Over the years our second week at Alaska West has been notorious for having the most hardcore anglers and some of the best king fishing of the season. This year was no different! Once again we had some long time guests joining us.
Guys like Mike Opitz, Jack Thomas, Dave Victor, Marty Herman, Tony Robins, Jamie Will, Andy Jensen and Charles St. Pierre have been joining us for quite some time and it’s always nice to see them come off the plane. We were also joined by some of our newer members like Bernie Kelly, Mike Kuhnert, Lew Ofstein and Hal Leavell. What a great bunch of people to have together in one place.
Our guests this week hit the river dressed to the hilt with the warmest gear they could find. Some years in Alaska summer comes slowly and this is one of those years. The water temps this week ranged between 43 and 50 degrees, outside temps between 45 and 55. It was overcast all week with some rain mixed in for good measure! Not nice, but we’re in Southwest Alaska so what do you expect? You should expect the unexpected!
The king fishing this week was truly incredible at times with some huge numbers put up early in the week. Overall the fishing was pretty steady with some lulls from time to time. All the guests landed kings this week including Zoe Victor who joined her dad for 3 days of fishing in the first part of the week. Zoe had never fished for kings and ended up landing some really nice fish on single and double hand rods which is quite the accomplishment. We saw some really large kings this week as well, even though this week does not typically give up the largest fish of the season. Our largest of the week pushed 40lbs, but many were caught over 30lbs.
All of our guests took advantage of the perfect water conditions by hucking the double hand rods most the week. We also enjoyed the spey/double hand teachings of Charles St. Pierre again. As many of you may know Charles has worked wonders for years with all the neophyte double hand anglers. He is a huge part of why we have seen a surge in the spey/double hand interest, especially on the west coast. His patience and optimism with our guests and the sincerity with which he shares his knowledge is incredible. Thanks again Charles!
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