The New Very Large Trout Lovers Thread

Bob Gaineswrote:

Good points Matt and Brian. Here's a release tool I made that allows you to pop the hook without taking the fish out of the water or touching the fish with your hands. 

I've tried the Rising product that kinda does the same function...

Rising Bob's croc

Has some sharp edges and is kinda finicky...I like the looks of that rig, Bob.  Easy with a piece of coat hanger.  Cool!

Yeah, scrolling back through the pics, you can see water dripping off the fish like they been just pulled out of the water for a second.  Seems to be ok.

Ahh...need to head back to AK...

I think the biggest thing to be careful of when taking fish out of the water is cold air.  It doesn't take long when it's really cold for fish to get frostbite on their gills.  Still should very much limit time out of water any other time.

My stupid method if I take a fish out of water is to hold my own breath. If I need to breath, fish should already be back in...

x15x15wrote:

My stupid method if I take a fish out of water is to hold my own breath. If I need to breath, fish should already be back in...

Wim Hof would kill a lot of fish

No rain in Alaska today but found lots of rainbows. Fished a clearwater tributary with thousands of sockeye salmon beginning to spawn, and the trout and dolly varden were on it.

photos by yvonne gaines

Stop making all the rest of us jealous ><  Making me want to sell everything and move to Alaska lol.

Agreed with all of the above on fish handling and water temp.  One more point that I've seen cause problems  (that most of you probably know but some people seem not to) is that if you're quickly lifting a fish for a picture to make sure you lift it low and over the water and not a rock or the shore or the boat.  Interesting fact: fish are slippery

Looks like a great day, Bob!  This summer was my first time fishing beads (below king salmon in our case) and it was a blast.  It's fun having a bright red target showing you where to fish.

DJ, that's the best fish fumble picture I've ever seen. You think rainbows are slippery, try holding a dolly varden!

Speaking of fish handling.....a couple days ago in Alaska I saw a guy fishing for silvers, chucking a lure. He foul-hooked a pink salmon in the dorsal fin, then hauled it up onto the metal grating of a fishing platform. He unhooked it, then booted it back into the water like it was a football and he was kicking a field goal. Local Alaskans look down on pink salmon like they're vermin, although I always love fishing for 'em.

Here's an excerpt from an article I wrote titled Chasing Records, from the May/June issue of California Fly Fisher magazine:

Forecast for Alaska: Cloudy, with a chance of silver

Holy cow that pink could've eaten all of the ones I saw and caught.

Of the five species of pacific salmon, the silver (aka Coho) might be my favorite to fly fish for. They're more numerous than kings, and very aggresive toward a fly, whether drifted, swung, or stripped. They make powerful runs and leap like crazy. And I've never seen a fish change direction so quickly in the water.  Many prefer the taste of silvers over kings and sockeye.

Bob Gaineswrote:

Of the five species of pacific salmon, the silver (aka Coho) might be my favorite to fly fish for. They're more numerous than kings, and very aggresive toward a fly, whether drifted, swung, or stripped. They make powerful runs and leap like crazy. And I've never seen a fish change direction so quickly in the water.  Many prefer the taste of silvers over kings and sockeye.

The only fish under 15lbs (i think, obviously didn’t land it, but it wasn’t a massive fish) to spool me while fly fishing was a coho. Landed fresh 25lb kings on a fly but had 12lb cohos take my whole rig and send me to the tackle shop again. Those things fight!!!

early mornings at palisade lake yields some pancakes

Nice Bluegill! 

Thanks! super fun to fly fish for.

Ounce for ounce, the Bluegill is one of the hardest fighting gamefish of them all!

A Klutina River Red & a Tonsina King 

Wow! Nice King!

On a fly?

Thanks, Bob. No, this one came off my spinning rod.