Alaska 2013

Making Streamside Omelets- By Brule River Fishing Guide

Making Streamside Omelets

By: Garett Svir

Photography: Kim Svir

It was a cool July morning on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula when we made our way onto the drift boat. Pure adrenaline and excitement had taken over as the 30” Kenai River rainbows we had been dreaming of became a distinct possibility. Thoughts of fly selection fill my mind as we made our way out into the fog. I had spent the night before carefully assembling a fluorocarbon leader and tipping it with the only prince nymph I felt worthy of these legendary Kenai River rainbows. I cannot deny the initial disappointment that came over me as Alaska Troutfitter’s Guide Eric Perkins handed me a 6 weight yielding something that looked like it came off a 6^th graders friendship bracelet. I am by no means a fly fishing purist but had a hard time believing that some of the largest rainbows on earth were going to fall victim to these gaudy pieces of plastic. I think he could sense my disappointment as I grabbed the rod from him.

As we began our decent into the canyon, I couldn’t help but look over at the other drift boats and wonder if they too were using such unrefined offerings. Our guide carefully navigated around a few boulders and instructed my wife, Kim, to “hit the shot” on the far current seam. She rolled out a large cast and as soon as she mended her indicator dipped below the surface. I caught a glimpse of silver as the large fish rolled beneath the surface. I guess that bead fishing was starting to grow on me, but it took several large rainbows of my own before I completely bought in. Throughout the day, our guide would reach into a rubber made tool box and pull out different colors of nail polish. He would change the shade of our beads to match the stage of salmon eggs in the river. Alaskans are serious about bead fishing and for good reason. The original owner of Alaska Troutfitters, Curt Trout, was one of the first anglers to experiment with plastic beads. He would train guides by having them paint beads that would later be taken to the river and compared to the real thing. They would drop different beads amongst salmon eggs until the apprentice and Curt could not tell the difference. Curt Trout has now passed on; however, the shops new owners, Dusty and Billy, have continued on with his legacy of being well versed in bead fishing. The secret bead painting room is only accessible by two employees. Their trademark way of painting beads to achieve that perfect molted swirl is known throughout Alaska. While we didn’t end up hooking a 30” rainbow, several fish over the 20” mark started a love affair with bead fishing that would travel back to my home streams on the Great Lakes.

In the past few seasons, I have really gained confidence in bead fishing. Last fall, during my annual pilgrimage to the Pierre Marquette River, I couldn’t help but try them on king salmon. We had absolutely amazing results. On previous trips we would start our adventure several hours before daylight, casting minnow baits in complete darkness. Once the sun came up we would fish through holes using cut skein. By afternoon the bright skies would eventually cause the bite to die off. This year we found bead fishing could extend this notorious morning bite late into the day by simply downsizing from skein to beads. We were amazed to find how light these kings would bite during the afternoon, often times just causing our floats to pause or drift sideways for a moment. Even with bright bluebird skies they could not pass up a single egg drifted past them.

On Lake Superior’s Bois Brule River local fly patters like the glimmer soft hackle, spring wiggler and Lake Superior x-leg are considered the norm for steelhead. We found many willing steelhead using… you guessed it, beads. Actually they worked so well on this gin clear, spring fed, trout stream that they have become my confidence bait here on my home water. Fall is a great time to use smaller beads in caramel roe or apricot to mimic the many brown trout eggs washing downstream. Spring runoff will muddy up the water and colors like chartreuse and tangerine really shine. Runoff that contains a lot of red clay is common on Lake Superior streams. Chartreuse and yellow beads will often look far more natural than any shade of orange or red in these conditions.  Opaque colors of nail polish can give eggs the mottled look like they have been in the river awhile. Small drops of pink, orange and even black nail polish can further refine offerings, imitating a nucleus. I was a skeptic at first but have since found that the possibilities are endless for imitating the common egg. I now sometimes find myself on all fours inspecting eggs lying on the bank or boat floor trying to match the hatch.

