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
Lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

This nice bow was caught by Larry King.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK

We had another fantastic week of rainbow fishing! Again almost all of our guests had fished with us before, some as many as ten times. It is always fun to re live old memories and make some new ones! The Silver fishing was slow this week. We are still hoping for a big push of fish but at this point it looks like the run is below average.

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 18TH TO 25TH 2007

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The water temperature this week has been from 52 to 55 degrees. The clarity is great with crystal clear low water.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
We have pretty much had it all this week with the weather, except rain. Some days were cloudy and other days were clear and hot. The temperature has ranged from 55 to 70 degrees most of the week.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
The flesh fly and egg patterns are still working great for the Rainbows. Silvers are still hitting most all the flies but they are really smashing the white flesh flies well. The Arctic Char are still hitting the egg patterns great.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlight of the week for me was that we had a group of guests this week that were pretty much new to the sport of fly fishing and they have all picked up on it great and are casting very good and catching lots of fish. This is always a lot of fun to see!!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
I knew it was going to be a good week when my son said “I caught more fish on the first day than I have in my entire life” Bob Bauer, Dublin, OH..

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
On Wednesday we spotted a Wolf running down a gravel bar and into the brush. We didn’t see any Bears or Moose this week but lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green Wing Teal, Speckled Belly Geese, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sand Hill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long Tail Jaegers and Glucose Winged Gulls. Golden Crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common Snipe, Greater Yellow Leg and Ravens.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The Rainbow fishing continues to be unbelievable with lots of big fish. The Arctic Char fishing is very good and they are starting to really turn into their beautiful spawning colors. The Silvers have slowed down some as the river is very low and we haven’t seen any rain now for over a week.

This is our last week at the Lower Base Camp as we are heading to Kodiak Island to set-up our camps and get ready for the Silvers and Steelhead!! From the beginning to the end of our season we had great runs of all Salmon this summer. The Arctic Char fishing was great with lots of big fish. Our Rainbow fishing this summer was as good as it was in the mid 80’s. We caught lots of fish this summer from 24 to 28 inches and a couple Bows over 28 inches.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT:
for the week of August 11 to 18, 2007

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
Water temps have been from 50 to 56 degrees. There is ten to twelve feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
We had a little bit of every thing this week. We had some rain and we also had some sunny days with highs in the mid seventies. Thursday and Friday were cold clear nights with blue bird days and highs in the mid seventys! We are still swimming when ever we get the chance!.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
Mouse patterns were the hot fly this week for rainbows! The bow fishing was incredible with lots of big fish! Other flies that are still working well for bows are flesh, eggs, and fry patterns. Silver fishing has been good but not as good as it should be for this time of year. Purple egg sucking leeches are working well as are bunny leeches in pink, black, and purple. Tinsel flies and Popsicles are also working well. Silvers are also taking pink pollywogs and other dry flies.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
This whole week seems like a highlight! In my opinion it just doesn’t get any better than throwing the mouse and sight casting to big bows! The most memorable for me was fishing with my long time friend and guest Rankin McDaniel’s and his son Devin. Rankin has been fishing with us almost every year since 1981! While walking a side channel we spotted two big bows. They both refused the mouse so I started going through my fly box to see if we could find something that they would take. Rankin finally took the biggest fish (He had a distinctive scar so we named him Scar back) on a flesh pattern and after trying four other flies Devin caught the other bow on an epoxy fry pattern! It was one of those special moments….. Man I love my job!!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
We had a few bear sightings this week. Also lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Clint and Rankin with “Scar back”.

 

Clint and Devin McDaniels with his nice bow!

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
This was like old home week for us. We also had Bobby and Silvia Murray and Terry and Janet Terrill from Arkansas. They have been fishing with us since 1980! Man did they catch a lot of fish! Also in camp this week was Lane Tait. Lane has fished with us for the last eight years and while he came to target Silvers he is a newly converted mouse fisherman. He is definitely hooked! The guides were teasing him about being a “mouseaholic”. Remember Lane the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem! It was another really fun week with lots of laughs and lots of big rainbows!

 

 

Lower base Camp Fishing Report:
FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 11TH TO 18TH, 2007

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The water temperature in the lower river was around 52 to 55 degrees this week. The water clarity was very good this week, as we didn’t enough rain to raise the river or change the color.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
Saturday and Sunday the weather was beautiful with bright sunny days. On Monday and Tuesday we had a storm roll in and received a small amount of drizzly rain. Wednesday the weather was overcast with high clouds. Thursday and Friday were beautiful days again with some very hot-sunny weather. We are all praying for some more rains!

