A nice golden dorado caught on a crease fly while fly fishing in Argentina on the Rio Parana. Grab your Lateral Line fishing hat and or Crisfield Summer Tropical Fishing Shirt for your next fly fishing adventure. Take a picture with a fish and your Lateral Line fishing apparel and send it to us, we’ll publish it in our blog and send you a Lateral Line sticker as a thank you. (Lateral Line fishing hat and Crisfield fishing shirt pictured next to the dorado on the fly fishing dude, with the trying to be cool, sunglasses)

Tige Savage managed this gorgeous brown trout measuring in at 23.5″ while fly fishing on the South Fork of the Snake in Idaho this past week. His biggest brown to date, way to go man, sweeeeet fish!

The Menhaden Coalition, a group of over 34 organizations, how has a new website. Check it out: Save Menhaden Website
The Menhaden Coalition asks that:

1) If/when you see the Omega menhaden fleet, please report the sightings on the site. There is a link at the top of the page to post the reports. If you have pictures you should be able to post them, if not email them through the site and they will get the pictures up.

2) At the top right you can sign up to be notified via email when new posts or updates are made.

3) Link to the website from any website you have or are a member of. The Menhaden Coalition needs to drive as much awareness about the situation as possible to let the ASMFC and VIrginia legislature know that we as sportsmen/women are serious about having proper management of menhaden to assure we have forage fish for all the other fish species in the Chesapeake bay and Altantic Ocean. The link to link to is http://www.SaveMenhaden.org

After switching bags in Yuma, AZ (see part 1 of this fishing adventure) I made my way to Seattle, WA to stage for the next part of my adventure which would take me to Yakutat, Alaska. Last year while I was in Ketchikan, AK chasing silvers with my friend Barrett we started talking about some other adventures we could do in the state and Barrett, being a die hard steelhead fly angler, suggested that we hit the Situk River located outside of Yakutat. The river is known among steelhead anglers as probably the most productive natural (no hatcheries or hatchery enhanced fish) steelhead river in the world. We started planning back in October as soon as I got back from Alaska. Doing these adventures is a pretty big undertaking especially when you are doing it yourself with out any guides, packing yourself into camp, setting up camp and then figuring out how the heck to catch fish in the river. Our original plan was that four of us would go, Barrett, his Dad, me and our mutual friend Tom. Tom fell off because of some other travel stuff that came up and then a few people I had in mind to fill the spot fell off because I learned that the trip was going to involve some aggressive wading which makes me wary myself, but even more so taking anyone that is not totally comfortable with that. Once we learned that Barrett’s Dad decided he would pass so Barrett and I decided we would go it alone. We had to line up a boat because we were going to stay in a cabin in middle of the river and fishing required a boat to move from pool to pool. We thought we had that lined up, but our raft connection fell through, so we went to plan B which was pontoon boats we would pack up, ship as luggage, and assemble when we got there.

Four weeks to arrival time Barrett gets a call from one of our friends asking if he would guide on the Ponoi River in Russia for the season. Barrett was so so on the idea, but decided to roll with it. That put another twist into things because timing was going to be tight between the screening process he had to go through when he arrived into Russia (it requires three days of all sorts of tests) and the helicopter transport that was scheduled to take him and some other guides to camp. Long and short of it at the last minute Barrett could not go, luckily I found a steelhead junky, Andy, in Missoula, MT who was friends with Barrett and who I knew through some mutual friends who was all over it. Andy is going to be a senior at the University of Montana, is a creative writing major with a minor in environmental studies, and is a fishing machine. He guides on the Unalakleet River in Alaska in the summers and is what I would consider to be one of the premier up and coming steelhead anglers (you can check him out in a guide profile in last months Drake Magazine), and as importantly he’s a fun guy who is willing to take on an adventure. He had heard about the Situk and was psyched to get a chance to fish it.

I spent two days in Seattle getting some last minute supplies, picking up a pontoon boat from a friend and having a good dinner at Alki Beach with an old college buddy Tony and his wife Alex. Tony is in the tech world as well and we probably bored Alex to death with the geek talk, but she was a great sport about it. Tony founded a really cool company and if you spend a lot of time online and are not sure where all the time goes you need his product (he has a free version). Check out RescueTime.com I have been using it since it was in beta years ago and it’s pretty good in giving you some insight where you “really” spend your time online.

I got up the next morning still full from dinner, jumped on a plane and met Andy in Anchorage. Three hours and a few stops later we arrived in Yakutat, AK. We had hooked with a guy named Fred through the recommendation of some other friends who had fished there before. Fred had a big dodge that was perfect to shuttle us each day. We arrived around 8pm and given we still had four hours of daylight left, were still not confident we had enough day light to get our boats put together, gear packed on the back and time to float to our camp which our best intelligence told us was a two hour float from the drop off and from what we heard you could not see the cabin from the water. Fred said for $50 we could stay in his camper, set up everything, load it in his truck and be ready to go early in the AM, so we took him up on it. We got everything ready were loaded up to take off in the morning. Before we took off Andy and I walked down to the ocean and managed to strike up a conversation with some Alaska commercial fisherman. The captain invited us onboard and we hung our for about half an hour hearing about their latest journey which had them on the water for four weeks chasing what I think I remember as black bass, one of the fish they use in fish sticks is what I remember. The close quarters they live in and big seas they endure to make a living is amazing. They were waiting to unload their catch and then would fish their way home to Juno. We took some pics, exchanged some fishing stories and Andy and I hit the road.

