Alaska trip #1-More Pike and Sheefish on the Holitna

We discovered this slough accidently, while exploring the upper Holitna. Our largest pike were taken here.
This fish is about 10 lbs.

The weather was beautiful...for a while. Good populations of moose and golden eagles were found all along the Holitna River, in addition to a black bear with 2 cubs.







Gurgler caught Northern Pike!

The teeth on a pike are impressive, and we had a number of punctures and cuts which gave us even more respect for this vicious preditor! The strikes were usually impressive, sometimes launching from 10 feet away to crash down on our gurglers!














Pike with big Gurgler!

A quick change to smolt patterns and we were ready for sheefish.....
....the first pod of sheefish we found were somewhat small, but a second pod, some 25 miles up river, held bigger fish. These fish ranged between 10 and 20 lbs.!
Since the weather was overcast and raining, the sheefish fed continuously through the day, giving us all the fish-catching we wanted! Normally, sheefish feed in the low light of morning and evening. My new Slideball slider, in gray and white, seemed to entice the larger fish from the pack, with many around 15 lbs. The surface strikes were a blast.





















Sheefish with Gray & White Slideball Slider

This new easy-casting Slideball slider was deadly on the big Holitna sheefish!