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
The Peachy King egg pattern is still working great for the Rainbows and Arctic Char. Towards the middle of the week the flesh flies in various colors started to work great for the Bows! Same ole story on the Silvers, they are smashing everything from bright streamers, pink pollywogs, flash flies, and bunny leeches to white flesh flies.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlight of the week for me was our guests. We had a mixed group of guests that all got along great throughout the week and were all very neat guys. The other highlight was all the big Rainbows we caught again in the lower river. We had eighteen fish that measured over 24 inches with two big Bows at 28 and 27 inches!! One of our guests from PA had a huge Rainbow come off the egg pattern when he was five feet from shore after a 10 minute battle that I believe was over 10lbs!!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
I have been fishing for twenty plus years and this trip with the Duncan’s was the best of my life. I will be back again and again. – Todd Killian – Mars, PA.

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We didn’t see any Bears or Moose this week but lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Speckled Belly Geese, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sand hill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers and Glucose winged Gulls. Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg and Ravens.

PHOTOS of the Week:

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The Rainbow and Arctic Char fishing was great this week. They are really on the Chum and King beds so the Peachy King Egg Pattern are working best. By midweek we started using white flesh flies for the Bows. The Silver fishing this week was very good most of the week but slowed down a little when the river started dropping. We really could use some more rain to bring some more fresh Silvers into the river. The Grayling fishing continues to be great!

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 4TH TO 11TH

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
At the beginning of the week the water temperature was around 51 degrees and by Friday evening it was at 57 degrees. The river clarity was great at the beginning of the week then we got a bunch of rain and it came up six inches and colored up. On Tuesday the weather cleared up and the river cleared right up with great clarity. The river is dropping very fast with all the nice weather we had towards the end of the week.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
We had lots of rain, clouds and wind on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday we had cloudy days but not much rain. On Thursday and Friday the weather was sunny and around 75 degrees.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
The egg patterns and beads are working great for Rainbows and Arctic Char. The Silver Salmon are hitting just about everything you throw at them.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlight of the week is always hard as we have way too much fun up here every week. If I had to choose one highlight it would be how aggressive the Silvers have been, especially with the Pink Pollywogs!!

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We are starting to see quite a few Bears again this week. Lots of Wolf tracks are showing up on all the gravel bars but we haven’t spotted one yet. The Geese and Ducks are starting to flock up and are flying around in the evenings and mornings.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The Silvers are starting to really show up in huge numbers after our rainstorm and the river rising. The Silvers are smashing the Pink Pollywogs on the surface this week. The Rainbow fishing continues to be very good and the Arctic Char fishing is off the chart with a lot of big fish. Overall we had a great week of angling with some really great guests.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 4 TO AUGUST 11

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
Water temps have been from 48 to 55 degrees. There is ten to twelve feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
The week started off with cold rainy weather but Wednesday and Thursday and Friday were beautiful sunny days with highs in the mid to upper seventies. It was nice to swim in the river this week. Some of our guests even took a dip!.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
Peachy Eggs and beads are still the “go too” patterns. The mouse is still working very well as are many variations of flesh patterns. Silver fishing has been good this week and it should continue to get better. Purple egg sucking leeches are working well as are bunny leeches in pink, black, and orange. Tinsel flies are also working well.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
The highlight of the week for me was watching guest John W sight cast to a 25 inch rainbow. After trying several flies we got him to take a flesh pattern! John landed the fish and we got some good pictures on his 35 mm camera.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The best fly fishing experience I have had in forty years! This is a first class outdoor wilderness experience! Jacques Michienzi Chapel Hill, NC

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
We had lots bear sightings this week. Also lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
The rainbow and dolly varden fishing has been great again this week. The Silvers are also taking the dry flies very well.

