Kings Done, Silver Salmon Coming On in Goodnews River
Capt. John Kumiski
July 26, 2010
Goodnews River - Freshwater Fishing Report
Goodnews River Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 7/26/10
There are some photos on the website this week, http://www.spottedtail.com/ThisWeeksFishingReport.htm . Perhaps it's worth taking a look!
King salmon season ended yesterday. The final week was full of big fish. Pat and Patty took several while out with me, with the biggest taping out at 42 inches. Max the British kid got one on a Hot Shot about the same size. For both of them it was their first king salmon. Pat and Patty also took their first fish on fly, dolly varden for both of them. Congratulations all the way around!
Don Kane and I went up the Middle Fork searching for spawning chums. Trout and dollies love those spawners! The salmon are fanning gravel but the water is still cold enough (45 degrees on that day) to keep them from doing their nasty. In spite of that Don took numerous rainbows and dollies to 24 inches by drifting a bead under an indicator, a deadly method for fish working spawners.
Fred Stackpole's anglers got the first silver salmon of the season yesterday. Chuck Hunt's anglers got another. So the kings fade out and the silvers fade in. The silver frenzy will be up and running full tilt in a week or so.
Yesterday two boatloads of us went upriver for a hike to an old gold mining dredge. After an hour's walk across the tundra the dredge hove into view. This machine ate salmon spawning habitat, destroying it, as it worked its way up Wattamuse Creek. Gravel fed into the jaws of the machine, was sifted for gold, and was disposed of out of the stern. The machine was abandoned in the middle of noplace about sixty years ago, and has been slowly decaying ever since. All the old mining machinery is still there, rusting. It was an interesting place to visit, if a heartbreaking of example of how unimportant priceless natural resources have been (and still are) in western civilization's ongoing search for wealth.
All that having been said, the walk across the tundra was absolutely breathtaking. Tundra is such a beautiful habitat. Its odor is fragrant, aromatic, wonderful. There's always the possibility that someone with a sharp eye will find a caribou rack, although that did not happen yesterday. We fished for dollies on the way back, and had a bear sighting. Altogether it was a great way to spend a day, a welcome break from fishing every day.
Embrace simplicity.
Life is great! I still love my work, lucky me!
Life is short- go fishing!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
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