                When trying to match the egg hatch, I try to keep in mind the size of eggs fish are feeding on. If fish are feeding on eggs from steelhead, sockeye, suckers or whitefish, I tend to start with a 6mm. If fish are feeding on eggs from pinks or silvers, I start with an 8 mm. The largest I personally carry is a 10 mm and I use these when fish are feeding on larger eggs from king or chum salmon. The other important factor is color. Matching bead color to the color of eggs that fish are feeding on seems like an easy task; however, several factors come into play. Keep in mind the time of day and available light penetration, color of the water, amount of sediment and if runoff is stained from tannic acid swamps or red clay banks. All of these factors can make the bead look different underwater. The easiest test is to inspect beads underwater before drifting. This allows you to make adjustments and also check visibility. As a final test, I hold beads up to the sun to look at how the light passes through them. I have found that translucent beads catch more fish. The secret lies in making the bead translucent but not so shiny that they spook finicky fish. The last but certainly not least important factor to consider is the stage of the eggs the fish are keying in on. Eggs change color constantly as they develop into the alevin stage. The nucleus that is originally present changes over to two distinct black dots as the embryo is formed. The embryo will then begin to form a darker red yoke sack along the bottom portion. In the later stages, eggs look white as the embryo can be seen through the egg. When an egg dies and is washed downstream, it quickly takes on a yellowish hue. If it is plagued by fungus or algae, it will become green. Rather than getting too caught up in the details carry a large selection and change beads often until you find something that works.

                One of the great things about beads is how customizable they are. While Alaska Troutfitters’ Shop Manager, Laura, wouldn’t tell me any trade secrets she highly recommended a three step process. Painting with opaque nail polish will give beads the mottled look like they have been in the water. Another trick is to spray white or yellow paint into a paper bag, let the paint dry slightly, add beads and shake. This will achieve the same effect but is far less time consuming. Leave beads on a newspaper to dry and you are ready to fish. I have also been known to hand paint a nucleus, black dots to represent embryo eyes or a small red yoke sack spot on the bottom of beads. My final step is always to dip painted beads in Soft-Tex. This will give beads a softer more realistic feel and protect nail polish from chipping. 

Rigging beads is not a difficult venture. Common practice is to peg beads a small distance above the hook. This will assure that fish are not hooked deeply. It also serves to hide the hook in clear conditions and prevents large beads from covering the hook gap. Beads can be pegged using a toothpick, small clear commercially available pegs, or tied onto the line using a bead knot. I have seen angler’s fish beads under floats, with strike indicators and along the bottom, all with great success. Make them work with the style of fishing you are accustomed to.

Bead fishing is here to stay and a valuable tool to add to your steelhead fishing arsenal. Experiment by painting different colors and changing throughout the day. You’ll be whipping up streamside omelets in no time. 

Winter Strategies For Spring Success- Slab Seeker Guide Service

Winter Strategies for Spring Success

By: Garett Svir

Photography: Kim Svir

The ice season has come to an end but don’t throw out the larva or put away the ice fishing jigs quite yet. You might find success using winter strategies for spring success. After ice out, crappies will start to make their way from the deep water haunts of winter to shallow black bottom bays. It’s not spawning time. These fish are searching for the buffet line. Black bottom bays soak up the heat of the sun like a sponge and hold bug hatches necessary to start the food chain. Crappies sneak in on warm days for a quick meal long before the spawn begins. While minnows are a great producer once water temperatures have warmed, ice out slabs require finesse presentations. I think the experiment stemmed from my unpreparedness for the coming season. Winter jig boxes and larva somehow made their way into the boat one spring morning. Now I never leave them behind and don’t think you will want to either.

