Abbreviated fishing time this year but lucky for us a great run of fish. I think the sonar has counted over 80k kings returning to the Nushagak.
My older brother came out for a long weekend and had great fun.


Weather was mixed.





The next weekend the Missus and I went up for the weekend and the run continued strong.





Bank fishing for dogs was good and for variety many were caught and released.

Nice looking fish looks like a great time.

Scott,

Lots o' fun. Been away from it long enough that I didn't even think about King fishing until you posted. Do you know how much the bigger fish weighed?

Mark

Scott,
Your killing me, with the Kenai shut down and all in this neck of the woods.
Looks like you guys had a grand time

wooo hooo, great time.

nice and bright. Fishing kings for fun, when the run is in, is the best fun ever.

don't set your rod down, ask me how I know

We weighed the biggest fish and nothing went over 30#'s. Kendall got 6 in the net two nights ago and one weighed 37#'s. I thought it very unusual for there to be kings in the net in late July.

Well theres no reason for any of you to not come out here and fish. Obviously I can't accomodate all but theres both guided and un guided facilities available, plenty of seats on the airlines and at the local Hilton. I'd be happy to advise regarding when where and how and no I'm not involved with the business.

So's you all know's, theres quite a bit of diverse opportunity here for chasing fish. Grayling, rainbow, and arctic char abound. Five species of salmon return to spawn in the Wood/ Nushagak River system and theres lake trout and pike around.

One of these days I'm going to get into fly fishing and try for it all. I wish I could focus myself to head up the Wood River system in late September/ October to target big trout.

Fantastic fish

damn - we couldn't get up this year. damn

Hey Scott- Took your advice from last year and spent 6/20-30 fly fishing near the mouth at Randy's camp. We had a great trip and re-booked for 2013. The run is now over 100,000. Our best on fly gear was 28 and there was a 34 taken while we were there. Bob.

quote:

Originally posted by crane:
Hey Scott- Took your advice from last year and spent 6/20-30 fly fishing near the mouth at Randy's camp. We had a great trip and re-booked for 2013. The run is now over 100,000. Our best on fly gear was 28 and there was a 34 taken while we were there. Bob.

And folks just to be clear Crane means over 100k king salmon, not all species of.

One river, this year over 100k kings.

Terrible time huh Bob? I'm very glad you got to see it and I'm happy your coming back.

awesome photos, scott - looks like a real good time!

Awesome. Looks like you had fun!

We are thinking with all the EOs out regarding the many restricted or closed King fisheries that there is significant pressure on the powers that be to keep the Nush run rolling. We also had a blast with the lighter rods on Chums just accross from camp.

The common hypothesis seems to indicate off shore fishery issues, not on shore salmon habitat problems. Theres little degredation in spawning habitat in the Kenai drainage and almost the entire Yukon could be arguably in better shape than the Nushagak, and yet both the former are on their heels while the Nushagak did what it did. Its certainly a mystery to me to be solved by others way over my pay grade.

Howzabout some pictures Bob?

Great fish photos.

I Fished near Portage Creek late June to July 3 and caught a lot of Kings. We rented a jon boat in Dillingham and camped out on our own.

Everyone was super friendly but looked at us funny when we told them what we were doing. Next time we will fly in as Bristol Bay can be pretty dicey.

Would like to get additional information on Woods creek area.

quote:

Originally posted by wrhunter:
Great fish photos.

I Fished near Portage Creek late June to July 3 and caught a lot of Kings. We rented a jon boat in Dillingham and camped out on our own.

Everyone was super friendly but looked at us funny when we told them what we were doing. Next time we will fly in as Bristol Bay can be pretty dicey.

Would like to get additional information on Woods creek area.

Of course you know there are boats available for rent in Portage.

The bay is a pain in the butt. I went up yesterday to collect the last of my camp and it was pleasantly mild. Pouring friggin' rain all day today but yesterday it was sunny and I came back down in the afternoon in sunglasses and a fleece sweater. I like running jet boats on the bay because you can usually pick a calm shore to run on in the lee side of the wind and its butter smooth 5' off the beach.

Typical guided fishing camp on the Nushagak.


Typical guide boat on the Nushagak.


Booboo cooling himself.



Booboo indicating his disgruntlement at my documenting his swim.


Beluga whales fishing for the immense run of pinks and silvers returning to the Nushagak as I write this.

Scott- Shoot me a PM and I will send some shots over. For whatever reason(skill level most likely!) have never been able to post photos here. B.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by wrhunter:
Great fish photos.

I Fished near Portage Creek late June to July 3 and caught a lot of Kings. We rented a jon boat in Dillingham and camped out on our own.