When we splashed the boats we were quickly reminded with how much in in the wild we really were with the sighting of a large grizzly bear at the launch, unfortunately my camera was packed  As soon as we got on the water there were chrome fish everywhere, a good sign. We pushed our way to camp struggling not to break out a rod. We set up camp and decided we would hike down river on our first day. All the pools were loaded with fish and these steelhead were amazingly strong. Hooking these guys was one thing, landing one, well that is a whole other story. These fish will break you off in every way possible; they’ll take you under branches and break you off, make crazy jumps and spit out the hook while basically sticking their tongue out at you , roll and spin making the hook come out and some moves even a pro break dancer would have trouble duplicating. My hook up to landing ratio was easily 15 -1, as Andy would say, “That’s steelhead fishing for you”.

We floated/rowed fourteen miles each day which between rowing slow water and fishing the pools kept us on the water about fourteen hours. Given there is only about three hours of darkness a day, fishing long hours is no problem. We were told of two small grizzlies that were around camp from some people who were camping about a mile away and while we saw prints around camp we never saw them in person. Also never managed to see any moose which really can be more dangerous then the bears. The one thing was was abnormal about the trip was that we had sun and 78 degrees each day, made fishing a bit tougher during mid day, but even worse made for what locals were saying was the worse pollen they have ever seen. It was crazy. When a eagle would leave a branch you could see tons of pollen dump off the branches and where were literally clouds of pollen. I do not have allergies and managed to be OK until the last day, Andy made it through with the help of some medicine. The attack I had turned into a sinus infection which I am on antibiotics for right now and slowly getting over. Man, can pollen knock you on your butt.

All and all an amazing trip. Everything in Alaska is put simply, BIG. The animals, the fish, the trees, everything. It’s also great to see and fish a truly natural river, and at some level this river is a recovery story. When they were logging in the area in the 1990′s the steelhead run was down to about 600 fish, since logging stopped some years ago the numbers have been as high as 15,000, pretty cool what nature can do when you give her a chance to come back. After floating/rowing/fishing a bit over 14 miles a day spanning about 14 hours and hit with the pollen attack from hell, I am still pretty spent, I’ll at least give it another day or two before I start planning the next adventure.
They say there is a good run of chrome in the fall which I may head back for, but the silvers are calling as well, either way, I’ll be back next spring for sure!

Some pictures from the fly fishing for steelhead fishing adventure (click on the pictures for bigger versions)

Getting the gear ready in Seattle

Loading up the truck ready to pack ourselves in, nice smile Andy

Putting our pontoon boats together on day 1

Boats assembled, Andy testing them out

Packing up the pontoon boats to take our gear to camp

Our home for a week

Our home for a week

Some of our daily gear for each days float

The smaller upper section of the Situk River, AK

Typical fly fishing conditions

Sight fishing for steelhead

Trying to keep him out of the sticks

Trying to keep him out of the sticks

What we think was a native resident rainbow or a first year ocean kelt

The audience on the river

Cannon Beach, Yakutat Alaska. Fred took us here on the way to put in at the top of the river. Cannon Beach is a magnet for surfers, pretty amazing beach to find in Alaska

Another shot of Cannon Beach

Andy cooking some dinner

Eating dinner and getting away from the bugs

Young bald eagle looking for dinner

Our friend on the river having some dinner

Pollen in bloom

More pollen in bloom

Seal Damage

Unloading our pontoon boats for the end of the day float home

Regular grade steelhead

Release of another regular grade Steelhead

Release Picture 2

See you next year!

Lateral Line Ambassador Jay Fleming sent in this shot of a nice red fish he caught wading in shallow water this past week in Chesapeake, Virginia. WTG, Jay, nice fish and the Crisfield fishing shirt looks sharp as well if we do not say so ourselves! (photo: Ben Fleming)

There is not much more to say about the weather we have been having Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay the last few weeks other then, its’ stinking HOT. The water temperature at Thomas Point Lighthouse registered at 84.0 degrees as I write this, that’s some warm water folks. Despite the heat anglers have been getting out on the water and having decent catches of striped bass, croaker, some large perch, spot and in the lower Maryland Chesapeake Bay reports of some nice sized red drum caught by light tackle, bait and trolling anglers. Read the full Maryland fishing report for details.

On the fisheries front this past week we had a joint meeting of the Sport Fish Advisory Commission and Tidal Fish Advisory Commission. There were not that many hot topics brought up other then the issue of spot traps in the bay which have gained popularity over the last few years as live lining has come into vogue. Nothing was decided at the meeting, but a committee of members of both commissions will convene and develop recommendations to be made to the Department of Natural Resources. The commissions take off the month of August and reconvene in September.

