2 non yak trips

Well I've been away for about a month, first on a 10 day trip to Seward AK and then a week long camping trip to the Dinky Lakes in the Sierras above Fresno. I'll keep this short since it's non yak.
In Seward we spent two days on charter boats, the first day was on a full boat (14 anglers) with blustery weather and not very impressive catch. The second day was totally different. There were 4 anglers on a boat with room for 10, the weather was nice and we all got limits of lings (1 each) silver salmon (3 each) and halibut (2 each). I got a ling over 4' long, my halibut were 50 lbs and 110 lbs and the salmon were all around 15 - 17 lbs. The picture with all of the fish on the rack is the catch for all 4 of us on the boat. What a day. I couldn't believe the size of the big halibut when I finally got it up next to the boat, then the captain harpooned it and i was holding onto the rod, the captain was holding onto the harpoon line and the fish was thrashing and throwing water all over the place. My buddy said my eyes were totally bugging out. There was some excitement when we got back to the dock too, several passers by wanted to get their picture taken next to the big fish plus we got a small round of applause. We also spent 5 days trolling for salmon in Resurrection bay in a 19' boat. I didn't think I'd like trolling but the contrast between the waiting and the frantic chinese fire drill that starts when there's a fish on (taking up the downriggers and reeling up the other lines) got to be very entertaining at times.
At Dinky Lakes we fished in 4 lakes, saw nothing but minnows in one, many 8" eastern brook trout in one, a mix of brook and rainbow trout in the 9" - 12" range in one, and fat feisty hard to catch 10" rainbows in one. I caught 10 in each of the 2nd and 3rd lakes before I quit, and ended up with 4 after two days of fishing in the 4th one. I also caught one small (6") beautifully marked golden trout from a pool in the inlet to the 4th lake.
Here are some pictures

Wow...Congrat on the HUGE Hali!  Thank you for the great report and beautiful pictures Mike.

  Wow, looks like the trip of a lifetime!  Thanks for posting the pics, the lake looks absolutely perfect!

Congratulations on the trips. Nice Halibut, but everyone in Alaska gets huge Halibut and Lingcod--they are as thick as thieves there. But that Golden is a prize--you have to sweat on a bit of a hike to get one of those especially that size--hard to pay your way into those very easily. I think that's the best fish of the whole 2 reports IMHO--but then that's me.

Congrats, Mike, on a great trip.  Thanks for sharing it with us.  Did Kristen get out on the water too?

 

Mike, Thats fantastic. I love Seward. The whole town has that small feel and everyone was really nice when I was there. Did you go up to the Exit Glacier? Fantastic up there too. Your fish are way cool and I will bet that the big hali was just amazing. I am so envious and really happy for you. The ravens at Seward are some of the biggest I have ever seen.

That is what you call a nice haul. Love the color on the ling and talk about
perfect size halibut. Thanks for sharing your fishing trip Mike.

Jedmo

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing...even though I am super envious!!!
 

Sincerely,

Jim

then the captain harpooned it and i was holding onto the rod, the captain was holding onto the harpoon line and the fish was thrashing and throwing water all over the place.

I can't get over it! "harpooned"  , not gaffed but harpooned! Congrats Mike! BTW, what bait did you use on the halibut, a lingcod? 

The golden trout is amazing!!!! ... The other fish are nice too...Thanks for the report...Andy

Not one, But 2 Epic fish trips...High adventure!!! monster ling, monster Butt, chunky silvers... ...golden trout...priceless man...thanks for sharing WTG!!!

What did u hook the golden on??? Like SM says, u got to earn that kind of fish!!!

great fish....really love the Golden.

Nice double-up there Mike! Thanks for the great reports and info. and pics too! I haven't seen a golden for about 3 years so thanks for the inspiration to get back up there.
PK

Thanks to all for the good words. To answer the questions,
1. Kristin didn't go this time, we hope maybe next summer.
2. I didn't get to Exit Glacier, too busy fishin.
3. The halibut rig was a 2 lb sinker above a heavy metal covered with plastic leader with a 1 3/4" barbed circle hook on a short, stiff rod with heavy line and a big reel. Bait was a whole frozen herring about 8 or 9 inches long and fat.
4. The golden trout was caught on a dry fly, a fuzzy black one. Same for all of the other trout.

My eyes are bugging out! Drool Drool Drool. Thanks for sharing & for the tackle info. Cheers!