DRIFTER_016

As some of you know I spend a month or so each fall chasing salmon, trout and dolly varden in Alaska. This year was no different. I left my home in Yellowknife on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend and pointed my trusty Honda Pilot west. This year was different than all the previous ones however as I purchased a good used tent trailer to call home while away. I ended up with a bunch of damage due to all the gravel I had to negotiate, including having my tire shoot a rock off the front of the trailer and through the back window of the truck and this was only day 2 of my 5 1/2 week vacation.

No biggie though, just roll with the punches. The window break happened about 5 KM from the US border and the border guards were nice enough to hook me up with some clear plastic bags and tape to temporarily fix things up and the following day I bought more duct tape and 1/8" plexi to fix it up for the duration of the trip. It was pretty funny to watch me and my buddy bust out the generator and power tools at the boat ramp parking lot on the lake his cabin is on.

After repairs it was off to the cabin for a couple of days chasing lakers on his lake. Unfortunately they were not cooperating and we only caught one or two small ones.

Next it was onward to the MatSu Valley and Wasilla (Sara Palins home town) to meet up with another buddy for some quad riding, beer drinking and BSing.

The next morning it was off to Anchorage to do some shopping and meet with a bunch more friends at the Peanut Farm (local sports bar) and finally off to Cooper Landing some 2 hours South of Anchorage where I would be based for the next month or so.

The weather was quite different than usual this year. The first 3 weeks saw nothing but sun and warm temps, nothing like the usual rain they get every fall.

It did change the fishing as the water was dropping constantly to the lowest and clearest I have ever fished it. This called for flouro leaders and 6mm beads most of the time. I did get a decent amount of fish on 8mm beads but the 6's were working better for at least a couple of weeks. The fishing was good to excellent but due to lower numbers of sockeye salmon this year the trout numbers were no as epic as they could have been, but with the beauty weather who cares.

I didn't get any giant trout this year (26 or 27 inches was the biggest) but the numbers of mid sized trout (20 to 24 inchers) was very good. The silver fishing was ok but also not epic but they were all chrome like newly minted dimes so that was good.

So without further delay I take you to the video I put together of this years trip.

Feel free to go to the site to rate and leave a comment to help me win the fall video contest.

Site link here

Ok, here's my take on this issue.

First of all your battery is not fully charged.

At 12.3V you are only at about 55% of full charge.

Take the battery out and get a full charge into it on a charger.

Next take the battery to a local garage or Canadian Tire and have it load tested.

I think you will find it has a weak cell and needs replacement.

I have one of these chargers.

It's a three bank 15 amp charger that will deliver 15 amps to each battery in sequence but if a battery is fully charged it will leave it out of the rotation.

I have it connected to my two deep cycles and my starting battery to it.

Most of the time it ignores the starting battery as it's usually fully charged.

Haven't got a clue what you mean.

Translation: "If it's on the internet it must be true"

Here's a few shots from 2 weeks ago.

And from my office window last week.

Gonna get my sled out for a test burn this weekend.

I am also looking for these jigs. Do you have an address for that store? Google comes up with three different places. Do you know if they are all the same chain/owner?

 

I assume this is it?

325 Central Parkway West

Mississauga, ON L5B 3X9

(905) 275-4972

 

Thanks.

Yep, all owned by the same peeps.

He's still standing on a corner in short shorts, on West St Hamilton, trying to raise enough money to fix it Brian!!

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Yep, the boat under power is the one that has to yield.

We used to use that law to our advantage when fishing off the mouth of the Credit in late August and early September when the dang sailboaters would set up their race course right off the mouth of the river just to screw with the fishermen.

We would troll through their race course and when we hit a fish would shut off the motors and drift while we fought it.

We we in my buddies 36' Hatteras. It was a pretty big marker for the twit sailboaters to go around.

AHHH YES...the good ole days.my ole man used an army web belt.Stung like a son of a gun! nd dudeProblem in todays age, if you hit your kids, some one is bound to call youth protection, maybe even the kid himself.

And there's your reason kids today think they can get away with anything. The parents have been handcuffed and are unable to discipline their kids. Taking their XBOX away does squat!!!

hey everyone, been awhile since I've been on the board. I'm leaving Edmonton today to drive back to Toronto today and should reach North Western Ontario by tomorrow. I'd like to stop and do some fishing around the above mentioned areas but it is a new area for me and would like some help in finding a decent shore fishing location. I can't really afford a guided trip. If anyone can help me would be appreciated and even better if anyone is in that area and would like to join me that would be great. As for species is doesn't really matter. Pike, walleye, trout, etc. Would just like to put some lures in the water and have a decent chance of catching something. Hope to hear from some of you and hopefully fish with some of you as well.