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 28th to August 4th

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT

REPORTING FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 28 TO AUGUST 4

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
Water temps have been from 48 to 51 degrees. There is ten to twelve feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
No swimming this week. It was overcast and unusually cold for most of the week. We had intermittent light drizzle on most days. It sure didn’t slow the fishing down though.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
Almost the same as last week it is still hard to beat the incredible edible egg!!! Beads are also working well. The mouse is still working very well as are many variations of flesh patterns. Kings are in the peak of spawning and fishing doesn’t get much better!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
If you asked each guide what the highlight of the week was you would get as many different answers as there are guides. This week was especially fun for us because we had a father and son week with a bunch of really nice young men. Everyone caught a lot of fish! The highlight of the week for me was fishing with Gordon and JJ Spronk, a father and son team from Pipestone, MN. We fished the Bow Hole and had a great time sight casting to Rainbows and Dollies. Gordon always takes some time out of his day to capture some memories with his camera. Check out the great picture he took of his son JJ and a jumping rainbow. WOW!!!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The best father/son week on the planet! Many thanks! David Tomsche, Melrose, MN

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
We had lots bear sightings this week. Also lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Gordon Spronk took this photo of his son JJ while fishing with guide Pete (Peaches) Pendegrast. What a great shot!

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
We didn’t have as much sun light this week so it was harder to sight cast to fish. We still did a lot of sight casting it was just more difficult to see. Silvers are staring to show up in bigger numbers every day. We spent most of our time fishing for bows and dollies! One of the problems this week was that it was hard to get the fly to the Rainbows because the Dollies are so aggressive. A nice problem to have.

 

Clint's wife and kids (JoAnne, Katie and Sam) came up for a week of fishing - here are some photos

 

 

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF
JULY 28TH TO AUGUST 4TH

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The river is as low as it has been all summer. The temperature has been from 49 to 52 degrees most of the week. The clarity of the river is excellent.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
The weather for the most part was cloudy and windy with light rain but not enough to bring the river up.

HOT FLIES OF THE WEEK:
The hot flies for the Rainbows were egg patterns and flesh flies. The Silvers are taking most any streamers that are bright in color.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
It is hard to find the highlight of this week as we always have so much fun with this group and the fishing is always great!! If I had to pick a highlight it would be the Rainbow fishing was incredible with lots of big fish.

Another highlight for the week was that Jay lost a bet and paid his debt and jumped in the river on a cold-rainy-windy day!! Burrrrrr?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
After 11 years I keep thinking it can’t get any better, but it always does.
John Carey – Columbus, OH.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
Even though we caught our first Silver Salmon on July 14th they seem to be a little slow about coming in due to the low water conditions. However it really picked up on Thursday and Friday and there seems to be a lot of Silvers starting to stack up in the backwaters. Again this has been one of our best weeks of the summer for Big Bows!! Several Rainbows were caught this week over the 24-inch mark, one being around 30 inches caught by our good friend John Carey.
As always we had a great week with our great friends and long time guests from Columbus, Ohio.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Cutler with a nice Bow!

Joe Chornyak with a great Silver Salmon!

 

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 21st to JULY 28

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
Water temps have been from 48 to 54 degrees. There is ten to twelve feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
We had some swimming weather this week! It felt great to take a dip in the river. On a couple of days we had sunny skies and low seventies air temperatures. We also had one day of fairly steady light rain. For the most part conditions were great and the river continues to drop.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK

The incredible edible egg!!! It is hard to beat an egg pattern this week for Rainbows and Dollies. The mouse is still working very well as is many variations of flesh patterns. Chums are in the peak of spawning and the Kings are starting to spawn in good numbers.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
My good friend and long time guest (21 years) Kevin Stewart was in camp this week. He made the mistake of betting on his Dallas Cowboys when they played the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs last year. The bet was that the looser had to swim in the river! I swim in the river all the time so I didn’t have much to loose. Kevin on the other hand wanted no part of swimming in an Alaskan stream. Well the Cowboys lost and after a lot of razzing Kevin took his swim.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
I could not be happier with the fishing, the guides, the service, and the scenery. It was the total package!!! Derek Fritz, Francestown, NH

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
Guide Scott Traverse saw an Arctic Lynx this week! I have only seen one in all my years on the river. We had lots bear sightings this week. With as many as nine different bear in a single day by two guests!
Lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
Once again most of our guests this week have fished with us in the Upper camp for years. It is always fun to get together with old friends. All we fished for all week was trout and dollies and the fishing was truly incredible. Everyone caught an unbelievable number of fish this week!! We did a lot of sight casting to rainbows and dollies. Talk about fun!!