Predictable locations make searching for crappies at ice out fairly basic. Bays located on the northern end of lakes warm up first and see the first signs of life. Feeder creeks can also hold insect life and draw in crappies for a quick bite. Soft bottom shorelines on the northern end of lakes are also areas worth exploring. Look for anything that will transfer heat into the water like tree branches, cattails or wood dock pillars. We pay close attention to the temperature reading on the graph when scoping out areas. It’s amazing what a difference a few degrees make to crappies this time of year. On one outing last year after searching out several bays we learned an important lesson in temperature. The first bay we fished was void of fish. Normally, after striking out, we would start to search different types of areas and abandon black bottom bays altogether. On this particular day, we decided to check out a similar bay in the other basin of the lake. We headed to some overhanging tree branches in the far back section and were greeted with a water temperature 3 degrees higher than in the first bay. We found crappies stacked up against tree limbs and when we didn’t get snagged, we hooked fish. Just that small change in temperature made all the difference. Another important lesson we learned was that while It’s easy to overlook the really snag infested areas; these areas often hold some of the largest specimens. Looking through old fishing log books, I also uncovered that many of my biggest crappies have been caught right after ice out, long before the spawn.  

Stealth is equally as important in the spring as during late ice. We use the electric motor to slip into bays and deploy the anchor quietly. Excess commotion will push shallow water slabs deeper into unreachable cover. Cold fronts may also push fish deep into heavy cover or into the deepest part of bays. Fronts will sometimes push fish out of bays altogether but don’t fret because they seldom go far. The first break line outside of the bay will offer crappies the security they need to wait out a front. Once the weather stabilizes, fish will make their way back to the buffet line.

Float fishing brings out the kid in all of us. If your childhood was anything like mine, many hours were devoted to watching a float and patiently waiting for it to slip beneath the water’s surface. My level of excitement hasn’t changed much since those early days. I still love the anticipation of float fishing. Ice out crappie fishing is a great opportunity to release that inner child. The round bobbers of your childhood may lead to light strikes going unnoticed but adult versions do exist. I started using small clear floats that attach with surgical tubing. My favorite is the 2.4 gram Drennan Crystal Loafer. These floats are used by tournament anglers in the UK because of their incredible sensitivity. These floats can be perfectly weighted to achieve neutral buoyance. The goal is to have enough weight so only the orange top of the float is above water. If a crappie as much as thinks about sampling your offering, these floats will alert you. Crappies are still biting just as light as when you left them a few weeks ago during late ice. Many anglers abandon small presentations at ice out and go straight to large bobbers and minnows while anglers in the know stick with cold water presentations.

Jigs for early season success should be small. Some of my favorites are the 3 mm tungsten jigs from Fiskas. They cast with ease and weight floats to that sensitive level of neutral buoyancy. I also like the 2.5 mm Hole-In Jig from Fiskas. I tend to tip these with micro plastics and use a slow retrieve to swim them back to the boat. Hole-In Jigs, by design, stay perfectly horizontal without having to position knots. The poor crappies don’t have a chance. Some other stealthy options include 1/64^th oz calf tail jigs. Calf tail jigs take on a life of their own under water. They can be tipped with a single wax worm and fished in a stationary manner or worked back to the boat without bait. Experience has taught me that cold water crappies prefer a smooth gliding motion over jerky up and down movements. Experiment with float depth and speed of retrieve until you crack the code.

It feels great to be back in the boat, feeling the heat from the spring sun, but before you race to put away your ice fishing gear give winter strategies a try. It’s a great technique to tempt cold water slabs and make you a more versatile angler.

North Shore of Lake Superior Spring Photo Essay

Well it's almost steelhead season on Lake Superior's North Shore. Great time to look back on some of last years adventures..

Lake Superior Pack Ice

Lake Superior is a beautiful place this time of year!

Trampled By Turtles- Wait So Long (Fishing Video By Slab Seeker Fishing)

Check out the latest creation from Slab Seeker Productions. We hope you enjoy!

