Summer Catch Up Post

[SkunkedAgain]

Your tip of the lodges that send you out in one of their boats would probably be the best option for a bucket list trip someday... Especially if they take you out with a guide to teach you the local tricks the first day... May have to start making notes and getting ready for a someday trip.. Thanks Jeff

Adam Eakle has several shows each year about lodges up in Alaska that does exactly what Alan is talking about and the cost isn't bad, especially if you are only there for three days or so.

Thanks for the tip Curt, I'll have to check that out on YouTube... I think there is a guy from Utah that has a lodge up there that does that, friend of mine from Benson helps him with the cabin maintenance if I remember the stories correctly... I'll have to dig deeper.. Thanks Jeff

[2knots]

Your tip of the lodges that send you out in one of their boats would probably be the best option for a bucket list trip someday... Especially if they take you out with a guide to teach you the local tricks the first day... May have to start making notes and getting ready for a someday trip.. Thanks Jeff

The lodge I went to had collage kids that worked the fleet of boats, filling with fuel, making sure you had the rods and bait for your intended species you were targeting, helped getting the boats back into the slips and took care of the days catch. The one that was assigned to the boat we had took us out to make sure we knew how to operate the boat and the electronics and did show us the different areas that people fished for different species along with the boundaries of where we were allowed to go, this was by no means very detailed. I was with a group of friends that fish this lodge every year so they had better details. The owner and his wife were also helpful about “spots”. Having a good understanding of how to use the gps, waypoints and tracks on the units so that your confidence in them would give you a much higher comfort level especially if the fog rolls in. It surprises me the number of fisherman I run across that don’t use the maps and waypoint side of their units even on the lakes,  the ocean is not the place to start your introduction to that side of the electronics.

[SamDaFishMan]

Wanted to ask you about bleeding your salmon. First off, how do you "bleed" them? Second, do you do that on Kokanee? Others? I go to Fort Peck in Montana and catch Kings, see pic, never bled them, but really have not been fond of the taste. Maybe bleeding them would help?

[2knots]

Wanted to ask you about bleeding your salmon.  First off, how do you "bleed" them?  Second, do you do that on Kokanee?  Others?  I go to Fort Peck in Montana and catch Kings, see pic, never bled them, but really have not been fond of the taste.  Maybe bleeding them would help?

Yes I bleed Kokanee and the other salmon ( pretty much all fish I keep) for salmon and trout I use a knife and insert about at the back of the gill plate in front of the collar just under halfway up from the bottom. If you pull up the gill plate you can see a “purple” or dark area behind the gills and this is what I pierce with the knife. According to the guide that showed me this there is a major vein or artery there and this let the blood flow out, he would also use his hand and run it from the tail to the head putting pressure on the spine and would push more blood out after they had stopped bleeding, I don’t do that as they seem to bleed out very well from the cut. The red X i put on the picture in your post is the area I insert the knife and trying to exit in the same area on opposite side ( you don’t really need to exit far side just a reference for the angle)




On fish other then trout and salmon I also cut the gills as they don’t seem to have that vein area in the same area

[SkunkedAgain]

Your tip of the lodges that send you out in one of their boats would probably be the best option for a bucket list trip someday... Especially if they take you out with a guide to teach you the local tricks the first day... May have to start making notes and getting ready for a someday trip.. Thanks Jeff

The lodge I went to had collage kids that worked the fleet of boats, filling with fuel, making sure you had the rods and bait for your intended species you were targeting, helped getting the boats back into the slips and took care of the days catch. The one that was assigned to the boat we had took us out to make sure we knew how to operate the boat and the electronics and did show us the different areas that people fished for different species along with the boundaries of where we were allowed to go, this was by no means very detailed. I was with a group of friends that fish this lodge every year so they had better details. The owner and his wife were also helpful about “spots”. Having a good understanding of how to use the gps, waypoints and tracks on the units so that your confidence in them would give you a much higher comfort level especially if the fog rolls in. It surprises me the number of fisherman I run across that don’t use the maps and waypoint side of their units even on the lakes,  the ocean is not the place to start your introduction to that side of the electronics.

Tell you what, that GPS saved my bacon on Bear Lake last time I was after whitefish... Fog rolled in and couldn't see 20' in any direction, I kept thinking I was turning but my GPS said I was good... I trusted the GPS and ended up at the marina, so I've learned the value of that tech for sure.. In younger days trying to find a goose blind in the fog without GPS, I ended up doing loops and not getting where I needed to go... I haven't used the weather radar and stuff, but I do know the GPS side of the electronics... Nice tools to have available for sure... Later J

---

Wanted to ask you about bleeding your salmon.  First off, how do you "bleed" them?  Second, do you do that on Kokanee?  Others?  I go to Fort Peck in Montana and catch Kings, see pic, never bled them, but really have not been fond of the taste.  Maybe bleeding them would help?

I concur with Alan's directions on where I cut the gills... They do really bleed and it made the fillets really clean and nice.  The fish I didn't bleed was very obvious that it was full of blood all through the meat.  These fish are the best eating fish I've had in a long time, so I'd recommend bleeding them if you're going to keep them to eat...J