Everyone was super friendly but looked at us funny when we told them what we were doing. Next time we will fly in as Bristol Bay can be pretty dicey.

Would like to get additional information on Woods creek area.

Of course you know there are boats available for rent in Portage.

The bay is a pain in the butt. I went up yesterday to collect the last of my camp and it was pleasantly mild. Pouring friggin' rain all day today but yesterday it was sunny and I came back down in the afternoon in sunglasses and a fleece sweater. I like running jet boats on the bay because you can usually pick a calm shore to run on in the lee side of the wind and its butter smooth 5' off the beach.

Typical guided fishing camp on the Nushagak.


Typical guide boat on the Nushagak.


Booboo cooling himself.



Booboo indicating his disgruntlement at my documenting his swim.


Beluga whales fishing for the immense run of pinks and silvers returning to the Nushagak as I write this.

Scott:

Does Chris what's his name still rent boats? Nice guy but boy does he drink a lot.

i fished the Nush back in 06 with my father. Tried to get him to come back but he hated the mosquitoes so much he said forget it. I even paid for the whole trip...

Well not all the time on the heavy drinkin', but yes Chris does still rent boats. I just get the biggest kick out of him and by the way I gather his son is quite a Marine over in Afganistan.

Choggiung Limited also rents boats, (842-5218,) and is the land owner around the area we fish. I didn't and probably won't catch a single one again but the silver run this year was also excellent and opportunities available to visiting fishermen for pursuing coho's mirror king opportunities. A few years back after a friend from down south and I had a very sucessful weekend of silver fishing I asked him, "Well how many do you want to take home?" His reply was something to the number of twelve, and twelve casts later we had collected twelve salmon and pointed the boat down the Nushagak for home.

You know we don't seem to be bothered that much by mosquitos during the June king season. I'd not recommend any of the special bug repelling clothing or the bug net jackets, rather I'd prefer the smoke deterents from burning mosquito coils or sticks and simple liquid skin repellent. August and silver salmon season is different. No See Um's are their own thing and extra precautions like camping on a gravel bar to take advantage of a breeze, bug nets, and mass quantities of tobacco smoke are a minimum. I've considered but not tried napalm, LSD, smoke grenades, claymore mines and as a final solution suicide in order to escape No See Um's.

scott - how's the silver run doing

You can charter a plane to Portage Creek
Chris takes care of the runway there.
He runs the boats and sells gas.
If he is not there his wife Ilona is there.
If anybody needs his contact info PM me
He is a good friend of mine.
Drinking and all.
Hi Chris if you are reading this
Larry

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
August and silver salmon season is different. No See Um's are their own thing and extra precautions like camping on a gravel bar to take advantage of a breeze, bug nets, and mass quantities of tobacco smoke are a minimum.

Scott, thanks for the head's up on bug issue. I will be at one of Chris' camps in a few weeks and I was thinking that the mosquito's might not be the bug issue but the no see um's would be, that's when a nice wind makes things more comfortable.

quote:

Originally posted by elk88101:
You can charter a plane to Portage Creek
Chris takes care of the runway there.
He runs the boats and sells gas.
If he is not there his wife Ilona is there.
If anybody needs his contact info PM me
He is a good friend of mine.
Drinking and all.
Hi Chris if you are reading this
Larry

Are there no longer any scheduled flights into Portage Creek?

quote:

Originally posted by dirklawyer:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
August and silver salmon season is different. No See Um's are their own thing and extra precautions like camping on a gravel bar to take advantage of a breeze, bug nets, and mass quantities of tobacco smoke are a minimum.

Scott, thanks for the head's up on bug issue. I will be at one of Chris' camps in a few weeks and I was thinking that the mosquito's might not be the bug issue but the no see um's would be, that's when a nice wind makes things more comfortable.

No real wind in Portage. its brushy and treed enough to shelter the bugs as compared to a gravel bar. Bring lots of mosquito coils and burn maybe two in camp and say eight while butchering moose. The smoke screen makes a difference. I quit smoking cigarettes more than three years ago and thats fine but tobacco smoke does make a difference with the bugs. I was a pack a day smoker but during bad bug times it went up to two a day. Bug repellent doesn't keep No See Um's away they just die a slow death on your skin instead of biting you. Bring coils. Lots of coils.

Scheduled flights into Portage are variable so check around before you get here. Pen Air used to, maybe Grant Air will next year. Things never stay the same.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
scott - how's the silver run doing

Silver run is excellent and Dirk should expect to be able to catch some when he's here next month. Plan for August 10th if fishing the Portage Creek area andAugust 20th if fishing the Ekwok area.