Alaska frenzy

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006, Jonathan Cook wrote:

and it seems that even-numbered years have a big pink run.
I hope I catch some: sounds like fun with smallish fish.

I hooked plenty of 5 lb pinks in Alaska. Smallish fish? Not really on a
4 weight.

Coastal cutthroat are what you want to catch. A really remarkable fish.

lastly but not leastly: a halibut would be cool, preferably
bigger than me :-)

They are incredibly tasty too. I brought home one halibut in 2003. Given
the price of alaskan halibut at the supermarket, that one fish effectively
was worth the equivalent of about 1/2 of my trip expenses.

I'll be reading the recent threads and looking for tips that
might fit our schedule. Any comments on whether fly-in day-trips
from Anchorage are worthwhile, or jetboats out of Talkeetna
(which take you to fishing grounds) are worthwhile, would be
welcome.

I got lucky. Went fly fishing out of a lodge that was mostly for bait and
lure fishermen. Listened to everyone's advice for a whole week and went
out on the last day and hooked 3 halibut (smallest was 85 lbs) in 10 feet
of water. I would recommend fresh herring versus frozen herring. Tying
an onion sack full of cut herring to your anchor will help. A narrow slot
where tidal current funnels the scent would be good. The best place to
make bait is around a cannery. The offal from the cannery will attract
baitfish to the area. Use Sabiki rigs to catch bait. There is a
difference among Sabiki rigs. I have consistently found that the quality
of the materials and the sharpness of the hooks and the fish attracting
capabilities of Hayabusa rigs to far surpass any others that I have tried.
If you cannot find any Hayabusa rigs near you let me know (via email not
via ROFF).

Mu