Where, oh where, did all the trout fishermen go???!!!!

[Capt. JJ]

Headed up to our usual haunts yesterday morning with Pat-Mac and left my house at 0520 hours...figured that was early enough to get to our first spot on the Muskie without a lot of pressure.....

Arrived at 0610 and of course, the first spot already had a few folks.....didnt matter, the area we liked to fish was empty....

Pat hooks up on first cast with a nice brownie....it took me a little bit longer but I hook up as well....Im watching the other 6-7 guys and no one is setting anything on fire.....one fish here, one there....Pat and I have 3 eacyh and decide to bag it and try a few more spots....

Made it to the mill area, which is usually swamped with people, and there were about 4 guys where usually there are dozens and dozens....we sneak upstream to a slower part of the river and it was game on again with solid action, all on bait.....NO monsters, unless you count the suckers that were immense, but we did manage a nice 16-17" brownie each, and we were in catch and release mode very quickly...

Decided to hit the Spruce and Capaloong, and they were scary empty of people...on a gorgeous day.

Pat and I were the total sum pressure on each stream, at any number of popular spots, and the deal was: each spot was LOADED with just-stocked fish....LOADED!!!!! All rainbows at the smaller streams....all in feeding mode...all caught and released.

It wasnt a slaughter because the water depths were so low, and clarity was vodka-clear, but we would pull 3-4 out of each spot in the first few casts, and then had to work and be patient....

I honestly dont know how many we caught and released......I wont lie, it wasnt stupid numbers...maybe 14-15 each...but we were back at my house well before Noon, and we saw a total of about 11 folks fishing the Muskie (at VERY famous spots) and ZERO folks on the Spruce and Cap.

And by Spruce, I DO mean the stream, not the big, ole lake!

Dont get me wrong: not complaining here at all.....more trout for us....but SHEESHE everone is chasing stripers (and I will be doing that as well shortly)or just given up on trouting this year! Unbelievable!


I'll be in Ketchikan, Alaska, fishing for big, flat, flounder-shaped trout next weekend....hopefully they stocked a 50 pounder for me!!!!!

Capt. JJ

[Mike M]

I agree with you about the lack of fishermen. I fished the Coopolong and the Mulhockaway mid week the last two weeks and only saw 1 other fisherman. Not complaining. It made for a nice day
Good luck in Alaska. Make sure you post a report when you get back. I will be there the first week in August. Can't wait.

[AndyS]

Striped bass and fluke ??? It's feast or famine. Maybe poor stocking practices, like LOADING spots instead of spreading them out ?

Have fun in Alaska, let us know what you catch.

( I REALLY like the fall trout stocking )