 

Cheers,

Tony.

Lots of shore fishing spots to be had on the Nipigon River.

I have caught rainbows and lakers right below the HWY17 bridge.

There are also spots available near all the dams on the river as well.

Look at a map and drive from spot to spot. I have also caught brookies and whitefish up in thos spots.

I have a Frabil Trekker II and it's pretty light if you are hauling by hand.

I'll be sledding, building a few new rods and tying up a pile of pike flies for my Attawapiskat trip next May.

One other important thing to think of when purchasing a new camera is what it uses for power. Many of the cameras still use AA batteries and they can be costly to keep loading up with. One of the reasons I like the Olympus cameras is because they use LION (lithium ion (think cell phone batteries)) rechargable batteries. I purchase a second battery and can easily swap out a dead one in the field.

For my new camera I purchased a second battery that came with a 110/12 volt charger for $20 shipped from ebay.

My current (stylus 1050SW) camera and my last camera (stylus 300) are both Olympus and have both been excellent cameras.

All the shots in This thread were taken with my 1050SW.

Sorry I haven't put up any UW pics yet.

The optical zoom is still an important feature even with just fish pictures. The zoom was used on most of the pictures in the referenced thread.

Probably the one I will remember most was in the spring of '96.

We had been in our new home in the country for just under a year when a nasty spring storm turned the sky green, dropped hail, torrential rain and produced high winds and a tornado just west of our house. The tornado entered Luther Marsh and spit into two before re-combining just before exiting the marsh and damaging the farm next to us. Before it would hit our house it abruptly changed course and hopped over the road and completely destroyed the two farms there as well as damaging our neighbours place right across the street. It snapped trees in our yard and flung them across the street, sucked the barn doors off the next barn down the street, wiped out 7 hyreo towers and a mile of power line before heading North East toward Sherburne where it hit a trailer park in Violet Hill.

The following day I found a 3# plus smallmouth bass in the back yard.

My guess is it was sucked out of Damascus resevoir and depositied there.

Fantastic stuff, Dave! You have my permission to use the same soundtrack of that 5 star ice video you did...Super music choice...I still watch it from time to time. For those who might have missed it...

 

Gotta change it up Roy.

How about a nice Zamfir medley?

Just got back about 3 hours ago though so you'll have to wait a bit.

I took my training at TRIOS college.

TRIOS College

The course I took was the 52 week Network Engineer course.

Be prepared to spend some $$$$$ though. Back in 1999 when I went the cost was $20,000 for the year. It paid off big time though as I'm now an IT Manager with the government of the North West Territories.

Dude that's awesome. I cannot believe you're able to wade for the ho's this year, that must be amazing!

 

I was waiting for your phone call the other night. Is Billy joining us next spring or what?

 

Let me know , gotta get this sorted out soon.

Sorry bud, got kind of tied up.

Billy's not on the water today so maybe I'll get him later this afternoon.

If not tomorrow or early next week before I leave for home.

I don't know whether to applaud you or cry of envy - that is some way to roll! Beautiful pictures, beautiful fish, and a sweet report (even for a teaser). Alaska is first on my checklist for fishing destination trips.

 

Have you considered taking a day to go out for some monster Halibut while you're there?

Wrong time of year for the big boy's.

They start migrating to deep water in late August.

Weather conditions are usually pretty sketchy this time of year also.

There are still plenty of 10# to 40# fish around though.

There will be a full report sometime after Thanks Giving when I get home and have a chance to go through all my shots.

Wow! Impressive.... Beauty fish you got there!!

 

Dumb musky guy wants to know what species those are? (the first ones... with the freckles)

They be Rainbow Trout

Is that an Artic char or a Dolly in full spawning colours.

It's a Dolly.

Oh my.....those are some beautiful fish. Where bouts in Alaska are you?

Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula.

I have been living the trout bum life in Alaska since Labour day and this has been the nicest September in many years. We have had over 3 weeks of sunny and warm days in a row. All that has come to an end and there is now some rain and termination dust on the mountain tops (won't be long until we have snow on the ground). I will be heading home at the end of next week but here is a little teaser of some of the feesh we have put on the bank so far.

Here you go.

Marine grade wire

Marine grade wire is tinned to combat corosion.

I purchased a set of Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors. They are a mud and snow rated AT tire.

You get the best of both worlds.

Dave

 

Ever have grayling?

Yep, don't like it.

Some people do but I just don't like it.

Gotta say I don't like salmon either.

yeah, flying fish is the sweetest fish I have ever had. had it many times in the Islands. it amazing when marinated in lime, garlic and peppers then breaded and fried. amazing!

Dude, you're killing me!!!!