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 14th TO 21st

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The water temperature in the lower river was between 51 to 53 degrees this week. The river dropped about 5 inches this week, as we didn’t have any rain during the week. The clarity of the river is almost back to where it was before the big rains in the mountains last week.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
The weather this week has been much warmer with quite a few sunny days. We had some rain showers and cloudy days but not enough to raise the river. All in all it has been a great week of weather. Wednesday evening we had a short storm with rain, thunder and lightening in the upper river above camp.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
The mouse and the flesh flies are still working great for the Rainbows. Egg Patterns are starting to work as the Rainbows are starting to move in with the spawning Kings and Chums. We are still catching Chums, Sockeyes and a few Kings on all the Teeny Flies.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The Silvers are arriving early. The commercial fishermen are catching quite a few Silvers in their nets at the mouth of the river. We have seen quite a few in the river and have caught some Silvers this week.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
The best fly fishing I have ever experienced, such variety of species and friendly helpful guides. James Fountain – England

Only fifty-one weeks to go. Sam Kyo - England

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We have heard quite a few Moose this week and had one big Bull standing in the middle of the river and wasn’t real happy about us passing by him. A lot of Bears this week have been spotted cruising the bank fishing opposite of camp. We have also seen a few while out fishing during the day. All the duck in the previous reports are still around. Most of the Eagles have gone up river but we did see a Peregrine Falcon this week chasing down a Teal.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The fishing this week has been great for Chums and Sockeye with a few Silvers caught. The King fishing seems to have slowed down a bit but in the lower river we are still catching enough to continue to target them. The Arctic Char are starting to slow down their march and stack up with the salmon so we have been targeting them also. The Grayling fishing continues to be great! The Rainbows seem to be moving off the root wads and banks and out into the spawning salmon.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Ken White from England with beautiful Arctic Char

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
REPORTING FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 14 TO JULY 21

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
We have had several days where water temps have reached highs of 53 by late afternoon. The river is back to eight to ten feet of visibility at camp and gin clear in the upper river.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
We had a little bit of everything this week including a thunder storm with lightning and rain showers. We also saw the sun for at least a few hours of every day.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
The mouse is still working very well although the flesh patterns were our best producers!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
The highlight of the week for me was being able to fish with my wife Jo and daughters Katie (age ten) and Sam(age eight). Jo fished the mouse almost exclusively while Katie and Sam used flesh and egg patterns. Jo and the girls caught a lot of fish this week and we got some great pictures!! The one I remember most though was Katie’s first rainbow on a mouse pattern. It was one of those big slashing takes that stops your heart! I remember thinking she might just land this one. Sure enough she was able to land the fish for some pictures before we released it. She was grinning from ear to ear! I don’t think it gets much better!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
This is our third trip running and I cannot wait to return. The fishing was amazing;the scenery spectacular; and the Duncans are the perfect hosts! Who could ask for more? Tom Roberts, New Orleans, LA

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
We had lots bear sightings this week. Guests William and Deborah Backhouse saw ten different bear in a single day!!! Lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Jo and daughters Katie (age ten) and Sam(age eight)

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK
Almost all of our guests this week have fished with us in the upper camp for years. It has been a lot of fun to have my family in camp this week and for them to get to know some of my guests. Katie and Sam had fun tying flies for the guests and then waiting to hear the report when they returned at the end of the day. Kings were slow this week but everyone caught a lot of Chum, Sockeye, Rainbow and Dollies.

 

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT
FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 7th TO 14th

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The water temperature was around 54 degrees all week in the lower river. The clarity was great, until Friday when we had a lot of rain and a thunderstorm in the mountains. The river is now up somewhere between 10 to 12 inches and clarity is around two feet.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
The weather has been very hot and sunny this week, with some days as hot as 75 to 80 degrees. Thursday was back to normal with temps around 50 to 55 degrees with some rain showers. Friday was about the same weather with a little more rain however we had a bunch of rain in the mountains with a big thunder and lightening storm.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
We are still fishing a lot of Salmon on all the Teeny Nymph flies and they are working great in all colors and sizes. The Rainbows are really on the flesh flies and Mouse patterns.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlight of the week is the Rainbow fishing. It is better than we have seen in 15 plus years with fish as large as 26 inches. The Grayling fishing is unbelievable this summer in the lower river. Seventeen years ago we lost most of our Grayling to a disease and for the first time in years since we are targeting them with dry flies and tearing them up.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
An out of this world experience that I hope to repeat - Dick Thorpe, Surrey, England