Tournament Strategies to Improve Your Panfish Game

Tournament Strategies to Improve Your Panfish Game

By: Garett Svir

Competition drives anglers to fish at the top of their game. Human beings are competitive by nature and when anglers compete, great ideas are born. Tournament anglers learn how to manage inefficiencies. They find fish that other anglers overlook. They learn how to catch discerning fish, and not just accept that they are not biting. In a winter panfish tournament, success is measured by ounces rather than pounds. Missing a single bluegill could be the difference between cashing a check or leaving empty handed. Even if you don’t want to approach your next ice outing like its tournament day, the techniques that are developed in the heat of battle can help all of us have more fun on the ice this winter. Here are some tournament winning strategies that will make you more successful on the hard water this winter.

Schooley Reels- Michael Thompson, from the USA Ice Fishing Team, has been using Schooley Reels since the 1980’s. He likes the fact that these reels do not twist line. The twists that are caused from line being spun around a fixed spool can be a panfish deterrent. Picky panfish want a jig that will rock and kick seductively but not spin. Schooley Reels have a plastic spool that revolves on a pin and wraps line on straight without twisting it. They are also extremely light weight and comfortable to jig with. The cost effectiveness of the Schooley allows an angler to rig multiple rods and switch presentations quickly.

Mormyshka Jigs- These jigs have been a guarded secret among tournament pros for a long time. Instead of having an eye where line is tied on, these jigs have a hole that runs through the center. The line is then snelled around the hook at the base of the jig. This imparts an action that is irresistible to bluegills. These jigs also stay horizontal and eliminate the need to reposition your knot after every fish.

Tricked out Buckets- Michael Thompson’s fishing bucket is not something you will find in a sporting goods store. It is rigged up with a Ram mounted Vexilar. The flasher is mounted in an ergonomic position that allows him to see how fish are reacting to his presentation and watch his line for bites in the same field of vision. Looking back and forth between line and electronics could cost an angler that tournament winning bite. A clip on the bottom of the bucket holds excess transducer cable in place for ease of moving between holes. This is taking efficiency to an entirely new level. He can walk up, set his bucket next to the hole and begin fishing right away with no set-up required. According to Thompson, you are not catching fish when your jig is not in the water so a tournament angler must learn to limit down time.

Michigan Rigs- This season, I have become obsessed with Michigan rigs. It’s really nothing more than a drop shot rig for ice fishing. I start out by attaching a piece of leader material to my line with a blood knot. This leaves me with two tag ends. I pick the straighter of the two ends and attach a fly. The other end is then trimmed off and discarded. On the bottom of the leader I attach a split shot. Where it’s legal to use two hooks, a small horizontal jig like the Genz Bug can also be very effective. I’ve been using a #14 soft hackle from Jeff’s Jigs and Flies. com with great success. The slightest shake of the rod handle will bring these flies to life and allow them to swim perfectly in a horizontal manner.

Shallow Cover- I have had some of my best day’s bluegill fishing in less than 7 feet of water. Predator fish, along with heavy fishing pressure, will often push the biggest bluegills into heavy cover. The key is to find small open areas near green healthy weeds. An underwater camera allows an angler to search out these openings and judge the quality of the weeds. I have also noticed that bluegills will often use specific “highways” to navigate through cover. I’ve had days where we hooked fish all day in a highway through heavy cover while anglers 10 feet away never seen a fish. Finding these pathways is not magic. It comes down to lots of drilling and camera work.

Speed Fishing- Tournament anglers’ fish fast. Fishing with a partner allows one angler to drill and the other to scope things out with the flasher. If no fish are present, the transducer is swung in the hole like a pendulum in all directions. If any suspended lines are seen this will give you an idea which direction to drill. The goal is to cover as much water as possible and connect with aggressive fish. Tungsten jigs fish fast and allow anglers to punch through slush without wasting time slush scooping holes.  

Consider fishing a tournament this winter. Competing with other anglers will get you thinking like an innovator and will improve your panfish game. Just make sure to share some of those great concepts with me.