Also this past week was an ASMFC hearing in Annapolis on the topic of increasing the commercial catch of striped bass along the Atlantic coast. Recreational anglers came out in full force opposing any increase in the commercial catch. Many recreational anglers as well as groups like the Maryland Saltwater Sportsman Association (MSSA), Coastal Conservation Association of MD (CCA), Maryland Charter Boat Association (MCBA) turned out and testified against the increase as well. Reasons cited were numerous and hard to ignore. The fact that its been estimated that over 75% of striped bass in the Chesapeake have mycobacterium (often called myco) which essentially has 100% mortality is a hard thing to dismiss; it essentially makes these fish walking dead, it’s not if they will die it’s when. (if you are interested in learning more check the VIMS site on myco.

Also noted was the trending decrease in the young of the year index. The increase in pollution in our coastal waters and of immediate concern of the unknown effects that the oil spill in the Gulf will have on our coastal fish populations. Poaching by all groups, both commercial and recreational not being taken into account. The wide unknown how many fish are harvested in the Virginia winter recreational fishery, estimated to be between 200,000 – 800,000 fish, basically we have no grip on the real number. The large Virginia winter commercial striped bass fishery that intercepts the large breeding striped bass on their way to the breeding grounds in the upper Chesapeake Bay.  And the effect that Shifting Baseline Syndrome
is having on all our perceptions of what a healthy population of fish is and/or should be.

Hearings will continue in other coastal states over the next few months and feedback and analysis brought before the ASMFC in the Fall/Winter meetings.

Upcoming Fishing Events, Fishing Tournaments and Other Fishing Meetings
White Marlin Open
When: August 2nd-6th, 2010
Where; Ocean City, MD
More Information, Registration and Details

http://www.whitemarlinopen.com/

MSSA Fall Classic
When: Nov 20- 21st , 2010
Where: Maryland Chesapeake bay
More Information and Registration

http://www.mssa.net/fallclassic.html

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reports
I have not heard much in the way of striped bass fishing for any keepers in and around the Susquehanna Flats and a few miles south. There are mixed results for live lining spot for striped bass in and around the Bay Bridge and Bay Bridge pilings. Spot have generally been on the smaller side and at times hard to catch. Some anglers fishing out of Sandy Point are heading to Hackets Bar outside the Severn River and catching their way though white perch to get some spot of size and then running back up to the Bay Bridge to dunk the spot on the pilings. With current you’re likely to find some keeper striped bass.

There have also been a few reports from in and around the Middle River, Knolls  (6ft Knolls) area of lots of schoolie stripers and some smaller bluefish mixed in. Check your map for the lumps and humps in the Knolls area and with current drop some jigs.

Reports of jumbo white perch are available throughout the upper bay. Grass shrimp and bloodworms remain the bait of choice. Some of the better locations are the Bay Hackets Point, Bridge pilings, Magothy River mouth, Mountain Bar off Gibson Island, Key Bridge, Pooles Island, Swan Point Bar, Belvedere Shoals, Chester River and Corsica River.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reports
Breaking striped bass has been the name of the game in the evenings in and around the mouth of Eastern Bay and over the last few days more in the Bloody Point area. Light tackle anglers have had the best luck with poppers while trolling anglers have had good luck with 15 and 17 Tony Accetta  spoons.

Charlie S from TidalFish.com’s Maryland fishing forum filed this report from Thursday: We left Tilghman at 5:30am with intentions of drowning some spot down at the Gas Docks. Some last minute intel changed our minds and we went out into the “Hook” to look for some breakers. WE went from the So. end of Poplar all the way to Stone Rock without marking anything worth working over. Reversed course and headed north with the idea to look at E bay and see what was happening up there. Almost to 84 and there they were Continue Reading »

Remember when your Mom used to say, “Don’t use your teeth to do that”. Well, she was right and especially right when it comes to using your teeth to cut fishing line. Over the years I unfortunately did not follow Mom’s advice and sure enough I paid the price. Luckily I have a great dentist, Dr. Don,  who just happens to be a fisherman himself and could sympathize with my situation.With a little filling and some expertise in filling, matching color and shaping was able to make me look as good as new.

Lesson is, if you do not want to spend a bunch of loot and risk chipping your teeth, do not use your teeth to cut fishing line

(click on the image for a larger version of the pic)

P.S. Also use sunscreen, note that sun spot on my face which is only going to go away by spending more loot to get it removed with a laser. Before and after pictures of that to come…

Florida tops the new list of top ten boating states with annual boat sales of $1.2 billion in 2009, The Florida hot spot, NMMA reports, is Treasure Island on the Gulf Coast, near St. Petersburg. Following Florida are Texas (Hot Spot-Lake Austin), California (Big Bear Lake), North Carolina (Lake Norman), New York (Lake Champlain), Louisiana (Shreveport), Washington (San Juan Islands), Delaware (Rehoboth Beach), Michigan (Traverse City) and Minnesota (Detroit Lakes)