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We have seen three different Brown Bear this week. We are still seeing all the ducks in the previous reports. We still have quite a few Eagles around and a couple of Ospreys. We have been seeing lots of Wolf tracks but no sightings yet.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The fishing this week has been great with lots of fresh salmon pumping in every day. The Rainbow fishing is as good as it has ever been. I had a day fishing Rainbows with flesh flies that was as good as I can ever remember. This week we have a bunch of return guests and friends from England, always one of our best weeks of the summer.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

 

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF:
July 7 TO JULY 14

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
The river warmed up a little this week. We had several days that by afternoon we had water temps of 53 degrees. We had about eight feet of visibility at camp and the upper river was gin clear until Thursday. On Thursday we had a bunch of rain in the upper river and the river took on some color for the first time this year. Now the visibility is about four feet.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
The first four days of this week were sunny and warm. It did not rain much on us but it must have rained a lot above us as the river came up and took on some color.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
The mouse is still working very well although the flesh patterns were our best producers!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
My wife Jo and our two girls Katie and Sam came in this week. It was fun to get them out on the river. The dollies are starting to show up in good numbers and the girls love to fish for them.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Breathtaking scenery, great camp, fantastic fishing, fun guides- this place must be heaven!! Shane Hamilton, Surrey, England

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
We had lots sightings this week. Lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK

This was a really fun week. A lot of the guests this week are old friends that have fished with us for years. The first four days the rainbow fishing was as good as it gets! The river came up at the end of the week which should improve the fishing for Kings. There are lots of Chums around and they are good biters!

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

UPPER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF:
JUNE 30 TO JULY 7

WATER TEMP AND CLARITY
The river warmed up a little this week. We had several days that by afternoon we had water temps of 51 degrees. We have had about eight feet of visibility at camp and the upper river is gin clear.

WEATHER CONDITIONS
The weather has been almost the same as last week with mostly overcast skies and winds from 5 to 15 mph. On most days we have had some rain with showers usually lasting 20 or 30 minutes. It was sunny and warm on two separate evenings and we enjoyed a nice dip in the river.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK
Hands down it was the mouse this week! We had some guests that never fished anything else!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
The mousing was incredible all week!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

WILDLIFE SPOTTED
Lots of birds along the river including Bald Eagles, Mallards, Pintail, Widgeon, Green wing Teal, Canadian Geese, Tundra Swans, Mergansers, Common Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Terns, Long tail Jaegers Glaucous winged Gulls, Bald Eagles, Ruffed Legged Hawks, Kestrels, Harlequin ducks, Osprey, Peregrine falcons, Golden crowned Sparrows, Swallows, Common snipe, Greater yellow leg, Ptarmigan, Ravens, and Crows.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK

We had a really fun group of guests this week! We spent most of our time fishing for rainbows even though the river is full of chrome bright Salmon.

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF:
JUNE 30 TO JULY 7

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The river is very low and in great shape. The temperature of the river this week was around 53 to 54 degrees in the lower river.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
Again, we have had it all this week from sunshine to wind and rain. But for the most part it has been a light rain and didn’t raise the river until Thursday after we had a bunch of rain with thunder and lightning in the mountains.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
We have been fishing a lot of Teeny Nymphs again this week. All colors and sizes have been working great for the Kings, Chums and Sockeye Salmon!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlights of the week were going to our annual 4th of July party in Quinhagak to hand out toys and bikes to all the great kids. Jim Teeny from Oregon and Art and Sandy Binley from back east joined us for the day.
The Sockeyes have showed up in big numbers and are really on the march up river.

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We have seen quite a few Moose this week. All the ducks listed on the previous weeks. The Eagles are starting to head up river but we still have a few around. Cutler spotted an Osprey going down river on Monday. We didn’t see any Bears this week but every gravel bar is littered with tracks.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
The fishing this week has been unreal. The Kings are still coming in every day in good numbers and they are really on the bite. The Sockeye and Chum fishing was unbelievable this week and they are really taking the Teeny flies in size #4 and #6. The Rainbow fishing has been good with a lot of big fish up to 24 inches! Overall this has been a great week of angling with a bunch of good long time guests/friends.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Jim Teeny and Mike Crossley with a nice King Salmon

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Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF:
JUNE 23 TO 30

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:

The river is still very clear with great visibility. The water temp is still around 48 degrees.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
We have had a lot of cold-cloudy days this week with some rain. Early in the week the river came up 2 inches and dropped 24 hours later than on Weds it rained all day again and the river came up slightly. So far this summer we have had one of our coldest and wet starts in years. We can use the rain, as the river is very low and clear for this time of year.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
Hot fly for the week is again the Teeny Nymph in all colors. Size #2 for the Kings-- #4 & #2 for the Chums and size #6 for the Sockeyes.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
The highlight for the week is how healthy and girthy the Kings are running this year with one fish as large as 60lbs that my son Cutler and Benny Karamanos tag teamed on Weds. As you could imagine these were two very excited kids when they returned home from their day fishing.

