Well I am back in Fairbanks.  Weather was not cooperative so I couldn't get out to the field to do any hunting.  Evidently it was all my fault too, the first two and a half days were filled with smoke from Fairbanks and no one was flying. Half a day was nice and then the wind picked up 40-60mph winds for about two and a half days.  I did get out and fish on the first of the windy days we flew 60mph one way and 190 on the way back.  It kinda cleared up and I got some more fishing in on the Egegik River.  We slayed silvers.  The guy that took me out was disappointed that I couldn't get a 'bou so he said last weekend of Sep. first 2 weeks of Oct. and he will try to get me out again.

The reports from hunters doesn't look that great right now no big bulls have been taken but that may change as the weather gets cooler.

Thanks for the update.  Sorry to hear about conditions but I bet every day out there was better than being at work? <g>

Good luck on the second trip.  I'll be out for the first week in Oct too.

I guess Dan Rather was out staying at the King Salmon Lodge while I was there during the smoke.  Damn I felt bad for him...NOT!!!

Yeah it was awesome being out there definately better than work.  Hopefully things will work out for later this year if not I can go out next year.

AlaskaGrown:
Where were you fishing the silvers on the Egegik River? Probably on the lagoon below the outlet.  Thats where most of the sky whores(air taxis) go.  Killer silver run this year.  I live year round about  35 air miles straight south of where you were at.   You hit the only period of smoke we have had in a long time.  The 40 to 60 light and variable wind is not unusual.  If you come back the first part of October  bring plenty of tobasco sauce as you'll be in the middle of the rut.

UgashikBob - yeah I fished the from the mouth of the Becharof down to the first cabins before it gets really wide.  The silvers were thick we went from trebles to single hooks just to make it easier to get the hooks out then we started playing the fish different so that the hook would come out on its own.  It was a blast though.

Thats what I heard about the smoke.

Thanks for the tip on the Tobasco.

Is the tabasco sauce and rut comment because the meat will be strong tasting due to the rut?  We got multiple caribou from around King Salmon a couple years ago the first week of Oct and they tasted fine.  Am I missing something or did we just get lucky on which caribou we shot?

Thanks,

Matt

Matt:
The rutt thing can vary from year to year and your location but usually by the first week of October its in full swing. It can get so bad you can actually smell them before you shoot them.  I've been right in the middle of herd during the rut and they sound just like feeding pigs and smell worse. Here is photo of three we took about 1/2 mile from the house many years ago when we had a huntable herd. They were taken on the 14th of October and the rut was in full swing. Everything was salvaged and eaten but it took massive amounts of firewater to do it.  Wouldn't do it again.

Thanks for the info.  Hopefully we'll get lucky again.

I love the picture!

Matt