Have eye worn you all out yet? Damn, do I hate leaving the bite!

We run all the way back to Riverbend so Don can pack and Noel can drop him off at the airport. I quickly hop into another boat with new guide buddies Joe (Riverbend) and Andrew (KingMeFishing) who want to try a little backbouncing to add to their repertoire. We run down to Beaver and the bite is still on! I bounce up a 5# rat and Joe sets the hook into a brand new 20# buck. Unfortunately, it's a bleeder and we reluctantly put it in the box.

Later that afternoon, my oldest brother Alex and his wife Daschia join us for a quick run out and they each land a king. Daschia bonks a sub-taggable runt to help "improve" the gene pool, and Alex releases this 6# rat:



After dinner, we head out for our last hurrah to search out the elusive "Release A Hawg" trophy that had been evading me all week. We've got four rods bouncing at Big Eddy for an hour and a half before Noel sinks the hook into something HEAVY. Could this finally be Ike? We'll never know because Noel got a little carried away with his thumb "lockdown" hookset that his 25# mono parted like thread on the big king's first downtream surge! Oh well, gotta wait til next July I guess.

I'll close this chapter with one more Riverbend sunset. Gotta love the Kenai, man!

All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Thanks for the shots and the beautiful pics... All of them

Very cool reports! Thanks for sharing!
Neal

Wow! You certainly have set the NEW standard for excellent reports.

Most enviable trip!!! and great reporting. Many thanks.

goodness sakes, spoiled properly in AK. Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing.

I do now!

stellar reports Keen Eye

:D "You can do sidebends or situps, but pleez don't lose 'dat BUTT!" Sir Mixalot....LOL!

I'm gettin' the black sharpie out to turn a couple kwiks into Baby Got Backs Doc!

Man oh man....you sure know how to kill a guy who's '05 Alaska trip got cancelled...but thanks for taking us along on your grand adventure.....

Those kings are huge!!!!!

NICE RACK

oh wait I mean kings

You boys have that river dialed in for sure. Most people catch a fish or maybe two but you consistantly put it on em.. I really like reading your reports

The only thing we could count on every morning was the "first pass, first drop, fish on" before the guide traffic hit the best holes near camp. Beyond that, it was just grinding it out and investing the necessary rod hours to catch a fish.

I could not believe how badly eggs outfished Kwiks this year..... 4 to 1! It was definitely an egg bite for my boat. Others I talked to seemed to do much better on the plugs or at least equally well as eggs.

Could have been the Amerman eggs, ya think?

The only other thing I can think of is it might've had something to do with having NO primo sardines from my usual supplier. I brought up primo vac-pac blue label herring, and filleted those instead, getting four baits per herring. I marinated them in sardine oil and injected with more oil after each pass, new plug with fresh wrap after two passes.

After seeing how well the eggs were doing, I started marinating some of the wraps in leftover Amerman egg juice..... giving those finicky buggers the best of both worlds with a serious meat and eggs breakfast for the morning bite. Worked for me!

I'm headed to the Skeena River from July 27th-Aug4th and can only hope our water conditions were as nice as what you had Doc...

Very Cool report(s), Doc! You are The Master!

Besides the kinger fishing on The Ditch, I'm gonna try hucking out some eggies for whatever will bite down at my B&B in Sterling. Have no idea what the water is like on that part of the Kenai, but hopefully I can find some trouties or char like you did. Would be a fun way to pass the time besides flossing reds.

The fish in the photo at the top is almost bloody enough to make the picture a "stam shot."

Awesome job on all the rest, Doc. I'm looking forward to meeting you on August 1st.

Awesome post, Doc!!!

ttt

Dang, Doc........you really outdid yourself with this string of reports.

Awesome pics, great narration. You da man!

Funny how a bachelor can suddenly find a lot of time on his hands.

Man, do I miss my girls!

Upriver from Sterling there are huge rainbows to be had.....They sit in the current with theirmouths open waiting for eggs. If you get tired of flossing sockeye try for some quality rainbow fishing.

You mean like this one, gramps?

(just in case you missed it)