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
We have been seeing lots of Pintails, Mallards, Teal, Widgeon and a few Harlequins. Lots of Eagles are still in the lower river. We have seen only one Bear so far this summer but the gravel bars are littered with their tracks. Early in this week several of our boats on their way home from fishing the lower river saw a Bull Moose with a cow.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
This has been a great week for Kings with more big fish than usual!! Several Kings in the 45lb range were caught and landed with the one right at 60lbs. The Kings are still pumping in every day with each tide. The Chum and Sockeye fishing has really picked up in the last 3 days. The Rainbow fishing was really good again this week, with one fish over 24inches that was caught on a Mouse pattern.

PHOTOs OF THE WEEK:

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK OF:
JUNE 16 TO 23

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:
The river is very low and clear for this time of year. Visibility is around 6ft, which is amazing for mid June.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:
We have pretty much had it all this week. Started the week with a couple very cold days with rain and clouds. Warmed up around midweek with a very hot and clear sunny Tuesday. Wednesday was overcast most of the day but fairly warm. Thursday and Friday became cold, windy and cloudy again with a slight rain.

HOT FLY OF THE WEEK:
Most of our fishing was back bouncing with spin-glos and plugs. Although we did get out with the Mouse pattern and rip some Rainbows!

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
Peter Loeb from Oregon landed a King around 45lbs to 50lbs. The Rainbow fishing is unbelievable for this time of year with some fish as large as 28 inches.

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:
More ducks than usual on the river. We have been seeing lots of Pintails, Mallards, Teal, Widgeon and a few Harlequins. Lots of Eagles are already staging in the lower river waiting for the salmon to start spawning and eating on the smelt. We have seen a few Bear tracks already on the gravel bars but have not spotted any yet.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:
We have had some great days fishing Kings and a few slow days but overall the fishing for the Kings has been great. The Chums are starting to show up and stack up on the bars in good numbers. The Sockeye’s are also starting to march up the river. The river is in great shape for Rainbow fishing. Sandy and Bryan Lockleer spent a day with Ryno Mousing and caught a lot of big fish.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Sandy and Ryno with the first 'Bow of the 2007 season at the Lower Base Camp.

Bryan Lockleer with a nice Kanektok River King.

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEKS OF:

SETTING UP CAMP JUNE 1ST TO 15TH

WATER TEMPERATURE AND CLARITY:

The river is very low for this time of year. However it looks like we still have normal snow accumulation in the mountains. 2 ½ to 3 ½ water clarity. We haven’t had time to take the water temp but seem to be very cold.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:

We have had a variety of weather in the week that we have been here. But for the most part it has been cloudy with occasional rain. Cold winds coming off the snow covered mountains in the mornings and evenings. Pretty much bug free living so far!!

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:

Lots of Eagles have already moved into the lower river targeting the smelt and waiting for the Salmon to arrive. We have seen lots of Mallards, Pintails, Teal, Widgeon and Geese. The locals have said that there is 3 to 4 Bears hanging around down low on the beaches around Quinhagak, which is somewhat early. Especially for this time of year.

COMMENTS FOR THE WEEK:

We haven’t had the time to wet a line yet but the locals are doing very well subsistence fishing for Kings. They say that they are catching lots of big Kings and the last couple days the numbers have more than doubled. We have seen quite a few Kings rolling on the surface in the normal holes.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

 

 

LOWER BASE CAMP FISHING REPORT

Getting ready for the 2007 Season

 

____________________________________________________
Now booking for 2008 -
call 509-962-1060 to check availability.
____________________________________________________

 

 

Weather:

Though the summer months are Alaska's most temperate, the weather is still volatile and moody. A balmy sun-filled day can change quickly as the wind blows in the clouds and rain. Proper clothing can ensure everyone's comfort and enjoyment.

10 day weather forecast for Quinhagak,

• Archived Fishing reports for - 2005
• Archived Fishing reports for - 2006