Josh and Nate were our repeat guides today and since tides
weren’t favorable for silvers, we immediately began chasing rainbows (and
bears).
 |
| Of course. |
Rob, Shan, and Nate headed back to the honey hole of jacks
to see if there were another large rainbow lurking. First pass yielded an abundance of jacks, as
expected. Second run through as we
reached the beaver lodge Rob’s indicator dived down and line began rapidly
screaming from his reel.
The rainbow was distinctly visible in the clear flowing
water and it was a large fish! We were
once again battling a sizable fish in the fast flowing Naknek River, without a
viable shoreline to fight the fish. Runs
and line retrieval followed by more runs.
This fish had strength commensurate with his apparent size. Without adequate shoreline we had to repeat
the mid-river net attempt. This time
Shan maneuvered the motor to keep the boat in a position to properly fight the
fish and Nate guided the net to gently surround the monster.
It was a beautiful fish and appeared to be even larger than
yesterday’s prize. We quickly moved the
boat to shore, keeping the net in the water so our fish could breathe. Taped him from nose to tail—31.5”. The largest rainbow landed in the last six
months and large enough to put a photo of Rob and his fish on the “Wall of
Fame” (reserved for those who land a rainbow of at least 30” in length) and
Nate bragging rights of largest fish! A
quick photo, a brief thank-you to the fish, and a restful revival of his
strength and he was released into the icy blue of the Naknek River.
 |
| 31.5" Naknek River rainbow--Rob's largest ever in Alaska |
While we found some additional rainbows, char, grayling (and
jacks) this behemoth dwarfed them all.
Our final day culminated with the largest fish of the trip and the
largest rainbow we’ve found in our many trips to that beloved place—Bear Trail
Lodge.
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